Daz, G. G. (2015) Experience and Feeling in T.S. Eliot and Ernest Hemingway. PhD, University of the West of England. We recommend you cite the published version. The publisher’s URL is: https://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/secure/26974/ Refereed: No (no note) Disclaimer UWE has obtained warranties from all depositors as to their title in the material deposited and as to their right to deposit such material. UWE makes no representation or warranties of commercial utility, title, or fit- ness for a particular purpose or any other warranty, express or implied in respect of any material deposited. UWE makes no representation that the use of the materials will not infringe any patent, copyright, trademark or other property or proprietary rights. UWE accepts no liability for any infringement of intellectual property rights in any material deposited but will remove such material from public view pend- ing investigation in the event of an allegation of any such infringement. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR TEXT. EXPERIENCE AND FEELING IN T.S. ELIOT AND ERNEST HEMINGWAY Gorka Díaz A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University of the West of England, Bristol for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Arts, Creative Industries & Education, University of the West of England, Bristol February 2015 Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………....1 Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………...3 Abbreviations………………………………………………………………...5 Introduction.....................................................................................................8 Chapter One Dramas of Experience in Early Eliot and Hemingway 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………19 2. Experience and the fragmented self…………………………………………………...27 3. Time, memory and space……………………………………………………………...36 4. Image, emotion and the flow of vital reality…………………………………………..50 5. Primitivism in early Eliot and Hemingway; or, the shared pursuit of immediate experience………………………………………………………………………………..62 6. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….69 Chapter Two Reflections on Civilization 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………71 2. The dangerous allure of the primitive…………………………………………………76 3. Collective modes of experience……………………………………………………….95 4. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...114 Chapter Three The Waste Land and The Sun Also Rises 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..116 2. The experience of an absolute order…………………………………………………121 3. Myth and ritual……………………………………………………………………….135 4. The immersion in the waters…………………………………………………………140 5. Pagan and Christian rituals on the way to the Chapel Perilous..…………………….146 6. After the empty chapel……………………………………………………………….163 7. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...168 Chapter Four Towards Social Cohesion: Eliot’s Religion and Hemingway’s Politics 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..170 2. Eliot, religious feelings and the Christian tradition………………………………….176 3. Hemingway, tradition and moral feelings……………………………………………185 4. Distinctive propositions for social cohesion…………………………….…………...198 5. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...209 Chapter Five The American Author: Eliot’s and Hemingway’s Late Works 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..211 2. Language, Ralph Waldo Emerson and William James………………………………213 3. Eliot, Hemingway and the American jeremiad……………………………………...225 4. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...244 Conclusion………………………………………………………………...246 Works cited Primary………………………………………………………………………………….255 Secondary……………………………………………………………………………….258 Abstract This thesis identifies and interrogates commonalities and divergences in the works of T.S. Eliot and Ernest Hemingway in relation to their focus on how to make sense of the world of experience in the early twentieth century, and the complex mediations in which feeling and consciousness are involved. Chapter One considers Eliot’s and Hemingway’s common concern in their early works with the experience and representation of a fragmented self, and the extent to which this feature led them to involve their characters in a flow of sensations that liberates consciousness from the chains of rational constructs. Chapter Two examines Eliot’s and Hemingway’s later ambivalent consideration of this glorification of the sensual beyond any intellectual categorization of reality. The chapter shows how their shared mistrust of this primitive state of mind guided them to pay attention to collective modes of experience intrinsic to ritual patterns. The focus of Chapter Three is on Eliot’s The Waste Land (1922) and Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises (1926). This chapter analyzes the rituals to which they paid attention and how these shaped their distinctive consideration of a common unifying sense of feeling to revitalize society. Chapter Four investigates Eliot’s interest in religious feeling and Hemingway’s concern with moral feeling as modes of reinforcing the interrelation between the individual and society. The aim in the final chapter is to consider Eliot’s Four Quartets (1943) and Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea (1952) within the framework of the American Jeremiad to analyze the outcomes of the final quest of these two authors to 1 attain a unity of experience that moves beyond the frontier of the contradictions of the material world. Critics have commented on the relationship between Eliot and Hemingway in different terms. My overall argument, however, is that the similarities and differences between these two authors result from Eliot and Hemingway occupying two poles of a dissociated experience of reality, and that they attempted in comparable yet contrasting ways to transcend the disorder of experience. This analysis is situated within the intellectual context of the turn of the twentieth century and the emphasis on a philosophy that defends an original flux of sensations as opposed to a rational formulation of reality. This contextualization establishes the consonance between the philosophies of Bergson, James and Bradley, and the concern with consciousness and experience deployed by Eliot and Hemingway in their early works. By analyzing this within their texts, the thesis provides a framework for an understanding of the progression Eliot and Hemingway engaged with from a reflection on individual consciousness and experience to a later consideration of collective experiences and culture. This second discussion focuses on the confluence between Eliot’s and Hemingway’s later works and the theories of early twentieth century social scientists such as Lévy-Bruhl, Frazer and Freud. 2 Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the help and support I have received from a number of people and I would like to gratefully acknowledge them. I would like to express my gratitude to my teachers at Eastern Michigan University who first awoke my enthusiasm for American Literature: Professor David Geherin for his remarkable lectures on Hemingway, Professor Christine Neufeld for all her enlightening lectures and wise advice, and Professor Elisabeth Däumer for being the best role model teacher and for all her insights on the work of T.S Eliot. The research that forms the basis of the work here was carried out while I was a PhD student at the University of the West of England. Dr. Sarah Robertson was one of my supervisors there and I feel lucky that I was able to work with her. Thanks for all her valuable suggestions in the last stage of the dissertation and for her amazing lectures on Tim O’Brian and Paul Auster. Thanks to Dr. Lewis Ward for all his help in the last stage of the dissertation. The examiners of my PhD, Dr. David Greenham and Professor Martin Halliwell offered me a lively discussion and helpful comments. The viva experience was very enjoyable thanks to them. I own an overwhelmed debt of gratitude to my thesis director, Professor Peter Rawling. All his hard work, silent encouragement and wise guidance have been critical all these years. Many thanks for being always there for me from the “I see where we are” stage to the final submission of this dissertation. I feel really lucky to have had the opportunity of working with him. It has been a real pleasure. 3 Finally, there is a number of friends and family that I would like to mention for their understanding, encouragement and support. Thanks to Lisa, Richard, Davide and all my colleagues and students at the Folk House. Thanks to Fross, the third member of our Bristol family. It seems that the three of us are going to make it after all. Thanks to my sister Ana, Esquíroz, Jaime, Marylin, Alistair and María for the beers and the laughs. Thanks to Larrus, Cristina, Ainara and Andrea for being the way they are. However, special thanks must go to my parents. I am enormously grateful for my parents’ understanding, support, and faith in my abilities during all these years. I could never have finished this project without their constant encouragement. Finally, this thesis is dedicated to my wife Teresa (siempre será una hora cojonuda) and Theo (who is in his way). Believe or not, both of your parents have finished their dissertations just on time. 4 Abbreviations Works of T.S. Eliot ASG After Strange Gods: A Primer of Modern Heresy. CPP Complete Poems and Plays. EAM Essays Ancient and Modern. ICS The Idea of a Christian Society and Other Writings. IMH Inventions of the March Hare: Poems. KE Knowledge and Experience in the Philosophy of F. H. Bradley. NTDC Notes Towards the Definition of Culture. OPP On Poetry and Poets. SW The Sacred Wood. Essays on Poetry