A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Empowering Passivity in H.D.’s Madrigal Cycle Novels Emel Zorluoğlu School of English University of Sussex April, 2017 ii I hereby declare that this thesis has not been, and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature:………………………………… iii Abstract My thesis re-situates the work of modernist writer, Hilda Doolittle (H.D., 1886–1961) at the intersection of modernism, psychoanalysis, spirituality and passivity. Although H.D. is often claimed to be a feminist writer, there are very few active expressions of feminist anger in her work. Instead, we might turn to psychoanalytic discussions to consider where the anger resides in H.D. Melanie Klein argues that aggression is an innate instinct and art is a means of sublimating that instinct. For H.D, a bisexual mother who experiences war trauma, betrayal, death, stillbirth and breakdown, aggression and anger become a form of artistic energy that allows her to create herself anew. In a sense, her pain and suffering are transformed into an embedded anger that later becomes H.D.’s catalyst to write. I argue that not writing in explicit anger was a deliberate choice, for H.D. yearned to destroy the dichotomies she faced, not to reverse them. To do this, and still reflect her anger, she adopts an unusual passive-aggressive writing strategy. Though passivity might seem like a negative rather than a positive trait to feminist readers, I seek to demonstrate that H.D. manages to extract power from passivity. I explore through Kleinian psychoanalysis the ways in which H.D.’s writing relates to power and passivity and, importantly, to H.D.’s Moravian ancestors, who were, simultaneously, ‘gladly passive’ and powerful. Whilst appearing passive, these narrative strategies also hold the power that H.D. values. As such, Moravian ways of dealing with aggression contribute to the passive-aggressive writing methods that H.D. adopts, such as the roman à clef and palimpsest. In subsequent chapters on Asphodel and Hermione, I reflect on how these two novels represent a place for her to emerge as a powerful voice. iv Acknowledgements I am deeply indebted to my supervisors, Pamela Thurschwell and Alistair Davies, who have been a continuing source of guidance and encouragement. Their invaluable feedback, support and challenging criticism throughout four years have made this project possible, and far more interesting. I also would like to thank Rachel Cole and Yolanda Cerda for reading and commenting on drafts of the thesis, always with a smiling face, and for being patient listeners whenever I needed that. I would also like to thank Susan Stanford Friedman for her encouraging feedback on my thesis, and Craig Atwood for his substantial comments on my Moravian chapter. And I do not know how to thank my sister, Zeynep Erhan. I cannot put into words how much I admire and value your companionship. Two PhDs in one house, or rather one room, would always be challenging, but you made it as delightful as possible. Thank you for tolerating my idiosyncratic behaviour and tendency for late-night conversations, as well as many other things. I also would like to thank my friends, Yun Pei, Sima Kamali, Isilay Taban, Hulya Kaya, Pelin Dikmen and Haydar Karaman, for accompanying me during coffee breaks, or on many other occasions, and supporting me whenever I needed it. A special thank goes to another friend, Wendy Andre, for providing a peaceful room and offering exciting and challenging conversation. I would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Turkish Government, without which this project certainly would not have happened. I also wish to thank the School of English at the University of Sussex and Sussex Doctoral School for their support. The funding I received from the Doctoral School and the School of English made trips to the Moravian Archives, an H.D. conference in Pennsylvania and a conference in Reims possible. I am also grateful to my father, Şaban Zorluoğlu, my mother, Engin Yalçın, and my brother, Umut Çetin Zorluoğlu, for their unconditional love and support. What you make me feel is blissful and great. A father who ignores the expected patriarchal role and a mother who becomes another Helen are whispering voices in the project and v initiators of my journey. Lastly, I would like to express my love and gratitude to Mustafa Akbey. When I didn’t feel or care like going on anymore, he got me through it and became the most positive force in my life. vi List of Abbreviations for Works by H.D. Asphodel ---------- A Bid Me to Live---- BID Gift ---------------- G HERmione ------- HER Paint it Today ---- PIT Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... iv List of Abbreviations for Works by H.D. ..................................................................................... vi Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................................................ 2 Chapter Two: The Moravian Legacy .......................................................................................... 22 Lebenslauf ............................................................................................................................... 51 Chapter Three: The Aesthetics of Passive-Aggressiveness ........................................................ 58 Roman à Clef: A Scandal Sheet or A Healing Space? ............................................................ 73 Palimpsest: A Mythical or A Modernist Form? ...................................................................... 92 Scrapbook ............................................................................................................................. 100 Chapter Four: War Phobia and the Aesthetics of Trauma Writing in Asphodel ....................... 112 Writing Trauma ..................................................................................................................... 118 Anger towards Her Female Partners and Her Mother ........................................................... 133 Chapter Five: Hermione: Writing beyond the Beginnings ....................................................... 145 Reparation with the Image of Mandy and Fayne .................................................................. 168 Pain and Palimpsest: A Narrative Strategy? ......................................................................... 177 Conclusion: Being a Rope Dancer ............................................................................................ 185 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 191 Appendix ................................................................................................................................... 211 2 Chapter One: Introduction In a letter to her friend, Viola Jordan, dated 29 March 1927 or 1928, Hilda Doolittle (H.D., 1886–1961) writes: I am bringing out a volume of prose, semi-private, in Paris. No one really likes my prose much but I can’t be held up by what the critics think H.D. ought to be like […] I have a purple1 sex story (though highly spiritualised) about a Greek girl in Rome which I like but people don’t think it quite ‘worthy’ of H.D. I say who is H.D.? They all think they know more about what and why she should or should not be or do than I.2 Who is H.D.? Unlike the explicit angry rhetoric of this letter, in another letter, to Jordan, H.D. confesses that she ‘can’t afford to make enemies.’3 In a similar vein, Margaret Dunn states that ‘H.D. was rarely critical, even of those who judged her harshly.’4 These different statements capture the essence of this thesis, wherein I will analyse H.D.’s empowering passivity that becomes a means to channel her anger when establishing ‘who H.D. is.’ H.D. needed to separate herself from her male mentors, Ezra Pound, the founder of Imagism with all his ‘do’s and don’ts’, and her husband, Richard Aldington, another influential canonical figure. She needed to disentangle herself from what they thought ‘H.D. ought to be like’ so as to establish her new self/selves. Contrary to her male mentors’ wishes, H.D. would quit Imagism, as I will elaborate in Chapter Three, and fashion herself anew in her passive-aggressive ‘prose’ through creating an aesthetic of the marginal in her romans à clef.5 1‘Purple story’ is reminiscent of a Greek myth wherein a mutilated Philomela weaves purple signs to articulate her story of rape to her sister, Procne. The reference to this myth will be further elaborated in conjunction with the H.D. and Pound relation in Chapter Three. 2The letter