The Political Imagination: Writing the 1980S
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Durham E-Theses The political imagination: Writing the 1980s Walmsley, Christopher James How to cite: Walmsley, Christopher James (2003) The political imagination: Writing the 1980s, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3092/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk THE POLITICAL IMAGINATION Writing the 1980s CHRISTOPHER JAMES W ALMSLEY A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PHD UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM Dept. of English Studies 2003 A copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. CHRISTOPHER JAMES WALMSLEY THE POLITICAL IMAGINATION Writing the 1980s ABSTRACT The connection between imaginative writing and the political has always been contentious, and whilst many critics see literature as the creation of contemporary mythologies by which we negotiate our lived experience there are others who refute such a politicisation in favour of the singular aesthetic experience. This thesis will argue that the literary and the political are immutably bound in an undeniable relationship: a relationship which encompasses the construction of sexual, cultural and racial identities, questions of censorship and the concept of freedom and the mutual dependence of the individual subject and society. Like most epochs, the 1980s both invites and repels a tendency to organise its events into a single, understandable and easily internalised diachronic order, an order that will mask or efface the complex contradictions and multiplicity of possibilities that emerge. Through a series of close readings of arbitrarily selected literary and popular fictions, the thesis conducts an examination of the tensions, issues, conflicts and theoretical perspectives of this divisive decade. This project, however, is not just an attempt to chronicle a vast and fertile period of literature. It seeks to define the political imagination, to counteract the Bloomian claims that literature is a private space of imaginative production and passive aesthetic reflection, insisting that the political imagination is an inexorable part of social and cultural life which can neither be denied nor appropriated by a singular agenda or master code. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the staff at the University of Durham for their continued support. In particular, Marie Caygill and Catherine Davidson for helping me negotiate the maze of paperwork. I'd also like to thank the AHRB whose generous funding made this possible, Stephen Regan and Simon James for their excellent suggestions during the viva. Special thanks go to Patricia Waugh for her diligent supervision above and beyond the call of duty and, of course, to my wife Kirsten and son Paul whose support and belief was constant and unflinching. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 1- LITERATURE & THE POLITICAL IMAGINATION ...................................S 2- THE SUBJECTIVE PHALLUSY: IDENTITY IN CRISIS & MISREPRESENTATIONS OF THE SELF ................................................... .48 3- PREMATURE EMASCULATION§: FEMINIST FICTIONS & THE COLLAJPSE OF THE MASCULINE IDEAL ................................................................... 72 4 -DEJA MORT: NUCLEAR NIGHTMARES & THE 'POSTMODERN' CONDITION ......................................................................................... 121 5- BARBARIANS AT THE GATES OF TIME: THE STRUGGLE FOR HISTORY IN THE AGE OF SPEED .............................................................................. 159 6- DISUNITED KINGDOMS: THE CONDITION OF ENGLAND & THE COLLAPSE OF ENGLISHNESS ................................................................. 192 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................ 236 NOTES .................................................................................................. 254 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................265 INTRODUCTION The connection between imaginative writing and the political has always been contentious, and whilst many critics see literature as the creation of contemporary mythologies by which we negotiate our lived experience (Doyle 1989; Bromley 1988; Bennett 1990 & O'Hara 1990), there are others who refute such a politicisation in favour of the singular aesthetic experience (Fish 1996; Bloom 1994 ): all of which seems to confirm that "Literature has always been uneasy about politics, while British political culture has generally been suspicious of Imaginative writing" (Croft 1990 p.340). Yet despite this suspicion and uneasiness, the literary and the political are immutably bound in an undeniable relationship: a relationship which encompasses the construction of sexual, cultural and racial identities, questions of censorship, the concept of freedom and the mutual dependence of the individual subject and society. Although there will be reference to other literary forms, I will be focusing primarily upon the novel which, it has been argued, provides "a cross-roads between the individual and collective destinies of men and women" (Fuentes 1992 p.245). The novel, in other words, is frequently critical, often contentious and always political- even if unconsciously so. Taking as its working hypothesis, the claim that "politics and literature, like sport and politics, do mix, are inextricably mixed, and that that mixture has consequences" (Rushdie 1992 p.100) this project seeks, through readings of both 'literary' and 'popular' texts of the 1980s, to explore the nature and implications of the 'political imagination'. There are several important reasons why an investigation into the political imagination coupled with a detailed study of 1980s literature will prove 1 valuable: first, if the links between the academies and the reading public are to be re-established, then the study of contemporary literature approached from a relatively non-partisan theoretical methodology which eschews the false dichotomy of theory and criticism is a matter of urgency; 1 second, it was a period in which a series of social and economic crises signalled the end of consensus politics thus creating a significant shift towards the right; third, political awareness was heightened, both nationally and internationally, as Cold War politics intensified and the prospect of nuclear engagements became thinkable; fourth, it was a period of immense social and cultural change with distinctions between the private and public spheres collapsing as writers struggled for new modes of representation. Finally, although the 80s signified a significant hegemonic shift in social, political and cultural spheres, there are relatively few comprehensive studies and surveys of the literary production of this era. Period studies are fraught with difficulties of their own. Although it is sometimes useful as a pedagogic strategy, literature cannot be neatly isolated and divided into periods for several reasons. Most writers, for instance, are inconvenient creatures who not only write for and against each other but, in their quest for as wide a readership as possible, they perversely continue writing even when the 'movement' or school they belonged to has had its day in the sun. Furthermore, inter-textual relations bind works from different periods and it is frequently difficult and counter-productive to try and isolate them. One could also point to the fact that it is only possible to discern and evaluate major trends or contributions with the benefit of hindsight. Works are constantly being rediscovered and revalued by readers and critics and, correlatively, other texts that were regarded as important no longer address the concerns and interests of contemporary readers. Thus, literature exists in a state of constant flux and cannot be frozen to satisfy a desire for literary cartography or a sense of order. 2 Like the 1930s, the 1980s appears to be an easily containable period which begins with the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and ends with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 'New World Order' promised by George Bush in 1990. Yet, beneath the surface of the relatively self-defining 80s, lines of continuity and ruptures from previous historical epochs (the Victorian discourse of Englishness, the failure of the post-war consensus, echoes of the 30s, etc.), disturb the seemingly clear waters. Period studies also raise the problems of canonicity: which texts best represent the era under scrutiny? The texts selected, whether wittingly or not, will automatically frame the ideological agenda of the study to such an extent that only a complete, all-inclusive survey of the texts produced