Anthony Burgess and God, Faith and Evil, Language and the Ludic in The
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AR'DIOllY BORGBSS Al1D GOD: PAI.'l'H ARD BVIL, LAlGDAGB .Am> 'l'BB UJDIC IB 'l'BB ROVBLS OP A lmlnCDDB 1fORDBOY BY DARRYL ARTBORY 'l'ORClllA A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTBR OP ARTS Department of Re1.igion University of llani.toba Winni.peg, llani.toba (C) May, 1997 National Library Bibliotheque nationale l+I of Canada duC8nada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellingtan S1Net 395.. rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ollawa ON K1A ON4 C8nada c.nllda The author bas granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distnbute or sell reproduire, prater, distnbuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, 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 from it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son penmss1on. autorisation. 0-612-23530-0 Canadrt THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES ***** COPYRIGHT PERMISSION PAGE AllrllORY BDGBSS MD GOD: PAITH A1ID EVIL, LAllGIJAGB AllD 1'llE LUDIC BY NRRYJ. All'1BOllY '?OaCllIA. A Thesis/Practicum submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The Univenity of Manitoba in partial f11Uillment of the requirements of the degree of lfASTBa OF AUS Darryl Aadaaay Torchi-1997 (c) Permission has been granted to the Library of ne Univenity of Manitoba to lend or sell copies of this thesis/practicum, to the National Library or Canada to microfilm this thesis and to lend or sell copies of the film, and to Dissertations Abstracts International to publish an abstract of this thesis/practicum. The author reserves other publication rights, and neither this thesis/practicum nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's written permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLBDGMBNTS ii ABBREVIATIONS iii INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER. ONB : THB SUFFERING HtJMAH BODY 14 CHAPTER '!WO: PERSONAL CONSCIENCE AND THB MONOLITH 47 CHAPTER THREE: WORDBOYS AND WORLDVIBWS: THE ARTIST AND SOCIETY 86 CHAPTER FOUR: AT WAR WITH ROME 142 CONCLUSION 175 BIBLIOGRAPHY 184 t t f i ABSTRACT In this thesis, a detailed study of religious and ethical themes in selected novels by the late British writer, Anthony Burgess, will be undertaken. I will demonstrate that his work contains a consistent ethical worldview, manifested both in the situations of crisis his protagonists face, and in his attitude towards the responsibility and duty of the professional writer. His emphasis on the importance of compassion, responsibility and humor in a world of moral dualism will be shown to be consistently present in a broad range of fictional genres and literary styles, ranging from dystopian speculative fiction to biographical novels. The thesis will be organized thematically to reflect his novels about four separate areas of concern: individual responses to human suffering, personal autonomy in the face of coercive institutions, the role of the artist in society, and the problem. of faith in postconciliar Roman Catholicism. A diverse range of critics, in keeping with these various themes, will be consulted in order to give increased depth and relevance to this study. It is hoped that the conclusion will demonstrate that Burgess's work presents a coherent and consistent phi~osophy of moral decision making. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The undertaking of this challenging thesis was made much more enjoyable and intellectual.ly rewarding by the inspiring breadth of vision, enthusiasm and patience of my advisor, Dr. Dawne Mccance. Her thoughtful couments and her generosity with her time and attention assisted me greatly in overcoming many roadblocks and difficu1ties. I am also profoundly grateful to the other members of my committee, Dr. Robin Hoople, Dr. Klaus Klostermaier and Dr. Carl Ridd, three distinguished scholars whose wisdom and encouragement have made them trusted mentors and . l. facilitators of my late-blooming academic career . I' ,.ii.: This program of studies might never have been achieved ! r... !\, were it not for the example and encouragement of my beloved wife, Dr. Adela DiUbaldo Torchia, who blazed the trail for me and helped me to stay focused and disciplined. To her and to my parents, Tony and Eileen Torchia, who always believed I wou1d end up as some sort of a writer, I dedicate this thesis. I also express my love and gratitude to my children, Elizabeth and Andrew, and to my grandson, Gordon, born during the writing of this work, for their cooperation, encouragement and patient acceptance of their eccentric student parents. iii ABBREVIATIONS AA ABBA ABBA co A C1ockwork Orange CTBB The C1ockwork Testament or Bnderby's End DIS The Doctor Is Sick DMD A Dead Man in Deptford E Enderby EP Barth1y Powers EWN The Bnd of the world News LWBG Little Wilson and Big God NLS Nothing Like the Sun: A Story of Shakespeare• s Love Life UC Urgent Copy WS The Wanting Seed YHYT You've Had Your Time, Being the Second Part of the Confessions of Anthony Burgess INTRODUCTION' BIOGRAPHY AND FICTION "It happened a long time ago,n I said. "And I don't know whether you, Your Grace, would understand this, but writers of fiction often have difficulty in deciding between what really happened and what they imagine as having happened. That is why, in my sad trade, we can never rea1ly be devout or pious. We lie for a living. This, as you can imagine, makes us good believers -- credulous, anyway. But it has nothing to do with faith." [BP, p. 16] The delineation of oneself at such length must look like egocentricity, but an autobiography has to be egocentric. On the other hand, what do we mean by the ego? It is an existential concept, I believe, and the ego I examine is multiple and somewhat different from the ego that is doing the examining. Even the ego that began the book in September 1985 is not the one that has completed it in 1986. In other words, the book is about someone else, connected by the ligature of a conmon track in time and space to the writer of this last segment of it, which cheats and looks like the first ••.. As a good deal of real life has got into my fiction, I forbear to unscramble it all into what has been fabled by the daughters of memory, though I have unscrambled some. [LWBG, p. viii] These two caveats, the first from a novel and the second from the preface to the first volume of his autobiography, must remain in clear focus in any study of 1 2 the writings of Anthony Burgess. Like many of his contemporary fellow novelists (Kurt Vonnegut, John Barth and John Irving come to mind), Burgess ransacked his life experiences and personal obsessions for novelistic plots, incidents and characters. Unlike the authors mentioned, however, he does not explicitly let the reader know when he is insinuating himse1f into the text. The narrator, the nI" of the novel, is never exactly John Anthony Burgess Wilson. The incidents and characters the narrator recounts bear family resemblances to incidents and characters encountered in the author's autobiography, but similarities of name and locale can blind the reader to carefully modulated differences in emphasis and pu~ose. Similarly, _the reader of Burgess's two-volume autobiography receives the impression of being in the hands of an unreliable guide with ulterior motives. Although brutally candid in recounting his failures of charity, fidelity and honesty throughout a long and eventful life, Burgess is manifestly in love with the revelatory punch line, the fine1y crafted d"1ouement. We are not surprised when an elderly public figure,_ summing up a life filled with controversies and rivalries, attempts to have the last word before approaching death ends the colloquy. But few memoirs are written by individuals with either Burgess's great narrative talent or his cantankerous moral certitude. And many of the incidents and encounters he recalls for us have 3 already been altered subtly by their inclusion in the plots of one or more novels. Not only has art imitated life - art has mitigated life-writing. The Burgess we are left with is a palimpsest, partialiy erased and reinscribed with a blend of memory, metaphor and mimesis. A bare-bones chronology of his life, like the one provided by John J. Stinson [1991, pp. xi-xii], at least allows us to frame this palimpsest. John Burgess Wilson, later to add the "Anthony" at his confirmation, was born February 25, 1917, in Manchester, England. He lost his mother and sister, his only siblingr to an influenza epidemic in 1919. Graduating from Manchester University with a B.A. (honors) in English literature in 1940, he served in the British Army for six years, mostly in educational posts, including three years in Gibraltar. He married Llewela (Lynn) Isherwood Jones in 1942. Burgess worked at various teaching posts from 1946 to 1954, while beginning to write. From 1954 to 1959 he served as an education officer in Ma1aya and Borneo (Brunei), during 'l which time he published Time for a Tiger, the first volume f. ~ . r •• r of his Ma.layan Tri1ogy, and his first published novel r • (1956).