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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Sussex Research Online A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis 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 Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details UNSEEN STARS A psychogeographical journey through time and dream towards acceptance by Peter William Bailey Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Creative and Critical Writing University of Sussex April 2013 I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature: ……………………………………. UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX Peter William Bailey for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Creative and Critical Writing UNSEEN STARS A psychogeographical journey through time and dream towards acceptance SUMMARY Nick is a young graduate with no direction in life until a friend introduces him to the concept of dérive and explains how Nick can become a twentieth-century flâneur in London. The result is a unique meditation on life, love, friendship and time, set against the urban landscape. However this is no ordinary story of a graduate, facing feelings of aimlessness and lethargy. When he was twelve, Nick learned he has an illness which means he will be confined to a wheelchair. The story encompasses Nick’s reveries on loss, romantic dreams and sharp observations of the contrasts between his life and others’. My writing is classed as fictional autobiography. The narrative of the novel is split between two realities. The first is the present, in which Nick (confined to a wheelchair) is struggling to write his novel and find his place in life. The second is based on Nick’s recollections, expressed through written accounts of his dreams. The two realities are described in alternate chapters. Unseen Stars is centred around the idea of the dérive. A dérive is a concept developed by French philosophers in the 1960's. It proposes a journey whereby the individual lets himself be drawn towards places that appeal to him. Nick goes on his derive; a voyage of self-discovery. A dérive is psychogeographical, one's surroundings have a direct effect on one's state of mind. I merge the realities in the novel by making a dérive psycho-memorial too (i.e. where one is in time – memory - affects one's state of mind). The critical introduction addresses the principal themes arising from my novel. The themes examined are psychogeography and urban wandering (especially The Arcades Project). I will focus on dream, psychologies and perception of time, discussing the inspiration of literary works following similar psychogeographical/philosophical guidelines. Contents 1 Critical Introduction 1 Introduction 12 Dérive 19 Bergsonian Time 27 The Flâneurs and The Arcades Project 36 Dreams 44 Literary Inspirations 57 Dérive - a re-evaluation 65 Conclusion 69 Unseen Stars 70 Part One : Mostly Australia Chapter 1 87 Chapter 2 93 Chapter 3 106 Chapter 4 110 Chapter 5 122 Chapter 6 128 Part Two : Derive Chapter 7 134 Chapter 8 140 Chapter 9 148 Chapter 10 152 Chapter 11 166 Chapter 12 171 Chapter 13 190 Chapter 14 194 Chapter 15 205 Chapter 16 210 Chapter 17 221 Chapter 18 225 Chapter 19 236 Chapter 20 241 Chapter 21 251 Chapter 22 254 Chapter 23 261 Chapter 24 270 Part Three : Christmas Chapter 25 276 Chapter 26 279 Chapter 27 284 Chapter 28 288 Chapter 29 296 Bibliography 1 UNSEEN STARS Critical Introduction A psychogeographical journey through time and dream towards acceptance. This critical introduction will address the principal themes arising from my novel, Unseen Stars. The themes examined will be those of psychogeography and urban wandering (with particular attention being paid to The Arcades Project). This introduction will also focus on the philosophical notions derived from my writing, especially those involving dream, psychologies and the human perception of time. Also, I will discuss the inspirational role played by other works of literature that have followed similar psychogeographical and philosophical guidelines. Through these investigations I hope to show that the ideas drawn from them can not only be applied to my own novel but also applied to the practice of creative writing in general. I feel that my book is driven by a spirit of random wandering governed by chance and the unknown, which also provided a backdrop conducive to my creative endeavours. I hope to show that this backdrop can serve as contributory to an artistic and psychological creativity. There follows a very brief précis of the storyline and then a slightly longer one of my novella Unseen Stars. The grandson of the man who made the Fortnum and Mason clock is a young, twenty-something exploring the city of London with his friends. He is dreamy and philosophical, a young graduate with no clear direction and no particular place to go … 2 until a special friend introduces him to the concept of dérive and explains how Nick can become a twentieth-century flâneur in his own city. Nick and his friends begin their wanderings, deciding on their routes and wandering as the mood takes them. The result is a unique meditation on life, love, friendship and time, set against the urban landscape of the city they know and love. However this is no ordinary story of a graduate, facing feelings of aimlessness and lethargy about the future. When he was twelve, Nick learned he has an illness which means he will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. The story thus encompasses Nick’s reveries on loss, romantic dreams and sharp observations of the contrasts between his life and others’, narrated in a voice which is speculative, romantic and intermittently witty, as life, landscape and identity become inextricably linked. My writing is classed – broadly speaking – as fictional autobiography. The narrative of the novel is split between two realities. The first reality is the present, in which a young writer, Nick (who is confined to a wheelchair) is not only struggling to write his own novel but is also struggling to make sense of life and of his place in it. The second reality is one based on the memories and recollections of Nick, which are expressed through accounts written by him of his dreams. The two realities are described in alternate chapters of the novel Unseen Stars is centred around the idea of the dérive. A dérive is a concept developed by French philosophers in the 1960's. It proposes a journey whereby the person taking it drops all obligations and sense of being a member of “the general public”, and lets himself be drawn towards places that appeal to him. In the novel Nick tries to go on his own dérive, looking on it as a kind of voyage of self discovery. A dérive is described as being psycho-geographical, meaning that one's location and surroundings can have a direct effect on one's state of mind. I intend to merge the two realities in the novel by making a 3 dérive psycho-memorial as well (ie: where one is in time – memory - can affect one's state of mind), re-defining a dérive as being bound up with the idea of memory and dream. The synopsis of the book contains the potential for vagueness and confusion, a major theme of the novel will thus be of confusion and uncertainty. Uncertainty about life, writing, sexuality, disability and the future. The opening chapter of my novel is set in Sydney, Australia. The protagonist, Nick (who is loosely based on myself) is visiting an old school friend of his, James. James is living and studying in Sydney. The scene takes place on the terrace of a luxury penthouse apartment overlooking Circular Quay, where James lives. Nick is in a reflective and downcast mood. His friends all seem to have moved on in life, guided by an underlying purpose – whereas Nick has been left behind. Largely owing to his disability, Nick is single, lives with his parents and has no prospect of getting a job. Nominally, he tells people he is a writer in the process of writing his first novel, but in reality he has written 1,500 words in six months – he is stuck, awaiting inspiration. He gives what he has written so far to James. The passage that James reads is an account of one of Nick's dreams – in it, he is walking alone through London one summer's night and is taken by the spontaneous desire to commit suicide. Realising the fragile state of mind of his friend, James recommends that he go on a dérive in London (hopefully to gain some literary inspiration from it). Nick feigns indifference at the idea but secretly likes it. The introduction of Lucy, James' sister and the secret object of Nick's desire for the past ten years, offers a degree of sexual tension to proceedings. At the end of the night, a drunken Lucy tells Nick to write the novel about himself. Nick says he'll think about it and the chapter ends as he falls asleep.