The Black Platonism of David Lindsay

Spring 3-15-1993

Encounter Darkness: The Black Platonism of David Lindsay

Adelheid Kegler

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Recommended Citation

Kegler, Adelheid (1993) "Encounter Darkness: The Black Platonism of David Lindsay," Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 19 : No. 2 , Article 3.

Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol19/iss2/3

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Abstract

Characterizes Lindsay as a “belated symbolist” whose characters are “personiﬁcations of ontological values.” Uses Neoplatonic “references to transcendence” but his imagery and technique do not suggest a positive view of transcendence.

Additional Keywords

Lindsay, David—Neoplatonism; Lindsay, David—Philosophy; Lindsay, David. A Voyage to Arcturus; Neoplatonism in David Lindsay

This article is available in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic

Literature: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol19/iss2/3

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A O e U > e iO k e q L G

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H e is a belated sym bolist, th ou gh , for th e m ain bod y of his oeuvre has been w ritten in th e Tw en ties and early Thirties of this centu ry. Th e social atm osp h ere of his novels reflects the atm osp h ere of this p eriod m ost lively and in tensively. But, far aw ay from m erely rep resen tin g the p eop le of th at p eriod (as is th e case in th e early novels of Evelyn W au gh), Lin d say's characters are stressed by a sort of "m axim alism " w hich resu lts from th eir bein g personifications of on tological valu es. Th eir talks and actions hard ly hid e the brood in g m on ologu es of th eir au thor stand ing behin d them . Lin d say's last w ork, The Witch, is — with its transform ation of an actu al p lot in to m ystic vision — m ythical representation of philosophical perceptions, and a transform ation of th ose p erceptions into philosophical theory — an im pressing exam p le of such a technique. The Voyage to Arcturus, Lind say's first w ork, show s in p rincip le the sam e traits.

I: The Essential Experience of Existence in
Lin d say's CEuvre.

All visible objects, man, are but pasteboard masks. But in each event - in the living act, the undoubled deed there, some unknow n but still reasoning thing puts forth the mould ings of its features from behind the unreasoning mask! How can the prisoner reach outside except by thrusting through the wall? (Moby Dick, 262)
-
Cap tain A h ab's w ord s cou ld h ave been sp oken by one of Lin d say's characters: his characters, too, are overcom e by the exp erience of the in p enetrability, th e very rid d le of

existen ce; by the feeling of bein g in

a

p rison, by the

agon izing d esire to break th rou gh its w alls, to m eet the challenge of th e u n know n in w hich th ere is a forebod ing — in sp ite of the d enseness, th e in scru tability of the w orld . Th e p ictu res of the Am erican p ain ter Ed w ard H opper, Lin d say's contem p orary, seem to be inspired by a sim ilar exp erience of life. Th e ap ocalyp tic light sh inin g on his everyd ay objects, d oes not com e from th e context of this w orld . Th e actu al d ram a of w hich it is the particip ant, is taking p lace in som e oth er w orld ; its events, w hose m eanin gs are herald ed by the reflection of that ligh t on earthly hou ses and earthly lan d scap es, a r e— as the on -looker feels
A fu rther featu re of Lin d say's w orks lies in th e fact that they can be categorized as "an agogical w orks of art."2

Thou gh Lind say, as a p hilosop h er, is

a

p essim ist, though

his concep tion of the w orld is stigm atized by an op p ressin g d u alism , his w orks are m arked by th e in tention to be "elevatin g" (Sketch Notes for

a

New System of Philosophy,

hereafter NNSP, 192.) Bu t u n like the Pythagorean-Platon ic trad ition w hich carries the id ea of th e an agogical w ork of art in th e w estern trad ition, Lin d say d oes n ot elevate his read er, w ho follow s him con fu sed , stu p efied and relu ctantly in to the labyrinth of his im ages and th ou gh ts, to the "region s of the etern al, w hole, p u re and d iv in e,"3 bu t he m od ifies th at exp erience by lead in g h im to su ffering. The

—

in an enigm atic conn ection w ith ou r ow n lives.

The Belgian pain ter Jam es Sidney Ensor shou ld here be m entioned , too; his contrasting of tw o w orld s, the world of the m asks w hich hid e skeletons only, and the world of the pure, unstained id eal at w hich the painter stretches ou t his hands; in vain, for — as he is forced to see by the eyes of this

su fferin g consists in reach in g

a

very h igh vantage p oin t,

world

—

he is only able to perceive the ideal world as an

and to see, neverth eless, nothin g. Th e read er has to live throu gh the sam e situ ation as th e p rotagon ist of A Voyage to Arcturus: to be "N igh tsp ore in Torm en ts."4 "Is not the illusion.1Once the read er or on-looker has familiarized him - self w ith this situation, w ith this atm osp here, he will recognize it as characteristic of the late nineteenth and early tw entieth centuries, represented in m any varieties: in the late novels of Dickens, e.g. Edwin Drood or Great Expectations; in the sinister novels of the Germ an author Wilhelm Raabe (Stopfkuchen); in both th e theories and the lyrics of the Russian sym bolists; and in the poetry of Charles Baudelaire.

love of w isd om

a

p ractice of d eath ?" asks Socrates in

Plato's Phaedo. (64a)

Th is qu estion is answ ered b y Socrates in th e follow in g sense: to d ie is a liberation from th e w orld of the bod y into the w orld of the sou l, into d ivin e being; th at is, the p h ilosop h er

a

tran sform ation of h u m an being

w hile still

—

Lin d say's ceume is conn ected w ith this state of con-

sciou sness. Th e gravitation into the m etap hysical w hich is the genus proprium of his w orks, the over-sharp ou tline of his figu res, his enigm atic d im ensionality and tem porality, his am bigu ou s relation to both, th e Rom antic period , the Platonic trad ition, as w ell as to m od em m echanism and p essim ism , and fin ally his cryp tic style su ggest that he shou ld be classified as a sym bolist. alive — becom es like th e ever- b ein g, th e u n d ying realm . Thu s the seem ingly n egative m ean in g of the qu estion is changed to the p ositive by th e exp osu re of the stru ctu re of reality; the w eigh t of d eath , th ou gh not losin g th e asp ects of p ain and d aring, is m od ified , alon g w ith th e m aterial w orld . Both are end ow ed w ith a d eep er sense.

Lin d say, as w ill be sh ow n, d oes n ot u n d erstand the

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highest level of reality as "good ," nor as "one," nor as "tru e." Bu t he stresses, in stead , its tran scen d en t ch aracter in such a rad ical m an ner th at th e u n ifyin g elem ents of the Platonic trad ition eith er vanish or lose th eir in term ed iating facu lties. An extrem ely tragical-aristocratic Weltanschauung u nm asks th e reality o f th e m aterial w orld as an illu sion, the stru ctu re of bein g as in coh eren t and the h ighest d im ension of reality as com p reh en sible on ly by th e term s of nonbein g (N N SP 545). In con trast to Plato and esp ecially to the N eop latonic trad ition, w hose referen ces to transcen d ence Lin d say takes over, h e sh ifts to the n egative w hen reality tional conn otations, concep ts, an d con ten ts concern as w ell aesthetic p henom ena as con cep tion s of valu es and on tological d im ensions. O n e o f th e first p henom ena Masku ll is confronted w ith in Torm an ce is a fantastic little creatu re, the size of a new - born lam b, w altzing along on three legs. Each leg in tu rn moved to the front, and so the little m onstrosity proceeded by means of a series of com plete rotations. It w as vivid ly colou red, as though it had been dip ped in to pots of bright blu e and yellow p aint. It looked up with sm all, shining eyes, as they passed (VA 55).

as

a

w hole is p erceived . It is th e u n d erstand in g of the

d istortion in its origin , and of the

Th e p hrasin g "n ew -born lam b" evokes in th e read er

a

w hole of bein g as

a

w hole com p lex of p ositive con n otation s, ch iefly concern-

in g th e Christian trad ition and its ech oin g in W illiam im p ossibility to id en tify the origin of b ein g w ith the one and th e good , th at ap p ears as th e fu n d am en tal p rincip le of stru ctu re in Lin d say's literary and p hilosop h ical ceuvre:

Blake's p oem s. Bu t the p assage su ggests

a

vagu e horror,

origin ally by both th e lack of p u rp ose con cern in g th e m ovem ent and the extrem e colorin g. Th e very root of th at horror lies in th e m ean in g of th e w altz-tim e w hich, as
>■ A t the su rface th at p rin cip le sh ow s itself both b y th e tech niqu e of u sing concep ts and im ages w hich ru n con trary to th e exp ectations of th e read er and by b len d in g the layers o f reality in a labyrin th in e m anner. asym bol of falsification of th e su blim e by Crystalm an , can be fu lly realized not before the very end of th e novel. Connected w ith the blu e-yellow colorin g w hich corresp on d s to the su n s of Torm an ce, an d , accord in g to Lin d - say, to tw o of th e asp ects of (earthly) existen ce,6 the w altzin g anim al rep resents reality d isfigu red in to vexation by Crystalm an; it has, com p ared w ith th e read er's exp ectations, a sign ificant w eight.
>■ W h at is m ore com p lex is th e u se of m ythical m otifs w hich are n ot to be in terp reted in the trad ition al sen se or m ean in g, bu t as "new m yths."
>■ Lin d say's w orld of th ou gh t is th eoretically fou n d ed an d exp licitly clarified in his "negative on tology" w hich h e h im self calls "a new sy stem o f p h ilosop h y " (NNSP, Title), and
In a com p arable m an ner trad itional eth ics are shifted :
"'Well, I understand all that,'" replied Maskull, after listening attentively. 'But what I don't grasp is this — if living creatures here sport so energetically, how does it come about that human beings wear much the same shape in my world?" w hich, con sequ en tly, claim s to be in terp retation of reality as a w hole.

a

unified

Th ese th ree elem ents d istin gu ish Lin d say's art as the exp ression of a m od ern gnosticism . M oreover on e can see in it a strikin g p recu rsor to th e con tem p orary in terest in the gnosticism of late an tiqu ity and th e p u blishin g of its fragm entary sou rces.5 Th e fatefu l backgrou nd of the gnostic heimarmene, th ou gh , is rep laced by the "steel scaffold ing" of m od em and p ost-m od em m echanism .
"I'll explain that too," said Panawe. "All creatures which resemble Shaping must of necessity resemble one another."
"Then sporting is theblind will to become likeShaping?' "Exactly." "It is most wonderful," said Maskull. "...Then the brotherhood of man is not a fable invented by idealists, but a solid fact."(VA, 61)

II: The Artistic and Philosophical Representation of Lindsay's Interpretation of Existence

Th e im p ression is form ed th at th e trad itionally highly p laced valu e of the broth erh ood o f m an is also su p p orted on tologically, b u t w hat really is d on e here, is its on tological d esu bstantiation . Pan aw e's rem ark is, from Lin d say's p oin t of view , in agreem en t w ith reality, bu t h is rem ark
Im a g ery a n d B len d in g of Se v e r a l La y ers of Rea lity Th e characteristic fascin ation issu ing from Lin d say's w orks is conn ected w ith the exp ectation of the read er to

be at the very frin ge of solvin g

a

rid d le. Th is exp ectation

d oesn 't relate to

a

resem blan ce of all hu m an beings w ith

is su ggested by th e typ ical evalu ation of th e observation s,

talks, and exp eriences of th e p rotagon ists, w hich m an ifest them selves in nearly ap horistical form s. Th e read er w ho end eavors to in terp ret th e ap h orism s w ith the help of association s and con n otation s obviou s to h im self, is, h ow - ever n ot able to d o so. Th e key to the system of crisscrosstheir good creator. Sh ap ing-Crystalm an is a sym bol of the sp litting of the origin;7 the "blin d w ill" is th e exp ression of a d esp erate, m isled force of life. Th e "solid fact," therefore,

d oes n ot relate to

a

harm oniou s, h ap p y-m akin g stru ctu re

of being, as the read er m ay exp ect, b u t to its op p osite. Again , the read er d oes n ot com e to th is in sigh t before he has p u t together n u m erou s fu rth er fragm en ts of reflection every on e of w hich reflects an oth er asp ect of the on tological stru ctu re of Lin d say's system .

ing referen ces is n ot easily fou nd ou t; bu t if su ch

a

key is

fou nd , it w ill give a clu e, b u t th at clu e is not necessarily the d ecid in g one. It m ay op en u p a new , u n exp ected entran ce in to the m aze of reflections of th e sym bolical fragm ents.

Th e sh iftin g of m ean in g and the reinterp retations of trad i-

Fu rtherm ore, Lin d say d estroys th e p ictu re of a sensible

CD yTfrLoRe

gated Maskull. "The observatory staff ?”
"More likely travellers like ourselves. They left suddenly." (VA,31)

I S S U 6 72

hierarchy of being. Th e ep isod e of th e rem od elling of m an to tree d u rin g

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