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University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 A Xerox Education Company 72-23,104 NOVAK, Robert Lee, 1933- THE NEW MAN, THE LEWIS ELIOT MiW: A STUDY OF THE NARRATOR IN C. P. SNOW'S NOVEL SEQUENCE, STRANGERS AND BROTHERS. The University of Oklahoma, Ph.D., 1972 Language and Literature, modem University Microfilms, A \ERDXCompany, Ann Arbor, Michigan © 1972 ROBERT L. KOVAK ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. THE UNIVERSITY OP OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE THE NEW MAN, THE LEWIS ELIOT MAN: A STUDY OP THE NARRATOR IN C. P. SNOW'S NOVEL SEQUENCE, STRANGERS AND BROTHERS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE PACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OP PHILOSOPHY BY ROBERT L. NOVAK Norman, Oklahoma 1972 THE NEW MM, THE LEWIS ELIOT MM: A STUDY OP THE NAERATOR IN C. P. SNOW'S NOVEL SEQUENCE, STRMGERS M D BROTHERS APPROVED BY DISSERTATION COMMITTEE PLEASE NOTE: Some pages may have indistinct print. Filmed as received. University Microfilms, A Xerox Education Company ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am grateful for the kindness and direction Dr. Alphonse Fritz has given me in the process of writing this essay. The kindness and generosity of Lord Snow leave me speechless. iii TABLE OP CONTENTS Chapter Page INTRODUCTION................................ 1 I. WHAT THE CRITICS SAY ABOUT LEWIS ELIOT 5 II. ANTITHESIS............................... 31 III. THE TWO CULTURES AS SEEN IN THE SEQUENCE BY LEWIS ELIOT................... 74 IV. POINT OP VIEW ................ 126 V. A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME.............. 1^9 VI. THE FATED TEMPERAMENT: FREE WILL, FATE, LUCK, AND IDIOT HOPE................ 201 VII. STYLE IS THE MAN... 237 VIII. THE LEWIS ELIOT CODE. 275 APPENDIX................... 305 BIBLIOGRAPHY .... 310 iv THE NEW MM, THE LEWIS ELIOT MM: A STUDY OP THE NAEBATOR IN C. P. SNOW’S NOVEL SEQUENCE, STRMGERS AI'TD BROTHERS INTRODUCTION C. P, Snow's sequence of eleven novels, "Strangers and Brothers," published from 19^0 to 1970, is narrated by- Lewis Eliot, It tells the story of his own career, from a young-man-from-1he-provinees to old age, fame, and his children grown up. Some of the sequence concentrates on his friends and colleagues in academic, scientific, and poli­ tical circles, but Lewis is always there as confidant, or invaluable friend. One could study the sequence in many ways, such as a social study of the times, a challenge to the experimental novels of Virginia Woolf and James Joyce, an answer to F, R, Leavis' sarcasm that Snow doesn’t begin to be a novelist, as an English version of Proust’s Remem­ brance of Things Past, as examples of how auto-biography can be turned into imaginative fiction. This study will touch on all these facets, but will concentrate on a study of Lewis Eliot, After a survey in Chapter I of the kinds of previous criticism given Lewis Eliot, this paper will look at him in 1 2 seven ways. Chapter II will look at him in terms of a technique ubiquitous in the sequence; the use of antith­ esis, Such antithesis occurs in the sequence in descriptions of situations, tensions between people, surprises in life, the complexity of people, and the differences between ap­ pearances and reality. It is an important clue to how Lewis Eliot understands himself, his world, and his ac­ quaintances. Chapter III approaches Lewis in terms of the now famous argument over the two cultures, science and the humanities. Lewis brings the two cultures together by making the reader love individual members of each culture. Lewis seems a good bridge between the two cultures. Chapter IV looks at Lewis in terms of how point of view in a novel sequence is translated through him. It spends little time discussing the limitations of the first person narrator but elaborates on the aesthetic distance of Snow from his narrator, Lewis' biases, and the reflective intelligence at work in Lewis. Chapter V studies the use of time as perceived by Lewis. The whole sequence is told in retrospect, a middle- aged man looking back at himself as a young man, an old man telling what has happened in the last four or five years, and remembering his whole life in the meantime. The chapter studies how much Lewis is tied to the past, the present, and the future, it studies not only the psychology of his 3 memory but also Snow's technique of "resonances," how Lewis himself finally experiences what he has previously observed. It examines the problem of what Lewis' "compartmentalizing" of his life means, that is, what is happening when one volume which in time overlaps another story pays little attention to the emotional problems studied in the other story. In chapter V is examined the sequence's theme : man's inability to learn except by living. Chapter VI studies Lewis' theories of free will, fate, luck, and optimism and how he sees his life as in­ fluenced by them. Chapter VII claims that the narrator is revealed through his style. It assumes that Snow might manage any kind of style he wishes but that he has deliberately chosen a style to reveal the life style, thinking, and the way Lewis comes to terms with life. The facets of style studied are imagery, diction, and several special sentence patterns. The final chapter analyzes the code of Lewis, sum­ marizing ideas from Chapters II to VII which are part of this code. It tries to tie the code to the title of the whole sequence, "Strangers and Brothers." The bibliography pertinent to this study does not include Snow's novels outside the eleven volume sequence. It does include a comprehensive survey of Snow's comments in his own person on problems touched by the ideas or techniques in the novels as well as a comprehensive survey of reviews, articles, and books on the novels by the critics. It omits the numerous book reviews and articles by Snow which do not concern the sequence. I have studied the copious criticism arising out of the Rede Lecture; but, since I found little of it relevant to the sequence, I have omitted almost all of it from the bibliography and worked in Chapter III from the Lecture itself. I cite nothing in the bibliography which I have not read myself. The Appendix consists of two letters. The first one is one I sent to Lord Snow after I had written the first draft of the dissertation. In it I ask him about certain points on which only he could have information. The other is his gracious reply. In it several textual details are clarified; he gives his opinion on the best criticism of his work; he supports my theories on the theme of the sequence and the true perspective to be given the Rede Lecture. CHAPTER I WHAT THE CRITICS SAI ABOUT LEWIS ELIOT The critics look at Lewis Eliot, the narrator of C. P. Snow's sequence, "Strangers and Brothers," in two ways; as a vehicle for point of view, i.e., narrator, of the sequence, and as a man in his own right. Usually the one view involves the other. What kind of problems will the author have in presenting eleven novels, closely autobio­ graphical, told by the same narrator? How does Snow handle or mishandle these problems? What is the reader's reaction to Lewis as a presence, as a man, as the hero in a success story? Some examination of the reviews, especially of the last novel in the sequence. Last Things, will show the usual reactions of the critics. The Life review, typical of totally admiring reviews, essentially gives no attention to Lewis Eliot. It concentrates on Snow's generous spirit and "enviable ease," in handling the two cultures.^ In Saturday Review, which usually gives Snow's novels high admiration (exception: Corridors of Power), Robert Morris has much to say for Snow's optimism but is of two minds about Lewis.

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