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Metafiction, Historiography, and Mythopoeia in the Novels of John Fowles

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Metafiction, Historiography, and Mythopoeia in the Novels of John Fowles METAFICTION, HISTORIOGRAPHY, AND MYTHOPOEIA IN THE NOVELS OF JOHN FOWLES A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Michelle Phillips Buchberger School of Arts, Brunel University February 2009 Abstract This thesis concerns the novelist John Fowles and analyses his seven novels in the order in which they were written. The study reveals an emergent artistic trajectory, which has been variously categorized by literary critics as postmodern. However, I suggest that )RZOHV¶VZRUNLVPRUHFRPSOH[DQGVLJQLILFDQWWKDQVXFKDUHGXFWLYHDQGVLPSOLVWLFODbel would suggest. Specifically, this study argues that )RZOHV¶VZRUNFRQWULEXWHVWRWKH reinvigoration of the novel form by a radical extension of the modernist project of the literary avant-garde, interrogating various conventions associated with both literary realism and the realism of the literary modernists while still managing to evade a VXEMHFWLYHUHODWLYLVP2ISDUWLFXODULQWHUHVWWRWKHVWXG\LV)RZOHV¶VWUeatment of his female characters, which evolves over time, indicative of an emergent quasi-feminism. This study counters the claims of many contemporary literary FULWLFVWKDW)RZOHV¶VZRUN cannot be reconciled with any feminist ideology. Specifically, I highlight the increasing FHQWUDOLW\RI)RZOHV¶VIHmale characters in his novels, accompanied by a growing focus on the mysterious and the uncanny. )RZOHV¶VZRUNLQFUHDVLQJO\DVVRFLDWHVmystery with creativity, femininity, and the mythic, suggests that mystery is essential for growth and change, both in society and in the novel form itself, and implies that women, rather than men, DUHQDWXUDOO\SUHGLVSRVHGWRHPEUDFHLW)RZOHV¶VQRYHOVUHIOHFWDZRUOGYLHZWKDW challenges an over-reliance on the empirical and rational to the exclusion of the mysterious and the intuitive. I suggHVWWKDW)RZOHV¶VQRYHOVHYLQFH an increasingly mythopoeic realism, constantly testing the limits of what can be apprehended and articulated in language, striving towards a realism that is universal and transcendent. Contents Chapter 1²Context and Methodology 1 Fowles and Literary Modernism 1 .HUPRGH¶V'LVWLQFWLRQEHWZHHQ3DO R- and Neo-Modernism 11 Mythopoeia, Historiography, and Metafiction 26 Biographical Details and Critical Reception 34 Key Works of Criticism 45 Organization of Subsequent Analysis 50 Chapter 2²Exploration and Experimentation 53 The Magus 59 The Collector 86 7KH)UHQFK/LHXWHQDQW¶V:RPDQ 108 Chapter 3 - Reflection and Anticipation 123 The Ebony Tower 131 Daniel Martin 149 Chapter 4 - Culmination and Resolution 175 Mantissa 183 A Maggot 198 Chapter 5 - Conclusion 219 Works Cited 232 Primary Sources 232 Fiction 232 Translations 232 Non-fiction 232 Secondary Sources 233 Acknowledgements I am very grateful to the Harry Ransom Centre for the Humanities, University of Austin, Texas, for granting me access to the John Fowles and Ray Roberts collections. I would like to thank all the people who have helped me on this long journey, in particular Professor Philip Tew and Dr Nick Hubble of Brunel University, and Dr Tammy Clewell of Kent State University, Ohio. In addition, my grateful thanks go to Dr Keith Groff for his unwavering support and to Franklin University who helped financially via the Pete Giuliani Award. Above all, thanks to Dave and Josh for their endless patience and words of encouragement. 1 C H A P T E R 1 ² C O N T E X T A N D M E T H O D O L O G Y We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.1 Fowles and Literary Modernism In the HSLORJXHWR-RKQ)RZOHV¶VODVWQRYHOA Maggot (1985), in what proved to be his final published words of fiction, the writer dedicated the book to an unusual UHFLSLHQW,QWULJXLQJO\WKLV³FRQYLQFHGDWKHLVW´2 chose to close his final novel JHVWXULQJ³WRD IRUPRI&KULVWLDQLW\´37KH8QLWHG6RFLHW\RI%HOLHYHUVLQ&KULVW¶V 6HFRQG$SSHDULQJEHWWHUNQRZQDVµ7KH6KDNHUV¶7KLVGHGLFDWLRQLVUHYHDOLQJ severally, indicative of the complexity and contradictory nature of the writer and his work. First it is significant that the dedication acknowledges )RZOHV¶VUHVSHFWIRU the Shakers¶ ³VWULNLQJIHPLQLVP´DQGIRU his EHOLHI³>«@WKDWD+RO\7ULQLW\WKDWKDV QRIHPDOHFRPSRQHQWFDQQRWEHKRO\´4, since several feminist critics, to whom I will refer specifically belRZKDYHIRXQGPXFKRI)RZOHV¶VZRUNLQFRPSDWLEOHZLWK such a professed feminist ideology. Second his acknowledgment of the Shakers is revealing because it both foregrounds and problematises the male-dominated Trinity. Interestingly it is a triad or trinity of central characters, with various combinations of men and women, that is structurally central to most of )RZOHV¶VQRYHOV, including the last. In A Maggot, the central triangular relationship comprises a woman and two men: the prostitute, Rebecca Lee, putative mother of Shaker founder, Ann Lee; Mr Bartholomew, who 1 76(OLRW³/LWWOH*LGGLQJ´IURP³7KH)RXU4XDUWHWV´76(OLRWCollected Poems 1909- 1962 (London: Faber and Faber, 1983), 222. 2 John Fowles, A Maggot (London: Jonathan Cape, 1985), 456. All future references pertain to this edition. 3 Ibid., 455. 4 Ibid., 456. 2 KRSHVWRXQFRYHUWKHP\VWLFDOVHFUHWVRIKLV³OLIH¶VPHULGLDQ´5 by re-enacting a P\VWLFDOULWXDOLQ'ROOLQJ¶V&DYHDQGKLVPXWHPDQVHUYDQW'LFN7KXUORZ7KLV FUXFLDOµWULQLW\¶ reconfigures that of The Magus (1966), his first novel. An extract from The Key to the TarotZKLFKDSSHDUVEHIRUHWKLVQRYHO¶VWLWOHSDJHLQLWVILUVW edition (Fowles would revise The Magus in 1977), emphasizes the significance and constituent roles played by a man and two women in this particular configuration: ³7KH0DJXV0DJLFLDQRU-XJJOHUWKHFDVWHURIWKHGLFH>@%HQHDWKDUHURVHVDQG OLOLHV´6 The central female characters of the novel are, or at least first appear to protagonist Nicholas UrIHWREH³/LO\´DQG³5RVH´6XFKFRPELQDWLRQVRI FKDUDFWHUVGRPLQDWHKLVZRUNMXVWDVWKH\DVWKH\GRPLQDWHG)RZOHV¶VHDUO\OLIH and I suggest that they be considered a central element of any informed reading of his fiction. Perhaps the complex and FRQWUDGLFWRU\QDWXUHRI)RZOHV¶VZRUNLWVWHQGHQF\WR HOXGHDWWHPSWVDWGHILQLWLRQRUVLPSOLVWLFFDWHJRUL]DWLRQFRXSOHGZLWKWKHZULWHU¶V refusal to acquiesce to notions of political correctness or pander to transient literary tastes, have contributed to his rather contentious relationship with the English literary field in the academy and the decline of his public profile. In contrast, )RZOHV¶VZRUNHQMR\VHQGXULQJFULWLFDODQGFRPPHUFLDOVXFFHVVLQ$PHULFD$V Sarah Lyall noted in her obituary for the writer, Fowles was well aware of this disparity, and he had his own theories for its basis. As she writes, For whatever reason - he always said it was because he was mistrusted by the British literary establishment he had rejected - Mr Fowles was always far more celebrated, both critically and popularly, in the United States than he was in his native country. In America, his books became mainstays of college literature courses while managing to achieve that rare combination: admiring reviews from serious-minded critics and best-VHOOLQJVDOHVLQWKHVWRUHV>«@1RWVRLQ(QJODQGDWOHDVWQRWDOOWKH time. 7 In a 1974 interview with the New York Times, Fowles, barely concealing his bitterness, tried to explain the disparity between his reception in America versus %ULWDLQ³,JHWVODPPHGLQ%ULWDLQ>@,W¶VIRUQRWEHLQJ$QWKRQ\7UROORSHRU&3 5 Ibid., 149. 6 John Fowles, The Magus (New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1965), n.p. 7 6DUDK/\DOO³-RKQ)RZOHV%ULWLVK$XWKRURI$PELJXRXV(QGLQJV'LHVDW´New York Times November 7, 2005, 25. 3 6QRZ,¶PUHDOO\SHUVRQDQRQJUDWD´8 Despite the influence his work has exerted on both British literature specifically and Anglophone literature in general, H[DPSOHVRIZKLFK,ZLOOGLVFXVVLQVXEVHTXHQWFKDSWHUV)RZOHV¶VZRUNKDVEHHQLQ recent years generally underappreciated and overlooked, most especially in terms of academic responses and particularly in his native country. In part, therefore, this study is an attempt to revisit and perhaps even contribute modestly to a recuperation of his work both in the academy and more widely. Many previous literary examinations of Fowles, to which I will refer specifically later in this chapter, have not examined )RZOHV¶VHQWLUHILFWLRQDOoeuvre, and as a result, present conclusions that overlook the overarching direction or trajectory of his work. This study will analyze all seven published novels as well as alluding briefly to two, as yet unpublished, works of fiction.9 What will inform my critique in this thesis is a recurrent and yet varied consideration of the possibility of re-UHDGLQJ)RZOHV¶VHQJDJHPHQWZLWKWKHOLWHUDU\ and theoretical concepts of realism as a strategy of textual reflexivity, driven less by a formal self-obsession than by a compulsion to synthesize and explore a radical aesthetic method of articulating the parameters of reality in a manner that more adequately reflects the complexity and plurality of lived experiences of contemporary Britain in the aftermath of two world wars and in an age marked by the emergence of a late capitalist culture10. Without preempting my argument here, I will suggest that when studied in its entirety)RZOHV¶VZRUNVDUHLQGLFDWLYHRID complex overarching project in excess of attempts to reconcile his work with aspects of postmodern literary theory, which has been variously applied to the novelist, examples of which I will discuss in detail below. Rather, I will suggest the works illustrate both an ongoing fascination with, and an extension and augmentation of, the modernist project of the literary avant-garde more generally. Such an interest manifests itself in a preoccupation with the philosophical 8 0HO*XVVRZ³)RU)RZOHV1RYHO0RVWO\0HDQV1HZ´New York Times, November 27,
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