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Meaning Through Action: William James's Pragmatism in Novels By Meaning through Action: William James’s Pragmatism in Novels by Larsen, Musil, and Hemingway Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Michael K. Murphy Graduate Program in Comparative Studies The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Nina Berman, Advisor Thomas Kasulis, Advisor Ethan Knapp Copyright by Michael Murphy 2015 Abstract What is the relation between thinking and acting, between our ideas about ourselves and the world, and our actions in that world? This is an analysis of three novels from the early to mid-twentieth century alongside of selected works from James that seeks a variety of distinct yet similar responses to those questions. The novels are Passing, by Nella Larsen, The Man without Qualities, by Robert Musil, and The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. In each of the four there is an effort to develop certainty about possible actions so that choices can be intelligent and deliberate, and move a person forward, whatever forward looks like in any particular case. But they all face a problem of profound uncertainty regarding the limits of knowledge. The lack of certainty engenders questions and hypotheses. James’s Pragmatic Theory of Truth and the ideas he express in “The Will to Believe” and elsewhere are attempts to incorporate action into a theory of truth and meaning, and provide guidance for moving forward in the absence of certainty. Each of the novels enacts and depicts some variation of the pragmatic thesis that thoughts are experiments used to test reality. We will also see in James and these novels a privileging of not-knowing. The novels and James show that there is a benefit to directing ourselves or being thoughtfully directed to a place of deliberate not-knowing or ii uncertainty in order to take action or to make some new emergent knowing possible, often through action. iii Dedication This document is dedicated to my friend and advisor, Nina Berman. iv Acknowledgments This was not simply a challenging academic exercise for me, but a set of meaning-of-life questions. I sought responses from the texts, while simultaneously critiquing the texts for their virtues and failings. It became a hermeneutic labyrinth, and I emerged only by following the threads laid down by my friends and allies. Tawni Toth had to listen to far too many anguished phone calls in which I could neither commit myself to this project, nor commit to dropping it. Without her patient ear, I do not know where I would be. Mary Ellen Luikart has also supported me from afar, and never let me doubt that I was capable of this task. My mom, too, was a distant supporter, and told me often how proud she was. I regret that she did not live to see me complete it. My colleagues RaShelle Peck, Rita Trimble, Andrew Culp, and Damon Berry have been faithful supporters, and helped me stay on task when I did not want to stay on task. Finally, my committee members Tom Kasulis and Ethan Knapp never lost patience with my slow and halting progress, and provided innumerable interesting insights, questions, and recommendations. The person most responsible for the completion of this project is Nina Berman. We became good friends through this process, and I have no doubt that her support of me and interest in this project provided the unstoppable force that finally overcame the immovable object that was me. v Vita June 1984 .......................................................Guilderland Central High School 1988................................................................B.A. Philosophy, Colgate University 2008................................................................M.A. Liberal Studies, Duke University 2008 to 2013 ..................................................Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Comparative Studies, The Ohio State University 2013 to present ……………………………. Graduate Administrative Associate, University Center for the Advancement of Teaching, The Ohio State University Fields of Study Major Field: Comparative Studies vi Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... v Vita ..................................................................................................................................... vi Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 Method ......................................................................................................................... 5 Historical Period .......................................................................................................... 9 William James and His Works .................................................................................. 21 The Novels ................................................................................................................. 37 Chapter 2: Passing by Nella Larsen: Identity as a Condition of Action .......................... 46 Review of Literature .................................................................................................. 50 Representations Have Philosophical Political Stakes ................................................ 68 How Categories Are Experienced ............................................................................. 74 Clare as Provocation .................................................................................................. 81 Chapter 3: The Man without Qualities by Robert Musil: A Moral and Practical Laboratory ....................................................................................................................... 102 vii Review of Literature ................................................................................................ 109 Brief Overview of the Novel and Primary Themes ................................................. 126 Thoughts Are Experiments ...................................................................................... 130 Irony and Science .................................................................................................... 147 Envying Men of Action ........................................................................................... 167 Transgression and Spiritual Awakening .................................................................. 183 Chapter 4: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway: Understanding Happens to a Person .............................................................................................................................. 194 Review of Literature ................................................................................................ 198 Actions Are Experiments ......................................................................................... 216 Risk, Pain, and Suffering Are Remedial .................................................................. 224 Sympathy and Understanding Elude Language ....................................................... 246 Chapter 5: Epilogue ........................................................................................................ 261 Enstrangement ......................................................................................................... 262 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 266 viii Chapter 1: Introduction I am tiring myself and you, I know, by vainly seeking to describe by concepts and words what I say at the same time exceeds either conceptualization or verbalization. As long as one continues talking, intellectualism remains in undisturbed possession of the field. The return to life can’t come about by talking. It is an act; to make you return to life, I must set an example for your imitation, I must deafen you to talk, or to the importance of talk, by showing you … that the concepts we talk about are made for purposes of practice and not for purposes of insight. Or I must point, point to the mere that of life, and you by inner sympathy must fill out the what for yourselves. --William James1 What is the relation between thinking and acting, between our ideas about ourselves and the world, and our actions in that world? In the quote above, James suggests that there is some antagonism or at least an incompatibility between “conceptualization or verbalization” and an act that “make[s] you return to life.” He begins to provide an answer to the question when he describes concepts pragmatically, but this seems to raise more questions than it answers. It seems that we cannot get too far without defining what we mean by thought and action, but at this point in the discussion, those definitions would get us too far ahead and assume too much. More exploration is warranted. 1 “The Continuity of Experience” in A Pluralistic Universe (1909) p.297 1 If James is correct that “concepts are made for the purposes of practice and not for purposes of insight,” then what are the implications for works of fiction? James is credited with having contributed to contemporary Modernist representations of consciousness, in particular
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