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Fantasy and Judgment in Ulysses, Lolita, Tiempo De Silencio, and Russkaia Krasavitsa

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Fantasy and Judgment in Ulysses, Lolita, Tiempo De Silencio, and Russkaia Krasavitsa The Artistic Censoring of Sexuality: Fantasy and Judgment in Ulysses, Lolita, Tiempo de silencio, and Russkaia krasavitsa Susan Kathleen Mooney A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Ph-Do Graduate Department of the Centre for Comparative Literature University of Toronto @Susan Kathleen Mooney (2001) National Library Bibliothgque nationak 1*1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde melicence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive pennettant a la National Libmy of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduke' prgter, distrribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/^ de reproduction sur papier ou sur format electronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent 6tre imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract The Artistic Censoring of Sexuality: Fantasy and Judgment in Ulysses, Lolita, Tiempo be sfiencio, and Russkaia krasavitsa. Ph.D. 2001 Susan Kathleen Mooney Centre for Comparative Literature University of Toronto Owing to their artistic treatment of sexuality, James Joyce's Ulysses, Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, Luis Martin- Santos's Tiempo de silencio (Time of Silence), and Viktor Erof eev ' s Russ kaia krasavitsa (Russian Beauty) attracted the attention of censorship. Despite cultural and political differences in the (pre-)publication aspects of these novels' censorship trials or suppressions, the novels share a common ground in their textual use of sexuality to endow the fictional narrative with critical value and meaning. These novels use sexual representation and themes to dramatize the forces and strategies of censorship; their narrative forms heighten the reader's awareness of the need to judge and evaluate the crises in the texts. In these novels, sexual portrayals can be seen in the following ways: (1) as artistic negotiations with ethical values vis-bvis sexuality and the censorial forces of both iii the subject and society; (2) as representations of or references to what cannot or should not be known (das Ding) (thus these particular novels do not strive towards full explicitness; they employ a good deal of allusion and substitution, avoid didacticism, use intertextuality and irony as subterfuges and enrichment of the discourse); (3) as attempts to create contemporary narratives of ethics for the individual (his or her negotiation between the good and the pleasurable) by using sexuality as a value system to be judged; (4) as problematic scenarios in which man questions his relations with women and his set of values for them. Thus, these novels do not provide clear-cut moral premises or resolutions, but rather offer possibilities of complicated interpretation which would require the reader to take on a provisional judgmental role. The reader's role is challenged by the novels' features relating to sexuality because such passages can delight, shock, disgust, enlighten, offend, puzzle (and thus complicate interpretation or judgment). Acknowledgments I gratefully acknowledge the following people for their help in my preparation of this dissertakion: Linda Hutcheon, Edward Chamberlin, Roland Le Huenen, J6rg Bochow, Anthony Percival, Christopher Barnes, Sebastian D- G. Knowles, Christine van Boheemen, Jean-Michel Rabat@, Wendy Rnepper, Eugenio Bolongaro, Garry Leonard, Julian Patrick, Manuel L. Abelldn, Antonio Beneyto, Miguel Cruz Hernandez, Hermann Ermolaev, Edward De Glrazia, Jose Antonio GimtSnez Mic6, Valerii Podoroga, Marianna Tax Choldin, Paul Goldschmidt, Ekaterina Ginieva, Diane Nemec Ignashev, and Thomas Lahusen , Many thanks to the library and archival staffs at the University of Toronto, Nipisszng University, Archivo General in Alcald de Henares, Spain, and at the various state archives visited in Moscow- These last are too numerous to name, but special thanks goes to the prompt and friendly aid by Anastasia A- Kornienko and her associates working under Dr. Ginieva at the Library of Foreign Literatures, Thanks also to Aphrodite Gardner, Bao Nguyen, Maria Elena Valdes, Alison Falby, Barbara Falby, Blythe Malloy, and Les Luka. I apologize for any omissions. I thank the University of Toronto for its support over the years, especially in the form of the Open Fellowship, the Travel Grants, and the Doctoral Finishing Grant. The Centre for Comparative Literature provided some financial support for my travel expenses for conference presentations, many of which were related to the thesis in some way. In addition, I especially recognize my thesis advisor, Mario J. Valdes, for his support and advice. Hearty thanks are offered to the thesis defence committee and participants in preliminary committees for their constructive comments. Finally but foremost, I acknowledge the amazing support of my husband Kees Boterbloem: his patience, loyalty, encouragement, and love have been a source of profound inspiration for me. Table of Contents Abstract Acknowledgments Introduction: The Sense of Censorship Part One: Liberal-Democratic Censoring and the Will to Judgment Chapter One: Circean Censorship: Joyce's Theatre of Judgment in UIysses Chapter Two: Lolita: A Study in the Art of SeKensorship of the Artist as a Pedophile Part Two: Pre-Publication Censoring and the Always Already Guilty Subject's Contract with State Ideology Chapter Three: The Masochistic Pleasure of Censorious Modes of Fantasy: Alienation, Cancer, and Judgment in Tiem~ode silencio Chapter Four: Censorly Yours in Your Phantasy!: Russkaia krasavitsa's Confession of a Porno-Graphed Self Fragmented Conclusion: Censorship of Sexuality: Erotics of an Ethical Activity Works Cited Introduction: The Sense of Censorship Owing to their artistic treatment of sexuality, James Joyce's Ulysses, V1adinKi-r Nabokov's Lolita, Luis Martin- Santos's Tiempo de silencio (Time of Silence), and Viktor Erofeev's Russkaia krasavitsa (Russian Beauty) attracted the attention of censorship-I Despite cultural and political differences in the (pre-)publication aspects of these novels' censorship trials or suppressions, the novels share a common ground in their textual use of sexuality to endow the fictional narrative with critical value and meaning. These novels use sexual representation and themes to dramatize the forces and strategies of censorship; their narrative forms heighten the reader's awareness of the need to judge and evaluate the crises in the texts. In these novels, sexual portrayals can be seen in the following ways: (1) as artistic negotiations with ethical values vis-Z-vis sexuality and the censorial forces of both the subject and society; (2) as representations of or references to what cannot or should not be known (das Dinq) While I have consulted other editions, I use the following editions of these novels for direct quotations. For Ulysses I have used Jeri Johnson's edition of the 1922 text. For Lolita discussions, I make use of The Annotated Lolita (which keeps the pagination of most other Vintage editions), Chapter Three presents a special case: I draw from several editions of Tiempo de silencio in order to indicate differences in the censored and uncensored parts (1962; 1966; 1971; 1981); I use the publication year in order to specify my reference to these various editions (in Spanish all by Seix Barral). While I make some use of George Leeson's translation Time of Silence, I provide my own translation for direct quotations, In the case of Russkaia krasavitsa, I have compared the censored edition and the subsequent uncensored Russian editions of the novel, but for direct quotations Isethe uncensored Russian version of 1994. Andzew Reynolds's English translation, Russian Beauty, is generally satisfactory for direct quotations (although I have occasionally pointed out some nuances in the Russian original for non-Russian readers). (thus these particular novels do not strive towards full explicitness; they employ a good deal of allusion and substitution, avoid didacticism, use intertextuality and irony as subterfuges and enrichment of the discourse2); (3) as attempts to create contemporary narratives of ethics for the individual (his negotiation between the good and the pleasurable) by using sexuality as a value system to be judged; (4) as problematic scenarios in which man questions his relations with women and his set of values for them. Thus, these novels do not provide clear-cut moral premises or resolutions, but rather offer possibilities of complicated interpretation which would require the reader to take on a provisional judgmental role. The reader ' s role is challenged by the novels' features relating to sexuality because such passages are designed to delight, shock, disgust, enlighten, offend, puzzle (and thus can complicate interpretation or judgment ) -3 In making the selection of novels to be discussed, I recognize that there are other &s to write about sexuality in fiction, as a survey of the history of literature easily shows. In the context of the twentieth century, I suggest that
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