LIGHT & SHADOW – THE MANY SIDES OF AGNES HELLER’S CONCEPT OF EMOTIONAL HOUSEHOLDS, WITH CASE STUDIES DRAWN FROM TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND THE LITTLE COMPANY Ann McCarthy ORCID Identifier 0000-0003-2698-3554 Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2017 School of Social and Political Sciences / School of Historical and Philosophical Studies This thesis is submitted in total fulfilment of the degree. ABSTRACT This thesis examines the model of emotional households that features in the work of Hungarian-born social theorist and philosopher Agnes Heller, and applies it to literary characters drawn from two Australian novels: Eleanor Dark’s The Little Company and M. Barnard Eldershaw’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Applying Heller’s concept of emotional households, I consider characters in each of these novels, and the ways they make the world around them their own, or fail to do so. These fictional characters are chosen for the depth and breadth of their depictions of human endeavours - of the interaction of Self and society, and the complex range of factors typically at work therein. Heller’s concept of emotional households is the basis of an approach linking emotions to personality, with the accent on the many ways feeling and thinking occur in conjunction with each other within human consciousness. It encompasses topics such as self-understanding and self-talk, the enduring meaning contained in our deep feelings, and the ideas, concepts and values we reach for to express ourselves, including in times of uncertainty and suffering. The task of enquiring into the emotional worlds of fictional characters, as undertaken in the case studies in this thesis, is one that is consistent with Heller’s own work. Heller frequently illustrates and elucidates her ideas about emotions with examples drawn from literature. In her writing on aesthetics, she has endorsed the project of interpreting literary characters in relation to moral, ethical, social, subjective and other imperatives. As readers of what Heller calls the socio-historical novel, we commonly respond to the attributes, experiences and problems of the characters, usually identifying with one or other of them, following the twists and turns of the plot, and imagining and anticipating what might happen next. In this sense, we become ‘captives of the story’. Although neither The Little Company nor Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is focused exclusively or even mainly on the private lives and emotional dilemmas of the characters, questions about personality and individuality are critical to both works. Both novels feature protagonists who make concrete, in a variety of ways, the experience of living otherwise ordinary lives in extraordinary times. Characters’ 2 emotions, particularly the emotional palette distinctive to each protagonist, also form part of each story. The social milieu in which The Little Company and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow were written would change utterly in the years after they were published, but at the time of writing, an impetus to effect progressive change in human affairs was not necessarily incompatible with seeing life ‘in the round’, and taking a position on subjectivity that assumed a moral imperative. These are crucial factors making The Little Company and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, and the fictional universes they open onto, especially well-suited to a reading in light of Heller’s work. 3 Declaration This thesis comprises only my original work towards the Doctor of Philosophy degree; Due acknowledgment has been made in the text to all other material used; The thesis is fewer than 100,000 words, exclusive of the bibliography. Ann McCarthy 17 June 2017 4 Acknowledgments I am indebted to John Rundell, my main supervisor, for our many conversations, and for his guidance and encouragement, throughout the project. Thank you also to Gerhard Wiesenfeldt, my associate supervisor, for his reflections and ideas about my topic. To John Murphy, with whom I began the thesis, and who put me on to Eleanor Dark’s The Little Company. And to David Carter, at the University of Queensland, who generously took the time to discuss with me the novels and characters that feature in this thesis. To Agnes Heller, who I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to at student events at Melbourne and Monash Universities. To the University of Melbourne, for awarding me an APA scholarship to pursue this project. Grateful thanks to my patient family and friends. This includes, but is not limited to, various forms of material assistance and help I received at various times during the project from Tommy Zainuddin, Miranda Walker, Chris and Rachel McCarthy, and – posthumous acknowledgement – Rachel Funari. 5 In loving memory of my Dad John George McCarthy 28 April 1927-5 October 2016 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: These Uncertain Times … 8 Chapter One Infinite Riches in a Little Room (I): Laying the Groundwork for Emotional Households 39 Chapter Two Infinite Riches In A Little Room (II): The Dialogical Self 60 Chapter Three Infinite Riches In A Little Room (III): Heller’s Phenomenology of Feelings 85 Chapter Four Infinite Riches In A Little Room (IV): The Individual Personality 108 Chapter Five Individuality and the Ethics of Duty: Gilbert Massey 131 Chapter Six Individuality and the Rebel: Marty Ransom 162 Chapter Seven Thrown Into The World: Harry and Ally Munster 193 Chapter Eight Emotions Awakened: Knarf’s Passion and the Reception of Artworks 224 Conclusion: Narrativising the Everyday 253 Bibliography 263 7 INTRODUCTION: THESE UNCERTAIN TIMES … The tendency of feeling housekeeping is for the person to create a hierarchy of the various (selected or reselected) tasks and to form his hierarchy accordingly. The greatest involvement of feeling is accorded the primary task (including the transfer into action and the responsibility accepted for the feelings) and those subordinated in the hierarchy receive less, or else it will be the quality, intensity or depth of the feelings that will differ.1 This thesis examines the model of emotional households that features in the work of Hungarian-born social theorist and philosopher Agnes Heller, and applies it to literary characters drawn from two Australian novels: Eleanor Dark’s The Little Company and M. Barnard Eldershaw’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Heller’s concept of emotional households is the basis of an approach linking emotions to personality, with the accent on the many ways feeling and thinking occur in conjunction with each other within human consciousness. A cornerstone of Heller’s work in this area is that our feelings embody our judgments about ourselves and the world in important ways. Heller’s focus is on understanding feelings and emotions as part of the frame of reference bound up with character and personality, decisive in shaping and reflecting a person’s point of view and habits of mind. Which feelings one acts upon, and which one does not, are matters integral to emotional housekeeping, as are the nature and dynamics of a person’s emotional palette. Heller’s concept of emotional household encompasses topics such as self-understanding and self-talk, the enduring meaning contained in our deep feelings, and the ideas, concepts and values we reach for to express ourselves, including in times of uncertainty and suffering. It speaks to the deepening and cultivating of one’s emotions and sensibilities, as well as realising the possibilities for autonomy in one’s emotional life. The five characters who form my case studies in this thesis are drawn from 1940s novels, and they take the reader into a time of war and socio-political upheaval. Harry and Ally Munster are a young couple who leave the country for the city, seeking a better life for themselves and their children. Exposed to years of living on slender 1 Agnes Heller, Theory of Feelings, Second Edition. (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2009), 186. All references to Heller’s A Theory of Feelings are to the second edition, unless otherwise stated. 8 means and having limited choices, feelings of dissatisfaction are common to Harry and Ally, though the triggers of that emotion, and its personal implications, are very different for each of them. Siblings Gilbert Massey and Marty Ransom wrestle with their discontentment and uncertainty in relation to the war, and its ramifications for democracy and freedom. Gilbert and Marty are writers, and for both of them, grasping political issues inevitably confronts them with their own individual experiences – something that proves transformative for the steady, quietly spoken Gilbert. The fifth character, Knarf, is also a writer, and his latest work provides a window into a society four centuries removed from his own. Knarf’s identification with his subject matter is traced to his encounter with a recovered artwork, and the decisive impact of that encounter upon his mind and imagination. Applying Heller’s concept of emotional households, I consider in turn each of these characters, and the ways they make the world around them their own, or fail to do so. These fictional characters were chosen for the depth and breadth of their depictions of human endeavours – of the interaction of Self and society, and the complex range of factors typically at work therein. As light is cast on the emotional life of each character, salient issues to do with value hierarchies, reflexivity and individuality also surface. I begin the remainder of this introductory chapter of my thesis with an overview of relevant ideas and concepts from Heller’s work, and then turn to discuss key aspects of the fictional works from which my case studies are drawn. An Introduction to Agnes Heller’s Concept of Emotional Households To explain emotions in terms of households and housekeeping, and the relationship between values and objectives, as Heller does, is to engage with their significance in relation to subjectivity and ethics.