Insomnia and Identity: the Discursive Function of Sleeplessness in Modernist Literature
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University of Rhode Island DigitalCommons@URI Open Access Dissertations 2015 INSOMNIA AND IDENTITY: THE DISCURSIVE FUNCTION OF SLEEPLESSNESS IN MODERNIST LITERATURE Sarah Kingston University of Rhode Island, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss Recommended Citation Kingston, Sarah, "INSOMNIA AND IDENTITY: THE DISCURSIVE FUNCTION OF SLEEPLESSNESS IN MODERNIST LITERATURE" (2015). Open Access Dissertations. Paper 306. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss/306 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@URI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@URI. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INSOMNIA AND IDENTITY: THE DISCURSIVE FUNCTION OF SLEEPLESSNESS IN MODERNIST LITERATURE BY SARAH KINGSTON A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 2015 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DISSERTATION OF SARAH KINGSTON APPROVED: Dissertation Committee: Major Professor Jean Walton David Faflik Cheryl Foster Nasser H. Zawia DEAN OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 2015 ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the topic of insomnia in British and American modernist literature, focusing primarily on the ways in which the condition of insomnia and the identity category of the “insomniac” intersect with other aspects of subjectivity, such as gender, occupation, race, and social class. Through examining insomnia from a narratological perspective, using fictional, philosophical, psychological, sociological, and medical literature, I discuss the discursive function of both this disorder and identity category during the Modernist period. It also explores the relationship between insomnia and Modernism itself, regarding both the discursive production of knowledge of insomnia and the insomniac during this period and the ways that the modernist literary text discusses, interprets, utilizes, and structurally reproduces phenomenological aspects of insomnia. Further, I argue that insomnia shapes identity, and therefore, perception, in a dialectical manner; as such, insomnia is a device of character and plot development. I consider the questions, “Why did those during this period, in America and the United Kingdom, need to define and interpret insomnia and the insomniac in the ways they did, and what are the literary and discursive implications of these interpretations?” My introduction lays out my theoretical framework, arguing that sleep habits, behaviors, and practices (including insomnia) constitute a type of self care that intersects with other expected behaviors relating to one’s identity, sometimes creating or revealing a conflict between expected and “normal” behavior based upon generalized assumptions and individual will and desire. Further, I argue that while the diagnosis of insomnia and the label “insomniac” subject the individual to disciplinary and normalizing measures, this condition and label provide the individual with a means of exposing and resisting assumed identity categories and the power to garner resources, time, and space for personal development and reflection. I explore the ways in the insomniac body reveals and challenges norms and normative procedures. Additionally, I provide an etymological inquiry into the origins of the word insomniac, and situate this term and its use historically—a produced identity belonging to a particular time and place with implications regarding the production of knowledge about individuals and the motivations behind producing such knowledge. Finally, I explain the relationship between the phenomenological and ontological experience of insomnia to the phenomenological and ontological experience of World War I in order to justify the war as a key turning point in the discursive production of the insomniac. The second chapter traces the production of knowledge of insomnia and, eventually, the insomniac through the nineteenth century until today, in an effort to further elucidate the significance of this condition and figure historically and currently. It considers questions of the origins of the modernist figure of the insomniac and the implications of this figure today. The subsequent chapters focus on the intersection of insomnia with other aspects of subjectivity. Chapter three discusses the insomnia of soldiers and war workers during World War I, using the fictional texts Parade’s End by Ford Madox Ford, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, and Memoirs of an Infantry Officer by Siegfried Sassoon. This chapter argues that the experience of insomnia is, in significant ways, akin to the experience of participating in World War I, thus provides a useful device through which to discuss war experience and its related anxieties. Chapter four compares the diagnosis, perception, and treatment of insomnia in those with differently gendered bodies. In this chapter, I argue that insomnia is a form of bodily inscription, revealing cultural norms and beliefs, as well as allowing the individual to expose and resist these norms. This chapter focuses on the Pilgrimage series by Dorothy Richardson, The Soul of a Bishop by H. G. Wells, and The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen. The fifth chapter explores the relationship between insomnia and social status, specifically regarding class, occupation, race, and citizenship. As I argue in this chapter, insomnia is simultaneously demonized as a form of resistance to capitalist work ethics, represented as a marker of social privilege, and lauded as a time and space of insight and reflection. Further, insomnia reveals an anomic tension within the individual insomniac, indicating a conflict between his or her desires and capabilities within a given social structure. The literary texts covered in this chapter are F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned, Waldo David Frank’s Holiday, and E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India. The final chapter discusses the relationship between insomnia and authorship, describing the ways in which the experience of insomnia is translated into the experience of creating and reading literature. The texts covered in this chapter are Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, James Joyce’s Ulysses, and Richard Wright’s Black Boy. In this chapter I argue that an affinity exists between the condition of insomnia and the structure of the modernist text, and a reading of the modernist text, to an extent, recreates the experience of insomnia in the reader. Essentially, this dissertation looks at insomnia as a battleground between various elements of one’s identity and subjectivity and explores the ways in which this battle both affects and is expressed in the literature of the Modernist period. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The first course I took in pursuit of my doctorate at the University of Rhode Island was a seminar on British literature of World War I with Professor Jean Walton. On the first day of class, as Professor Walton discussed the requirements of the course and provided background on the Great War and its literature, I began considering topics for my final paper. During our class discussion, words like anxiety, attrition, exhaustion, and fatigue echoed in my mind, and I, “poor go-to- sleeper” (to borrow Vladimir Nabokov’s words) that I am and have been for as long as I can remember, had a moment of awakening: I would write about insomnia. From that very first class, Professor Walton has worked with me as I pursued my inquiry into insomnia and Modernism, helping me as I developed and refined my ideas and arguments. Her untiring efforts, input, dedication, and support have been essential to the completion of this dissertation, and for that, I am exceedingly grateful. In addition to having such an inspirational and vigilant Major Professor, along the way I have been extremely fortunate to assemble a wonderful committee of professors who never failed to challenge me to strengthen my thinking and writing, yet did so without ever letting me feel as though I should be anything other than proud of my efforts. Their enthusiasm for and confidence in my work have been critical throughout this process, as have been their contributions through countless discussions and written exchanges. That said, I would like to thank Professors Carolyn Betensky, David Faflik, Cheryl Foster, and Kyle Kusz for their generosity of time, insight, and support. Though I cannot say I ever approached an important landmark in this process without my fair share of nerves (or loss of sleep), I never v reached one without feeling motivated, capable, and refreshed. I would also like to thank Professor Kathleen Davis, Graduate Secretary Michelle Caraccia, and the rest of the English Department faculty and staff for their patience and hard work in guiding me through this process. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends, not least among them my husband, James, who has backed my efforts in ways too innumerable to mention here (without putting readers to sleep). I will simply say that I could not ask for a better source of support and motivation, nor could I be more grateful. I have been very lucky indeed to have a husband, parents, a brother, extended family, friends, and colleagues who consistently remind me of my reasons for pursuing the goal this dissertation represents. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………….………ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………...……………….....v TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………...……..vii