Transformational Technique in Gabriel Fielding's "In the Time of Greenbloom"

University of the Pacific Scholarly Commons University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 1974 Transformational Technique In Gabriel Fielding's "In The Time Of Greenbloom" May Grant Robbie University of the Pacific Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Robbie, May Grant. (1974). Transformational Technique In Gabriel Fielding's "In The Time Of Greenbloom". University of the Pacific, Dissertation. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/3524 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TRANSFORMATIONAL TECHNIQUE IN GABRIEL FIELDING'S IN THE TIME OF GREENBLOOM by May Grant Robbie A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English University of the Pacific May, 1974 TRANSFORMATIONAL TECHNIQUE IN GABRIEL FIELDING'S ~THE TIME 2f GREENBLOOM Abstract of the Dissertation Gabriel Fielding's In the Time of Greenbloom is a major twentieth century novel that has received littre-critical attention. With its dramatic plot and colorful characters, it has an immediate surface appeal for most readers. The novel requires deeper, symbolical reading in order to reach its central theme, man's potential for transformation. John Blaydon, the protagonist, is a very different young man at the end of the novel from the child he is at the beginning. His activities, the narrative base of the novel, reveal more than the external events of his life. Fielding uses them as objectifications of confrontations that occur within John's psyche. As the novel opens, John is regressive, uncertain of his sexual indentity, and sui cidal. During the following six years, he undergoes a series of traumatic encounters within his psyche made concrete in the details of the novel. As a result of the inner confrontations, John is transformed into a young man growing into healthful maturity' and hovering on the edge of creative accomplishment. The process by which Fielding communicates psychological change is the estab lishment in the first chapter of a matrix, the scene at the Bellingham lake and woods, a fictional embodiment of John's psyche. That scene is made up of com ponents guch as characters, settings, actions, and motifs that symbolize John's psychological complexes. In.a technique of transformation, Fielding repeats the scene again and again, changing the contents of the components to reveal qualitative changes in the complexes. The components become correlatives that guide the reader in keeping account of changes in John. The matrix and its com ponents remain relatively fixed throughout and underlie the fundamental archi tectonics of the novel, but the contents of the components change. Thus, Fielding fictionalizes the changes in John's psyche. The components of the matrix do not function in isolation to communicate trans formation. They are fleshed out and supported by an elaborate texture of smaller units, of cross-references, among the novel's image patterns, direct statements, word-plays, allusions, and the like. These details intertwine to amplify, extend, deepen, validate, and enrich the insight gained from the corre latives of John's psychological growth. Transformation is the key word for the novel both technically and thematically as the detailed analysis that makes up much of this study reveals. Other techniques are employed to communicate the psychological theme. Fielding establishes a doubling pattern--characters are paired (John and Victoria, John and Greenbloom), oppositions are utilized (noise and silence, inertia and activity)--to emphasize. the role of the conscious and the unconscious and the negative and positive polarities implicit in many psychological principles. He superimposes details to reveal growing psychic integration, he juxtaposes actions to heighten contrasting psychic forces at work, he recapitulates incidents to reveal the lessened power of earlier threatening complexes, and he freezes actions to communicate psychic arrest. Fielding has his protagonist describe much of what he does: John sees other characters as being "inside" himself and explains that "things that happen to you are you." Fielding manipulates his technique forcing it to function expressively to reveal the psychological processes at work in John's gradually developing maturity. His description of growth from boyhood to manhood and from emotional crippling to psychic health employs a variety of ways to dramatically communicate transformation and suggests a similarity between the dynamics of the psyche and the dynamics of literary technique. TRANSFORMATIONAL TECHNIQUE IN GABRIEL FIELDING'S IN THE TIME OF GREENBLOOM Abstract of the Dissertation Gabriel Fielding's In the Time of Greenbloom is a major twentieth century novel that has received little critical attention. With its dramatic plot and colorful characters, it has an immediate surface appeal for most readers. The novel requires deeper, symbolical reading in order to rea~h its central ·theme, man's potential for transformation. John Blaydon, the protagonist, is a very different young man at the end of the novel from the child he is at the beginning. His activities, the narrative base of the novel, reveal more than the external events of his life. Fielding uses them as objectifications of confrontations that occur within John's psyche. As the novel opens, John is regressive, uncertain of his sexual identity, and suicidal. During the following six years, he undergoes a series of traumatic encounters within his psyche made con crete in the details of the novel. As a result of the confrontations, John is transformed into a young man grow ing into healthful maturity and hovering on the edge of creative accomplishment. The process by which Fielding communicates psycho ·logical change is the establishment in the first chapter of a matrix, the scene at the Bellingham lake and woods, a fictional embodiment of John's psyche. That scene is made up of components such as characters, settings, actions, and motifs that symbolize John's psychological complexes. In a technique of transformation, Fielding repeats the scene again and again, changing the contents of the compon ents to reveal qualitative changes in the complexes. The components become correlatives that guide the reader in ! keeping account of changes in John. The matrix and its components remain relatively fixed throughout and underlie the fundamental architectonics of the novel, but the con tents of the components change. Thus Fielding fictionalizes the changes in John's psyche. The components of the matrix do not function in isolation to communicate transformation. They are fleshed out and supported by an elaborate texture of smaller units, of cross-references, among the novel's image patterns, direct statements, word-plays, allusions, and the like. These details intertwine to amplify, extend, deepen, vali date, and enrich the insight gained from the correlatives of John's psychological growth. Transformation is the key word for the novel both technically and thematically as the detailed analysis that makes up much of this study reveals. Other techniques are employed to communicate the psychological theme. Fielding establishes a doubling pattern--characters are paired (John and Victoria, John and Greenbloom), oppositiohs are utilized (noise and silence, inertia and activity)--to emphasize the role of the conscious and the unconscious and the negative and positive polarities implicit in many psychological principles. He superimposes details to reveal growing psychic integration, he juxtaposes actions to heighten con trasting psychic forces at work, he recapitulates incidents to reveal the lessened power of earlier threatening com plexes, and he freezes actions to communicate psychic arrest. Fielding has his protagonist describe much of what he does: John sees other characters as being "inside" himself and explains that "things that happen to you are you." Fielding manipulates his technique, forcing it to function expressively to re~eal the psychological processes at ·work in John's gradually developing maturity. His description of growth from boyhood to manhood and from emotional crippling to psychic health employs a variety of ways to dramatically communicate transformation and suggests a similarity between the dynamics of the psyche and the dynamics of literary technique. ACKNOWLEDGMENT For guidance and encouragement throughout the preparation of this dissertation, I wish to thank my teacher and friend, Dr. Louis H. Leiter, whose advice greatly assisted me. ii CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter One L'APRES-MIDI" ..... ·.....•........ 12 Chapter Two THE FIRST WEDDING 51 Chapter Three IN DANBEY DALE 89 Chapter Four THE TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESS . • . 117 Chapter Five TRANSFORMATION AS TECHNIQUE . 164 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 184 iii INTRODUCTION Gabriel Fielding's novel In the Time of Greenbloom covers John Blaydon's life from his twelfth to his eight eenth year. It is a dramatic narrative describing the colorful e~ents and dynamic personalities that influence John in his growth to manhood. But it is more than a good story. Concerned with man's psychological .nature and

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