Ecological Objects in American Poetry
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Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 12-8-2014 12:00 AM Dirty Modernism: Ecological Objects in American Poetry Michael D. Sloane The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Joshua Schuster The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in English A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Michael D. Sloane 2014 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the African American Studies Commons, American Literature Commons, American Material Culture Commons, Animal Studies Commons, Continental Philosophy Commons, Modern Literature Commons, and the Nature and Society Relations Commons Recommended Citation Sloane, Michael D., "Dirty Modernism: Ecological Objects in American Poetry" (2014). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 2572. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/2572 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DIRTY MODERNISM: ECOLOGICAL OBJECTS IN AMERICAN POETRY (Monograph) by Michael Douglas Sloane Graduate Program in English A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Michael Douglas Sloane 2015 Abstract This dissertation examines how early-to-mid twentieth century American poetry is preoccupied with objects that unsettle the divide between nature and culture. Given the entanglement of these two domains, I argue that American modernism is “dirty.” This designation leads me to sketch what I call “dirty modernism” – a sort of symptom of America’s obsession with cleanliness at the time – which includes the registers of waste, energy, animality, raciality, and sensuality. Reading these registers, I turn to what I call “ecological objects,” or representations of how nature and culture come together, which includes trash, natural resources, inanimals, and tools. Undergirding my study is the notion of dirt. Dirt is potential junk, but something of value. It is this tension that I use as a heuristic for reading how American modernist poetry brings aesthetics and environment together. Drawn to things, American poetry is a receptacle for a wide range of nonhuman, inanimate objects, and modernist poetics has an ambivalent obsession with the persistence of this inanimacy. Through an ecocritical mode of analysis, one that understands that nature is not just green, I introduce dirty modernism with the Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. In chapter 1, I turn to William Carlos Williams’ relationship with waste and explore what it means to be a literary dumpster diver, or someone who analyzes debris with specific attention to trash-like forms. In chapter 2, I explore the energy humanities and show how natural resources inform Gertrude Stein’s poetry. In chapter 3, I theorize what I call the “inanimal,” which registers the tension between life and death through an exploration of animal objecthood in a wide range of modernist poetry. In chapter 4, I read the work of Claude McKay, Sterling A. Brown, and Jean Toomer to investigate a crisis around the interchange of African American workers and their labour and tools. Here, I explain how a sticky form of relationality informs an ecopoetics that provocatively brings together human, object, and environment in a racialized, American context. To conclude, I return to the Baroness and offer some final thoughts, which are followed by a coda on dirty modernism’s plastic futures. ii Keywords American Literature, modernism, poetry, ecocriticism, objects, dirtiness. iii Acknowledgements To start, I would like to thank my family. Without them, I would not be who or where I am today. From my father’s insight to my mother’s laugh to Steven’s humour to Tyler’s energy, I am so grateful for having them in my life. Next, I want to thank my partner, Melanie Cancade, for her love and care over the years. There are not enough words to describe how important you are to me. To my friends, I cannot help but think of the words of Alex Chilton, which ring true: “Thank you, friends, / Wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you / I’m so grateful / For all the things you helped me do.” Specifically, I would like to thank Brad Bannon, Tim DeJong, Chris Heron, Dave Hickey, Casey Irvin, Pavan Moondi, Stephanie Rade, Efraim Tsarfati, Brian Weadick, Andrew Weanus, and Andrew Weiss for being there. And, of course, a special thank you to Rasmus Simonsen, you are a gift. There are a number of people at Western University that I would like to thank, too. First, I want to thank Joshua Schuster, my supervisor, for his patience and persistence over the years; thoughtfully challenging me in every which way, you have greatly contributed to my growth as a scholar. Second, I want to thank Thy Phu for her unending support. I would be lost without your caring, critical words. Third, I want to acknowledge Stephen Adams, who has offered me sage advice and acted as a guide to knowledge. Fourth, I want to thank my other readers – Michael O’Driscoll and Kelly Wood – for their time and invaluable feedback. There are many others at Western who have offered so much through conversation, feedback, patience, and more, including Steven Bruhm, Phil Glennie, Miranda Green-Barteet, David Huebert, Zeinab Mcheimech, Mary Helen McMurran, Tina Northrup, Stephanie Oliver, Peter Schwenger, Kate Stanley, Leanne Trask, Bryce Traister, Mary Eileen Wennekers, and others. I am also greatly indebted to the province of Ontario for providing me with several scholarships and financial support over the years. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge October May, or Tobie, a rescue greyhound who has brought so much joy into my life. iv Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Keywords ........................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ v List of Plates ...................................................................................................................... vi Introduction: Dirty Modernism ........................................................................................... 1 Notes ............................................................................................................................ 14 Chapter 1: Dumpster Diving William Carlos Williams .................................................... 29 Notes ............................................................................................................................ 55 Chapter 2: Energizing Gertrude Stein ............................................................................... 72 Notes ............................................................................................................................ 99 Chapter 3: The Inanimal ................................................................................................. 105 Notes .......................................................................................................................... 131 Chapter 4: Sticky Black Tools ........................................................................................ 137 Notes .......................................................................................................................... 161 Conclusion: Uncleaning Modernism .............................................................................. 166 Coda: Plastic Futures .................................................................................................. 169 Notes .......................................................................................................................... 173 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 175 Curriculum Vitae ............................................................................................................ 200 v List of Plates Plate 1: The New Masses June 1931 ............................................................................... 148 Plate 2: The New Masses March 1930 ............................................................................ 149 Plate 3: The New Masses March 1930 ............................................................................ 149 vi Dung and dirt more admirable than was dream’d… –Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself” vii 1 Introduction: Dirty Modernism She wore trash. Adorned with tomato cans, celluloid rings, teaspoon earrings, American stamps, and a taillight, the German-born Baroness Elsa von Freytag- Loringhoven walked the streets of New York during the early twentieth century (Gammel, Baroness Elsa 3). The Baroness is remembered as William Carlos Williams’ notorious lover, who attacked him on more than one occasion, but is otherwise forgotten.1 Compared to Williams, she is at the margins of modernism.2 I start with