https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ Theses Digitisation: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/research/enlighten/theses/digitisation/ This is a digitised version of the original print thesis. Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] THE NOVELS OF WYNDHAM LEWIS Thomas Hall Kinninmont A Thesis submitted to the Arts Faculty of the University of Glasgow for the'Degree of Ph.D. November, 1974 ProQuest Number: 10646287 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uesL ProQuest 10646287 Published by ProQuest LLO (2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLO. ProQuest LLO. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.Q. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 / Ue5i% El. îY The thesis attempts to re-ex,amine tîio novels of Wyriclham Lev/is, emphasisin,y language, style and general artistry in the novels. The introduction looks briefly at some of the confusion which surroimds criticism of Lewis and makes the case for close textual criticism of his novels to balance the excessive tendency to value his novels in terms of his philosophical and political ideas. Lewis was always conscious of his novels as works of art and they often possess a balance which his polemics lack. It may be also that close textual scrutiny will shed s. different light on some of his ideas. After a general look at Lewis's first widely published ventures - Vorticisrn and the publication of hlast, each of the novels is examined in turn, and an interpretation based as closely as possible on the text is offered. Tarr is interpreted with more emphasis on the satirisation of Tarr himself than has formerly been the case and the implications of this satire are considered. The Apes of God is seen mainly as a linguistic triumph, command­ ing' admiration on every page, but failing to move effectively in several places. At the some time an examination of the language employed shows that the external approach of which Lewis boasted is not employed as exclusively as many have believed. Snooty baronet is completely revalued, soon as a satire on the main character, and the break which this represents from Lewis’s earlier work is emphasised. The Revenge for Love is assessed as ono of Lewis's finest novels and the complexity of motif and imagery is looked at in some detail. The assertion of values not hitherto present in Lewis's work is also dîscrtssed and thla tlieme is pursued in The Vul dt raak, wl:.:n-e Lewis's imngery nrpears in its most concise foiru A strong contrast is mode hetwoon the manner in which language denoting hollowness and falseness is employed here as opposed to the manner in which it is employed in earlier novels such as The Apes of God. de 1 f C0ndC'rancd, Lewis' s bitter post-war novel is similarly examined in terms of its language and the implications of severe criticism of the intellect are considered. The human Age, an incomplete tetralogy is next considered. The first part of this, The .fnildermass 1, was vm.'itten in 1928 and the subsequent p a z ’ts in the early 'fifties, so the work pro­ vides a useful opportunity to examine the ways in which Lewis* s worx had changed in the interim. Lastly, The Ted Priest,Lewis's final novel is ex&mined. It is held tc be inferior, though interesting, and while it rndces intriguing use of some of Lewis's thematic ideas, it appears to have loose ends boat explained by Lewis’s blindness and ill- health at the time of writing. Lewis had in fact been blind throughout the writing of Lojistre Gai and i'align l^iesta, the last, two books of the existing" ïiai’ts of The Human A.pe but his writing in these is a model of clarity, contrasting strangely with the linguistic brilliance of of his early work. In both cases, the early novels and the late, nuch important detail has hitherto been ignored and erroneous interpretations of Le'wis* 0 novels have become widely current. This thesis hopes to remedy some part of this injustice. Conventions. 'iThc Letters of Vtyndha.m Lewis, edited by W.K.Rose, are referred to throughout as 'Letters'. Page references to quotations from Lewis's novels are generally given in brackets after the quotation. References are nomally to the first British edition, but where a paperback edition has been available this has been preferred on the grounds of accsssibility. This is the case with Tarr, The dhildermass, The Apes of God, The Revenge ■For Love, Monstre Gai, Malign Fiesta, and Blasting and Bombardiering. The Bibliography details this information. Contents. C>hapter.3.t» .Lntroducbi, on... ©. *........ ».. « .... » #. # # * .Page. lo Chapter. 2. Vort.icism and Carly Work................ .Page 15. Chapter.J Tarr .ceon-.oo. oo.oc.o.ooaeoo*. Page 49. Chapter.4 The Apes of Cod .Page 79. Chapter, ‘j The Roa.ring ueen -Page 102. Chapter.o Snooty Waronet.. Page 106, Chapter.7 The Revenge for Love Page 136. Chapter.Q The Till gar Streak, Page 175. Chapter.9 Self CondcTnned..., Page 205, Chapter. 10. 'Che llvnan Age.. Page 229. Chapter.11. The led Priest Page 264. h ap t e r. 12. ^.>0x101110x011. Page 289 Bxhlxograpny : Page 290. CHAPEER 1 : INTRODUCTION, Chapter One, Introduction. It is customary to commence any extended discussion of 7/yndham Lewis by attempting to solve the 'riddle* of why he is not more popular with modern critics and academics, v/hen his friends and admirers T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound have come to dominate the literature of the twentieth Century and the University courses which teach it. It may be,of course, that Eliot and Pound admired Lewis excessively (for when he is not being sneered at, Lewis is often immoderately praised), but even Lewis's enemies usually preface their attacks with a gesture towards Lewis's talent: "It would be ridiculous to deny that Mr, Lewis was a very considerable writer. If he were not so completely jaundiced that all colours, good and evil, seemed to him as one he would, indeed, have been a great one," 1 It would appear that,even if one were to accept the view of some of his enemies that Lewis is a 'near-miss' rather than that of his friends that he is a 'palpable hit', Lewis should be better known than he is. Several reasons have been advanced for this relative obscurity: firstly it is alleged that the many facets of Lewis's work make him difficult to 'pigeonhole' and that the narrow, specialist critic is afraid of tackling such a sprawling talent. Secondly, it seems fairly clear from a 'popularity-graph’ of his career that Lewis found himself badly isolated in the thirties because of his political books - as the fashionable book-world moved leftwards, Lewis moved to the right. Hitler was particularly damaging as Lewis himself quickly realized: 1. Sitwell. E. Taken Care Of. p,99 2. "All I know is that my agents write 'Your Hitler Book has harmed you' - in a night Somewhat like Byron - only I waken thus To find myself not famous but infamous," 2 Thirdly, - and this is the aspect about which Lewis complained most bitterly - there is the ostracism by Bloomsbury, the conspiracy of silence, 'malefic cabal*, v/hich Lewis felt existed against him among the ruling art-politicians of the London world. This quarrel went back before the £irst World War, to the so-called 'Ideal Home Rumpus' in which Lewis quarreded with Roger Fry over a commission for an exhibition, allegedly mis-appropriated by Fry. The breach was never healed, and,whatever the merits of the original case, undoubtedly closed many avenues by which Lewis’s work could have attained a wider audience. Finally, there is the question of Lewis's personality; Lewis’s intelligence was of a very penetrating kind, but it also tended on occasion to take a very personal turn; D.H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf and Gertrude Stein all felt his satiric barb, but so also did his friends pound, Eliot and Joyce. Lewis's explanations were always ' very ingenuous; "Once, in a moment of impatience, I used the word 3 ' simpleton'... I and his friends remarkably forgiving; even the ego-centric Joyce, who became antagonistic to Lewis after the attack on Ulysses in Time and Western Han, later acknowledged that Lewis's criticism was the best 'hostile' one which had appeared,^ But others felt the barbs more keenly; Hemingway nursed his grievance for 25 years before striking back in the most malicious fashion,^ In all, Lewis's idea of uncompromising honesty must have cost him many friends who could have proved valuable in promoting his work, and his personality clearly still repels many critics.