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Durham E-Theses Elemental Narcissism and the Decline of Empathy: A Biocultural Reading of the Fall in William Golding's Fiction ALJABRI, KHADIJAH,ATI,A How to cite: ALJABRI, KHADIJAH,ATI,A (2016) Elemental Narcissism and the Decline of Empathy: A Biocultural Reading of the Fall in William Golding's Fiction, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11821/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Elemental Narcissism and the Decline of Empathy: A Biocultural Reading of the Fall in William Golding’s Fiction Khadijah AlJabri This research began with the modest idea that bringing an evolutionary, cognitive and existential understanding to Golding’s novels is going to help to establish the universality and historical specificity of his writerly engagements as well as shed new light on his moral preoccupations and concerns. In fact, the endeavour was initially launched in keeping with the spirit of Literary Darwinism, a movement which sought to foreground the field of literary study on more scientific foundations, using the emerging discipline of evolutionary psychology as a means to bridging the gap between the sciences and the humanities, and to bringing the two cultures together. Of course, most of the past critical efforts dedicated to understanding Golding’s work tended to overlook or downplay the asserted relation between rationalism and biologism in the formation and articulation of Golding’s moral preoccupations in order to favour a broadly religious reading. This was especially the case given the overt biblical overtones in Golding’s novels as well as his confessed antagonism to the overwhelming rationalism of the sciences and the ubiquity of scientific reductionism in accounts and justifications of knowledge. Despite this antagonism, however—which included a confessed dislike for notions of Darwinian evolution and its progressive overtones—the rational dimension to Golding’s novels cannot be denied. It can be detected in his early writings where attempts at establishing the universality of evil are linked to an engagement with, sometimes even an endorsement of, some of the evolutionary propositions of his own period as well as those relevant to the periods that provided the contexts for his historically or prehistorically located fictions. There are even instances when Golding appears to be sharing not only the evolutionary literary theorists’ preference for examining human behaviour within a biological frame, but also their tendency to regard art as an innate propensity that constitutes an undeniable and definitive part of human nature. However, as illuminating as the field of evolutionary psychology initially proved in relation to Golding’s work, the completed thesis reveals how an attempt to frame his work entirely in terms of evolutionary theorizing is unhelpfully reductionist. This is particularly the case with his later creations that seem to be written intentionally to challenge simplistic or reductionist templates of interpretation as a way of asserting the necessary complexity of literary texts if they are to be an adequate exploration or reflection of the complexity of life itself. Consequently, it became necessary to move beyond the limited scope of evolutionary theory and incorporate a range of views from diverse, yet consilient schools in contemporary psychology that can help account for the increasingly diverse spiritual, social and cultural realities characterizing his creations in general, and his later novels in particular. Elemental Narcissism and the Decline of Empathy: A Biocultural Reading of the Fall in William Golding’s Fiction Khadijah Ati A. AlJabri Doctor of Philosophy Department of English Studies Durham University 2016 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Golding’s Postmodernism, the Crisis of the Literary Humanities and the Rise and Fall of Literary Darwinism……………………………………………………………………….4 Crisis in the Humanities in the 1990s and Beyond………………………………………14 Problems with the Evolutionary Paradigm……………………………………………....26 Chapter One The Biological Psychology of Evil ……………………………..……………………….33 The Evolutionary Fall and the Illusion of Progress……………………………………...44 The Evolution of Complex Intelligence, Self-Awareness and the Emergence of Evil…..59 Chapter Two The Inheritors and the Search for a Biological Morality…………………………………67 The Moral Instinct and the Erosion of Empathy………………………………………….78 Chapter Three Pincher Martin and Man’s Basic Narcissism………………………….…………………105 The Pathologies and Anxieties of the Self-aware Animal………………………………..116 Pincher Martin as an Everyman…………………………………………………………..131 Chapter Four Free Fall and the Perils of Freedom and Identity………………………………………..144 The Noble Savage………………………………………………………………………..156 Identity Construction and the Psychological Function of Ideologies……………………166 Conclusion The Later Golding: A Universal Pessimist and a Cosmic Optimist……………………..183 Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………..200 2 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the author's prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 3 To my amazing parents, my sweet daughter, Lamar, and my wonderful siblings, Ghadeer, Abdullah, Khalid and Sarah. You guys are my rock. 4 INTRODUCTION Golding’s Postmodernism, the Crisis of the Literary Humanities and the Rise and Fall of Literary Darwinism Ladies and gentleman, you see before you a man, I will not say more sinned against than sinning; but a man more analysed than analysing. William Golding, ‘Utopias and Antiutopias’.1 This research began with the modest idea that bringing an evolutionary, cognitive and existential understanding to Golding’s novels is going to help to establish the universality and historical specificity of his writerly engagements as well as shed new light on his moral preoccupations and concerns. In fact, the endeavour was initially launched in keeping with the spirit of Literary Darwinism, a movement which sought to foreground the field of literary study on more scientific foundations, using the emerging discipline of evolutionary psychology as a means to bridging the gap between the sciences and the humanities, and to bringing the two cultures together. Of course, most of the past critical efforts dedicated to understanding Golding’s work tended to overlook or downplay the asserted relation between rationalism and biologism in the formation and articulation of Golding’s moral preoccupations in order to favour a broadly religious reading. This was especially the case given the overt biblical overtones in Golding’s novels, as well as his confessed antagonism to the overwhelming rationalism of the sciences and the ubiquity of scientific reductionism in accounts and justifications of knowledge. Despite this antagonism, however—which included a confessed dislike for notions of Darwinian evolution and its progressive overtones—the rational dimension to Golding’s novels cannot be denied. It can be detected in his early writings where attempts at establishing the universality of evil are linked to an engagement with, sometimes even an endorsement of, some of the evolutionary propositions of his own period as well as those relevant to the periods that provided the contexts for his historically or prehistorically located fictions. There are even instances when Golding appears to be sharing not only the evolutionary literary theorists’ preference for examining human behaviour within 1 A Moving Target, p. 171. 5 a biological frame, but also their tendency to regard art as an innate propensity that constitutes an undeniable and definitive part of human nature. Both Golding and evolutionary literary theorists can also be noted as similar in the sense that they both exhibit antagonism towards postmodernist considerations of art, explicitly expressed in Golding’s late 70s and early 80s productions when arguments regarding the decline of literary study and the controversy surrounding the emergence of theory became increasingly prominent. Of particular importance is Golding’s 1984 novel, The Paper Men, which not only addresses the author’s discomfort with the increasing amount of critical attention he was by then receiving, but also negatively associates much of this critical work with the poststructuralist creeds of dismissing originality and of denying the author any control or authority over his or her creations. Golding’s relationship with the literary establishment was never a simple one. He was aware that the status of canonized author, achieved so early in his career as a novelist, was very much dependent upon the avid and dedicated attention of academics and literary critics. Though finally owing much to the singularity of his artistic talent, his successes also hung on the high degree of critical interest that had helped

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