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Vivisectors and the Vivisected: the Painter Figure in the Postcolonial Novel

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Vivisectors and the Vivisected: the Painter Figure in the Postcolonial Novel University of Alberta Vivisectors and the Vivisected: The Painter Figure in the Postcolonial Novel Philip Frederick James Mingay A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English Edmonton, Alberta Spring 2001 National Library Bibliothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 OttawaON K1AON4 Canach Canada Your file Votre réfBrence Our lile Notre refdrtmm The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or seIl reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur foxmat électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantid extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT This study demonstrates that the painter figure in postcolonial literature directly confironts issues of nation and tradition within the diminished but still powerful effects of Empire. The figure's resistance lies in its unique translation of a European tradition of art and aesthetics to the specif5c postcolonial features of local culture and landscape. The introduction outlines how the painter figure is an appropriate point of entïy to the study of the postcolonial subjects in the four mode1 novels: Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye (Canada, 1988), George Lamming's PVater Witlz Berries (Babados, 1972),V.S. Naipaul's The Enignza of Arriva1 (Trinidad-UK, 1987), and Patrick White's The Viuisector (Australia, 1973). Each novel dernonstrates how the painter figure both defies and embraces customary models of resistance for the marginal other in order to pasody and challenge fixed Ewocentric notions of identity and subjectivity-. Chapteï One, "The Painter as Liteïary Influence: V.S. Naipaul's The Eltigma of Arrival," explores the influence of two painteïs, John Constable and Geoigio de Chirico, on the novel's narrator. Despite their disparate styles and images, the paintings of these two astists are powerful representations of home and Empire in the narïator's postcolonial imagination. Chapter Two, "The Painter as Commodity: Patrick White's The Viuisector," contextualizes the economic patterns of the painter's relationship to his or her cornmunity. Chapter Three, "A Career Not Exactly Real: Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye," examines the history of the terms "artist" and "painter" and this history's role in the formation of the asocial painter figure. It also explores the effects of education and landscape on painter Elaine Risley's struggle to create "authentic" art. Chapteï Fow, "Painting as Political Statement: Geo~geLamming's Water With Berries," discusses the themes of political violence and creative autonomy. The chapter also includes an examination of topography and painting within the context of the painter Teeton's reverse voyage to the centre eom San Cïistobal to London. Through a compaïison of painting and wïiting, the conclusion to this study discusses recent developments in the ïelationships between literature and painting, particularly in books that include both visual and written text. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1am grateful to Dr. Shyamal Bagchee for his supeivision, fiiendship and patience throughout the course of this study. He shilfUlly- offered advice and direction while ensuring the integrity of my own vision. 1wïsh to thank Dr. Ron Ayling for his encouragement and genuine interest in my topic. As well, 1 thank Dr. Chris Bullock for his ideas and input. 1also appreciated the participation of Dr. Ingrid Johnston and Dr. Victor Ramraj in the defence. I am indebted to my parents, Paul and Rena Mingay. They have always given me unconditional love and support, and they also instilled in me a love of books and leai-ning. Thank you. It is difficult to imagine the completion of this project without the support of Natalie Cook, my wife and best Siiend. Her unwavering faith in my abilities is immeasurable. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Chapter 1 The Painter as Literary Influence: V.S. Naipaul's The Enigrna of Arriual 3. Chapter S The Painter as Commodi@: Patrick White's The Vivisector 4. Chapteï 3 A Career Not Exactly Real: Margaiet Atwood's Cat's Eye 5. Chapter 4 Painting as Political Statement: George Lamming's Water ruith Berries 6. Conclusion The Painter's Pïogress 7. Works Cited Introduction It is wise to recognize--despite current critical fashions--that certain masterpieces do float free of their enabling conditions to make their home in the world, Declan Kiberd, Inven t ing Ireland The sheer strangeness of the activity of art made heï a questionable figure; as it does eveiynrhere; as it always has and perhaps always will. Salman Rushdie, The Moor's Last Sigh 1 Viuisectors al~dthe Vivisected: The Pai~~terFigure in the Postcolorrial Novel is about the political and aesthetic issues that surround the pai~~ter figure in postcolonial cultures. It discusses four novels that 1consider important to the study of postcolonial criticism--by which 1 mean the practice of reading texts as mediations among and within nations with a colonial or imperial past-as well as the broader, critical study of foui individual texts: Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye (Canada, 1988), George Lamming's Water With Berries (Barbados, 1972), V.S.Naipaul's The E~riginaof Arriual (Bïitain, 1987), and Patrick White's The Vivisector (Australia, 1973). 1will argue that the painter figures in these four texts share a unique featuïe: they are deliberately anzbiguous,partaking of a Eumpean tradition of art and aesthetics, as well as departing from or chdenging that tradition because of their inapplicability to specific postcolonial features of the local culture and landscape. As such, the painter figure is an enabling one for these four authors, and one that becomes both helpfùl and problematic for critical revisioning of the postcolortial subject. The painter figure is an appropriate point of entry into the study of the postcolonial subject as artist because it directly engages with the diminished but still powerfd effects of Empire. Patterns of irnperialism seemingly finci renewed vigouï in the literaiy painter figure--one that falls outside customaq- models of postcolonial resistance, particularly the marginal other as the piimary source of challenge or change. This vigouï is evident in the dual identities of the painter figures in these texts, who are often marginalized as painters fu-st, and as colonials second. From these two positions, these painter figures inhabit distinct, creative spaces of the margidcentre binary, and also present counteï-figures to customary confïgui.ations of nationhood, and to assumptions of "place" or home."^ First, the painters benefit creatively and (sometimes) financially fiom their exclusion. In other words, the painters' "difference" is valued by theii. respective postcolonial societies, which imitate a European tradition of art and artists in ordeï to establish theii own traditions and artists. Therefore, the painters, and the societies that produce them, &en accept and even demand the painters' asocial behaviour. Second, these painter figures, as colonials, are censored by this same European tradition. The asocial genius is v but one role of the painter figure, and its other, more revolutionary features frequently are suppressed in their translation to the colonies. Nevertheless, both worlds can be creatively fiuitful ones for the painters, and ïeconciliation between the two is not necessarily desirable. Each chapter, then, WU discuss these two worlds in relation to four different settings, each with its omn nuances and problems as Empire continues to influence the postcolonial artist. ii At present, there is considerable upheaval and messiness regarding the nature and direction of postcolonial studies. Since the late 1980s, postcolonial criticism has been recognizing that while the articulation of cultural diffeïence is adequate for locating the now familiaï discourses of colonialism (language, race, and nation, for example), it no longer suffices as a stïategy for reconciling the subject to its decolonized state. The plurality of the postcolonial identity confiicts with the assumption of a shared experience that emerges from the colonial encounter. As a result, what was once considered a viable methodology for classifying "new" liteiatures that fell outside a Eurocentric canon is now challenged, most emphatically by Aijaz Ahmad, as the creation of liberal humanists who ignore (inadvertently or purposely) the individual artist's historical specincity and politics. In 1987, Benita Parry wrote that such critics, particularly those working under the iubrics "new literatures" or "commonwealth liteiature," "succeeded ... in unde~writinga way of dividing the woild invented by imperialist discourse ... [and thereby] collud[ed] in displacing a conflictual political relationship" (33). Ironically, Parïy claims, critics are
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