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Dante, Joyce and the Dynamics of Literary Initiation

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Dante, Joyce and the Dynamics of Literary Initiation WRITES OF PASSAGE: DANTE, JOYCE AND THE DYNAMICS OF LITERARY INITIATION Jennifer Margaret Fraser A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Comparative Literature University of Toronto O Copyright by Jennifer Margaret Fraser 1997 National Library Bibliothèque nationale I*I of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive pemettant à la National Libraxy of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othenÿise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract of Doctoral Thesis Writes of Passage: Dante, Joyce and the Dynamics of Literary Initiation Degree of Doctor of Phiiosophy, 1997 Jennifer Margaret Fraser Centre for Comparative Literature University of Toronto Pwgatory XXV k the pivot around which this comparative study of Dante and Joyce revolves. With the exception of doctrinal studies, this canto has mostly been ignored; yet, it is central to the Divine Comedy. Statius tells Virgil and the pilgnm about the development of the embryo up until the moment when a joyfùl Creator breathes in a self-reflecting sou1 and, in that moment, the embryo transforms into a fante, a speaker. In the preceding canto, the Dantean pilgnm recounts that when he senses the spira of Amor, he takes note and records it as poetry. Juxtaposed in the narrative, the divine spira of the embryo canto, and the divine spira inspiring poetics, together establish the essential contribution Purgaiorio XXV makes to the poetics of the Commedia. Through close textual analysis, the following study demonstrates that Dante's definition of his poetic practice focuses attention on the embryo canto. Dante has constmcted his poem so that the final canto---when he encounters God---is superimposed upon the embryo canto where he first encountered God. Thus, the Divine Comedy is a write of passage: the symbolic death at the poem's conclusion corresponds with the retum to the womb of Purgatorio XXV. A Portrait and (nysses resonate with the dynamics of initiation. The term "dynamic" serves to indicate that the write of passage potentially transforms the reader into a writer. Joyce recognizes the implications of Dante's return to the embryo and he integrates it into his own art of textual transformation. An initiatory focus provides a new forum for analyzing and discussing peremial issues, one of the rnost dominant in this study being the complex relationship between the intertext that mentors the literary novice and his need to sever this bond that reiiders him silent while the intertext sings. The question that propels the following study is what sort of initiation does the pilgtim undergo to become the poet? For my beloved parents, with gratitude. Acknowledgments In my own quest in life for initiatory ritual, 1 have had many guides. 1 would like to th& Peter Nesselroth for his direction throughout my whole graduate experience in die Centre for Comparative Literature. His intellectual insight, generous and thoughtful criticism, and kindness has shaped the work at hand and its writer. The other cornmittee members, Amilcare Iannucci, Garry Leonard, and Brian Stock, have also offered great support and inspiration through their teaching, their articles, books, and cofiversations. I have felt privileged to work witli these scholars and have greatly benefitted fiom their encouragement of, and their faith in, this Iiterary project. Two very fine teachers at the University of British Columbia have also influenced this work through their remarkable classes w-hich 1 was lucky enough to attend as an undergraduate and 1 feel compelled to thank: Marguerite Chiarenza and Katherine Sirluck. During the vvriting of my thesis?my husband Thomas Brown and 1 were initiated into mamage and parenthood; this beautihl and fulfilling aspect of my life shapes rny work on al1 levels. Also, my three siblings, in their creativity, integrity, and humour have always inspired me and supported me. Finally, this dissertation is dedicated to my parents, David and Janet Fraser. They are Renaissance patrons, fine, fine parents, and loving guides in my life. This work would never have begun or ended without their support. Table of Contents .. Abstract .................................................................... 11 Acknowledgments ............................................................v Introduction .................................................................1 DanteSection ............................................................... 10 1 Charting the Course of the Embryo ............................................ Il II Poetics of Initiation ........................................................32 III Drowning in the Intertextuai Baptismal Font .................................... 55 IV WriteofPassage .........................................................78 Jo~ceSection............................................................... 101 1 Charting the Course of the Embryo ........................................... 102 II Poetics of Initiation .......................................................130 III nieSirenSongoftheIntertext .............................................. 153 IV WnteofPassage ........................................................ 183 Conclusion ................................................................ 206 La lecture des poètes eut des effets plus bouleversant encore: je ne suis pas sûr que la découverte de l'amour soit nécessairement plus délicieuse que celle de la poésie. Celle -ci me transforma: l'initiation a la mort ne m'introduira pas plus loin dans un autre monde que tel crépuscule de Virgile. Mémoires d'Hadrien, Marguerite Yourcenar vii Introduction The moment that the poet Virgil appears on the scene of the Divine Comedy, in order to assist the pilgrim Dante through a crisis, a significant paradigm shift occurs in intertextual relationships. In a paradoxical reversal of influence, Dante simultaneously reads and writes his source Virgil. At moments, the poet of the Aeneid acts as an initiatory elder who guides the novice Dante through narrative trials; at other moments, Virgil appean in the role of mother fiom whom the pilgrim must textually separate in order to activate rebirth. Dante's revolutionary treatment of intertextual relationships made a telling impression on James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artisr as a Young Man and (nysses bear the rituai scars of a Dantean initiation. I use the term initiation to refer to the metamorphosis fiom pilgnm to poet, or to put this textual transformation into the more forceful ternis of initiatory ritual: the birth of the author supenmposed upon the death of the character.' Menspeaking of Dante's poetry, T. S. Eliot uses the verb "to initiate"; in the sarne essay, when discussing religion he uses the verb "to instnict."' Eliot's provocative verb choice alerts us to the transformation---even a practising Catholic---may seek through reading literature.) Wolfgang Iser regards transformations as integrai to the literq process. He imagines literature staging those aspects of existence which are "sealed off from access." The impulse behind staging results fiom "man's decentered position: we are, but do not have ourselves."' Initiation---whether a ritual or a textual memoir---reacts to this decentered position of being but not having ourselves. Literary initiation seeks to reclaim the self by re-enacting birth and death in order to generate a textual origin and conclusion. The self that is, takes its shape from historicai time, the physicai union of one's parents, the community's beliefs. In contrast, the self that has, participates in a write of passage which deals a death biow to the reading self and thus ailows for the emergence of the writer.5 The initiatory writer holds the protean moment still so that the reader may glimpse the remarkable metamorphosis. Jerome Bruner discusses the transfomative moment in a child's development when he or she recognizes that the ability to narrate one's experience---"telling the right storyW--4sas fiindamental as the event itselE6 The capacity to narrate one's own experience ofien involves drowning out competing narratives (those of a siblhg for instance) which contradict one's interpretation of what happened. Bmer's insight into children's narrative development corresponds with the tension Dante creates between his own story and the competing tale told by Virgil. In Ulysses, Joyce self-reflexively continues the narrative competition. In a Freudian treatrnent of narrative tirne, Peter Brooks argues that the transfomative moment for the child is when he or she takes an active role in the disappearance of the mother, re-enacting in imagination her arrivd and depamire.' The three,
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