“BLESSED ARE THE PURE OF HEART” VARIATIONS ON MAGICAL REALISM IN THE BEAT GENERATION: PATHWAYS TO CRITIQUE AND RESISTANCE BY Copyright 2009 Elizabeth M. Lagarón Submitted to the graduate degree program in English And the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy ______________________ Chairperson, Giselle Anatol Committee members _______________________ Marta Caminero-Santangelo _______________________ Kenneth Irby _______________________ Maryemma Graham _______________________ Yajaira Padilla Date defended: _April 28, 2009 ___ ii The Dissertation committee for Elizabeth Lagarón certifies That this is the approved version of the following dissertation “BLESSED ARE THE PURE OF HEART” VARIATIONS ON MAGICAL REALISM IN THE BEAT GENERATION: PATHWAYS TO CRITIQUE AND RESISTANCE Committee: ______________________ Chairperson, Giselle Anatol _______________________ Marta Caminero-Santangelo _______________________ Kenneth Irby _______________________ Maryemma Graham _______________________ Yajaira Padilla Date approved: __April 28,2009___ iii Abstract This dissertation explores literary depictions of characters experiencing self discovery as they are presented by three of the writers of the Beat Generation: Jack Kerouac, Elise Cowen, and Diane di Prima. Each of the texts—Dr. Sax , Loba , and Cowen’s poetry— demonstrates how disempowered or oppressed characters evolve, learn to define themselves, and discover a truer sense of self during times of war, struggle, conflict or difficulty. The types of oppression the protagonists and speakers face in these texts is wide-ranging and diverse, but magical realism, and variations on the literary themes presented in magical realism, becomes for these writers a weapon their characters employ for critique and for self preservation against the existing social order. Magical elements allow these characters to reflect their realities and—at best—resist those realities. Pan’s Labyrinth is presented here as a model for these specific themes –magic as a tool that can empower the disempowered—and as a lens through which the other texts are read and understood. iv For Michel de Benedictis, the outstanding teacher who introduced me to these “crazy Beatniks.” My life has never been the same. v Acknowledgements This project would not be possible without the support, feedback, time, and energy I have gotten from my committee. My chair, Dr. Giselle Anatol, thank you for all your energy and encouragement. You’ve seen this project through every phase of its existence, and your guidance has been invaluable to me. Dr. Marta Caminero- Santangelo, your timely responses, suggestions, and insights have really helped this project take shape. I couldn’t have done it without you. Professor Ken Irby and Dr. Maryemma Graham, I have learned so much from both of you. Thank you for your continued support and advice during my graduate career at KU and through this dissertation process. Many thanks also to my family and friends (my framily especially, or those friends that I have adopted as members of my family). Thanks for your patience, love, and support. Ashley, thanks for telling me in December, 2006 about this new movie that I had to see called Pan’s Labyrinth . In a way, you got this ball rolling. Mom, thanks for being awesome. You’re my hero. vi Table of contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................ iii Table of contents .......................................................................................................... vi I. Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 II. Dr. Sax: Magical Realism in a Child’s Mad Universe………….. ........... 29 III. Breaking through the Looking Glass: Grotesque Reflections of Dark Realities in Elise Cowen’s Poetry ............................................................................... 74 IV. Loba: Decentering Patriarchy and Reconstructing the Feminine through Magick ...................................................................................................................... 114 V. Conclusion: The Honored Life ............................................................... 175 Works Consulted ....................................................................................................... 186 1 I. Introduction Y se dice que la princesa descendió al reino de su padre— Y que ahí reino con justicia y bondad por muchos siglos. Que fue amada por sus súbditos…. Y que dejo detrás de sí, pequeñas huellas de su paso por el mundo. Visibles solo para aquel que sepa dónde mirar… 1 There comes a time in every mature person’s life when s/he transitions from childhood to adulthood, from innocence to maturity. For most, this period is adolescence, a period of physical, emotional and intellectual growth. This transition may be private and personal, or it may be the cause for ritual or religious celebration. This growth may occur early for some, while others may not learn who they are or 1 And it is said that the Princess went back to her father’s kingdom— And that she reigned with justice and a kind heart for many centuries. And that she was loved by all her subjects… And, like most of us, she left behind small traces of her time on earth. Visible only to those who know where to look… 2 experience true selfhood and maturity until they are well into adulthood. Others never experience it at all. However, the discovery of self is a time defined by the struggles between personal needs, desires and ambitions, and the existing, often strict and unbending, social order. This formative period of self discovery and maturation is when these struggles are most pronounced, the time that people often decide who they are and who they want to be: when they determine what is acceptable and what is unacceptable, what is right and what is wrong, questioning the social order to that end. This dissertation explores three literary representations of “adolescents,” people going through emotional growth and personal discovery, as these discoveries are presented by three of the writers of the Beat Generation: Jack Kerouac, Elise Cowen, and Diane di Prima. Each of the texts represented here explores issues of subjugation and tyranny, as they each involve characters who are coming of age and learning to define themselves in relation to the world around them in times of conflict, struggle, and strife. The battle for survival, both literally and a more figurative survival of the self, becomes a way of waging war, a subversive fight against a dominant reality. The texts I have chosen to examine showcase protagonists who are unhappy with existing social norms and refuse to eventually conform to those norms, to what Gregory Corso calls a “pleasant prison dream” (64). Traditionally, social barriers would render these characters powerless to fight due to age, social status, and/or gender, but they each have the mental, individual, and artistic integrity and strength to use the tools they have at their disposal. 3 The types of oppressions the protagonists and speakers fight in each text is varied and nuanced 2, but regardless of the specific type of oppression, magic becomes a method of enduring these hardships and of reflecting or critiquing harsh realities, Magic is a concept that is difficult to define since it is something that is often seen as understood, but rarely articulated. Quite simply magic is related to the marvelous, paranormal, and/or supernatural. Magical things and beings go against concepts and constructions of science and nature, and magic is often at odds with logic and religion. This dissertation explores the ways unreal and magical elements interact with the realities in which these protagonists exist. Due to age, place, and social standing, they may not be able to physically strike out against those who would imprison them, but they can strike out with their minds and hearts. They all struggle with issues of personal identity while they fight with forces that would try to define who they are according to the laws of the universe and the realities that surround them. Magic, specifically the varying types of magical realism these writers employ, allows these characters to participate in magical and grotesque worlds that can subvert the dominant social order or critique it by projecting a distorted reflection of that reality. THE ONLY WAR THAT MATTERS IS THE WAR AGAINST THE IMAGINATION ALL OTHER WARS ARE SUBSUMED IN IT 2 The types of oppression the Beat Generation writers specifically combat in their writing— McCarthyism, censorship, consumerism, atomic bombs, etc. — is elaborated on further in Chapter 2. 4 There is no way out of the spiritual battle There is no way you can avoid taking sides (di Prima, Pieces of a Song 160, 47-51) Bold letters tell the reader to wake up, to pay attention. This battle is happening and everyone is a part of it. There’s no way out of it. Diane di Prima, writer of these words, is widely known as the female Beat writer. While most other women of the Beat Generation published their poems and memoirs years after their time with Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs (if their writing was even published in their lifetimes), di Prima was a major player in the Beat revolution as it was happening. The Beat writers saw themselves as challenging social dictates of normative society, thereby taking the struggle to find and define