“THERE WILL BE TIME”: HEROISM, TEMPORALITY, AND THE SEARCH FOR OPPORTUNITY IN MODERN LITERATURE by JOSEPH RUSSELL LEASE (Under the Direction of Jed Rasula) ABSTRACT This dissertation focuses on the convergence of heroism and temporality in Modernist literature. Its purpose is to illuminate both the ways in which changes in the perception of time transformed the portrayal of potential hero figures and, more importantly, how a viable alternative to the frequently assumed “death” of the hero within that period went largely unnoticed. The hero figure (who does the “right” thing, for the “right” reason, at the “right” time) is largely missing from literature of the time period because one or more of the elements of the formula is not met, and there are particular challenges during the decades in question to finding the “right” time to act due to an imbalance in Western cultural perceptions of temporality that favored an exclusively quantitative model over one that balanced both quantitative and qualitative aspects, such as that favored by the Greeks and demonstrated through the concepts of chronos and kairos. I highlight the consequences of the Modernist, chronocentric temporal model by examining different works that illustrate the difficulties of creating and presenting heroes in a world in which the timing of heroic action is nearly impossible to get right. Moreover, the selected authors’ disparate backgrounds and literary interests underscore that the question of heroic viability was of enough concern to appear frequently and across a broad spectrum of Western literature during the period in question. Specific examples include an analysis of four novels by Joseph Conrad that tracks his portrayals of the nature of heroism in the modern world; an examination of two specific forms of kairic failure—akairic desire and akairic environment, both of which permeate Modernism—found within works by T. S. Eliot, William Faulkner, Franz Kafka, and Ernest Hemingway; and an exploration of a solution to these problems of heroic action offered within Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, a work that gives new life to heroism, proving that the widely proclaimed “death” of the hero in early twentieth-century fiction and culture is a short-sighted notion. INDEX WORDS: Heroism, Time, Chronos, Kairos, Modernism, Conrad, Eliot, Faulkner, Kafka, Hemingway, Woolf “THERE WILL BE TIME”: HEROISM, TEMPORALITY, AND THE SEARCH FOR OPPORTUNITY IN MODERN LITERATURE by JOSEPH RUSSELL LEASE B.A., The University of Arkansas, 1999 M.A.T., Duke University, 2003 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2012 © 2012 Joseph Russell Lease All Rights Reserved “THERE WILL BE TIME”: HEROISM, TEMPORALITY, AND THE SEARCH FOR OPPORTUNITY IN MODERN LITERATURE by JOSEPH RUSSELL LEASE Major Professor: Jed Rasula Committee: Thomas Cerbu Andrew Zawacki Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2012 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to begin by thanking my committee members—Jed Rasula, Tom Cerbu, and Andrew Zawacki—for their patience and guidance throughout this process. I would also like to thank Bobby Burch and Golden Lloyd for starting me down this road as well as Charles Adams, Lyna Lee Montgomery, and Ro Thorne for their enthusiastic support of me in all my academic endeavors over the years. Kevin DeLapp has been a true friend and particular source of inspiration to me, and I thank him for many long conversations about ethics, kairos, and what it means to be a hero. Finally, my family has been tremendously helpful during my entire time here at the University of Georgia; I could not have begun to complete this degree without their assistance. To my mother, father, grandmother, and sister: thank you for propping me up when I needed it. To my mother- and father-in-law: thank you for your unwavering faith. To my sons, Jonathan and Adam: thank you for your smiles and for loving me whether I wrote anything that day or not. To my wife, Laura: thank you for everything. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 2 CONRAD’S SEARCH FOR CONSCIOUS HEROISM .............................................27 3 AKAIRIC DESIRE IN ELIOT AND FAULKNER .....................................................64 4 MODERNISM AND THE AKAIRIC ENVIRONMENT ............................................88 5 CLARISSA DALLOWAY, MODERNIST HERO ...................................................118 6 EPILOGUE ................................................................................................................155 WORKS CITED ..........................................................................................................................163 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Much has been written about the “death” of the hero in early twentieth-century Western literature, an event following a lengthy decline that began centuries earlier.1 By way of explanation—maybe even justification—scholars generally point to the advent of industrialization, the formalization of psychology as a field of study, and the decline of religion in the face of science as reasons for this fall (Campbell 278). Each of these factors certainly shares a portion of the responsibility for the hero’s temporary decline as a significant cultural phenomenon in Western societies during that period. However, there is another factor that has received far too little recognition for its role in the hero’s fall from favor—time. This project focuses on the convergence of heroism and temporality in Modernist literature in an effort to illuminate both the ways in which changes in the perception of time transformed the portrayal of potential hero figures and, more importantly, how a viable alternative to the frequently assumed “death” of the hero within that period went largely unnoticed. Before any examination of the hero can commence, the term itself must be pinned down. “Hero” is a word with many meanings, and an exploration of heroism can have very different outcomes depending on how the term is defined. A glance at the Oxford English Dictionary is instructive here. The OED lists four senses of the word “hero,” as follows: 1 See Bentley, Brombert, Campbell, Hägin, Edith Kern, O’Faolain, Reed, et al. for varying arguments about the decline of the hero in literature. 2 1. Hist. A name given (as in Homer) to men of superhuman strength, courage, or ability, favoured by the gods; at a later time regarded as intermediate between gods and men, and immortal. The later notion included men of renown supposed to be deified on account of great and noble deeds, for which they were also venerated generally or locally; also demigods, said to be the offspring of a god or goddess and a human being; the two classes being to a great extent coincident. 2. A man distinguished by extraordinary valour and martial achievements; one who does brave or noble deeds; an illustrious warrior. 3. A man who exhibits extraordinary bravery, firmness, fortitude, or greatness of soul, in any course of action, or in connection with any pursuit, work, or enterprise; a man admired and venerated for his achievements and noble qualities. 4. The man who forms the subject of an epic; the chief male personage in a poem, play, or story; he in whom the interest of the story or plot is centered. According to the first definition, then, the hero appears as a figure who not only participates in and influences the “great events” of a culture but also serves as an important marker for what that culture considers moral goodness. Although this second quality—moral goodness— is only subtly included in the first three definitions of the word through the concept of the hero’s “noble deeds” or “noble qualities,” its importance to the essence of heroism cannot be overstated. The particular combination of a hero’s “goodness” and “success” is what makes him or her2 heroic, something that the OED fails to emphasize adequately in all but the third 2 The necessity for the gender division of “hero” and “heroine” is unclear, with the most likely explanation being that the role was limited to men originally because they were the ones permitted to attempt actions that were deemed 3 definition. All other semblances of the hero are not actually heroes; they are “almost-heroes,” which is to say that they are not really heroes at all. Traditional definitions of the “hero,” then, are varied and cause a good deal of confusion. Take, for example, the term “tragic hero,” commonly attributed to Aristotle through his Poetics but, as George Whalley has noted, not a term that Aristotle ever even used himself (88). The tragic hero shares many of the qualities of the OED hero—often possessing “superhuman strength, courage, or ability;” or perhaps “distinguished by extraordinary valour,” or possessing “greatness of soul.” Something prevents this figure from reaching the true status of the hero, however. Aristotle calls this something “hamartia,” which is the basis of the common term “tragic flaw” but is translated by Leon Golden as “miscalculation” (179). Larry Brown’s translation is even more specific, though, as he notes that the word “literally means ‘missing the mark’ [and is] taken from the practice