- • l' .. \. , ~' ( \ ,\ , . ( \ Marian Engel. setf~Àea1izati~n and the Journey Motit' \ . Suzanne Gagnon D.partment of English Master of Arts ( : ., , ( .. \ ' ,. " • \ . \ , - ',' , J ABSlI'RACT , ( , \ The problem of self-realization., as it manifests ~ t- self i~ the novels of Marian Engel, is closely asslciated wi th \ two themes fundament:!lY lin1<ed ta what may br 4oerm,d th. \ twentieth~century literary visionl the notion" ai man as an \ isolated ent'i ty caught not only wi t~in:' the flux of an unc~r­ tain present, but wi thin the d,issod ated and confli ting as- pects makinr; up his own identity; and, his' subseque t preoc- cupation with the search for personal authenticity and in­ tegr~t;ln, which frequently" involves the 'use of th journey l', " motif, be i t rnovement in a spatial, temporal or psychological ( semre. l ' Accordingly, Chapter l of ~his thesi~ is devoted mainl~ \ ta t}1e \elucidation' of the' major tenets comprising this particu- lar stream of, contemporaI;"Y wri ting, and defines ErJel,' s t'r'ea - ment of the problem of self-realization and its relation to l the journey motif wi thin the c~ntext of the se priryciple s. '\ Chaptells ,II and III fùrther re1nforce- the r~levance "of Engel' S th~mes to the abave:mentioned literary vision: th~ former con- . siders the drawbacks ta self-reali~ation as revealed by the' l ' spatiat and temporal journeys; the lÇitter examine s the psycho-,, log1.cal~journey as an indication th~t self-realization has ' 1 been achieved. Chapter IV briefly recapitulates and a~sesses <~ the rneaning of self-realizati'on wi thin Engel\' s fiction, and { , reasserts i ts posi tion a~ a concept central to the framework of twentieth-cen~ury literature. \ " \ { ,l' ( 1"" t!' • \ 1 \ \ - \ .. ... ,1 " l, 'Y, SOMMAIRE t t.. j 1 Le problème de la réalisation personnelle, comme,ll se ~ manifeste dans ,les oeuvres de Marian Engel, est asioci6 de tr~s l \ . \ ~ pr~s à deux thème~ fondamentallement liés à ce qui pourrait ~tre défini comme ure vision littéraire du vinGti~me sièclè.1 la \ notio~ ~~ ~ de l' homme vu tomme un~ entité isolée aux prises flan seul ement l l~ " l ..., avec un présent incertaih ~is ausr.l avec les aspects dis- 4 s~ciabl~s et de mise en çonfli: constante de sa propre identité; 1 ;\ J et, subséquemment" sa recherche ct' ~ne\ authentici té et 4\'.une i . intégration personnell~ qu'elle soit faite ~ans un sens spatfal, temporel ou psychologi4ue. Le premier chapitre, de cette thèse sc v'~u~ra un éclaircissement des différent€s lignep de pensée de cf cour~t d'écriture contemporaine et démontrera la façon dont Marian Engél traite le probl~me 'de la réali~tion de soi à di vers niyeaux. 'Les deuxHme et troisi~me c:api tres. pour leur part, verront à renforcer l'à propos des th~mes de Marian Encel ~ l'intérieur de la vision'littéraire ci-haut mentionnées le premier de ces chapitres évoque les reculs de la réalisation de soi à l'intérieur d'une recherche spatiale et temporelle tandis que le second tend à démontrer que la recher·che sur lk plan pSYChologique est la seule qui peut amener la réalisation ~e soi. Le quatri~me chapitre revoit et réaffirme ce qu'e~t la réalisation de soi ~ .1' intérieur de l' ,~cri ture de Marian Engel, tout en ,insistant sur la place que doit prendre ce th~me aù 1 centre de la littérature du vingtUm-e~ sHcle. l ( , .. 1 J - 1 • ---.~- - :... ~---- .,-\~- ......-:.---.,.< ........ -------- . ••••••••••___ ---f'.'IIIi·-IiIiIIIII' 1iIIII'... 5II1II ....... - _t_t_--"' ...... b....... ".d ... ,._:-~ ••5.-- - PREi' ACE 1 ',\ 1 wi -th the exception of several book revicw[~ and the ; occ(l[Jional interview, ve~y\ li ttle cri tica~. attention. he it from a tl~matiC or styU stic standpoint, has been paip ta the li te ary works of ~larian Engcl. Especially over- , ... ",- ~ -~ Iooked j s her concern with the hiGhly problematical nature of man's ~earch for self-real,zation within a Chao~ic\and uncertain uni verse: a theme which çommand s 8 central pa[;j- 1 tion not only' wi thin the particular fra~ework of Encel' s ~f. li terary ,vi sion. but 'wi thin the more ceneral context of twentieth-century literature. Accordinely, the present study seeks ta reinforce the uncertainty attendiniG the quest for personal nuthenticity aAd intecration hy ixamin­ ine the concept of self-realization in relation -to éneel' S . " , ' use of the journey motif, and to establish the relevance ( of her treatment of this theme to several f)f th'e major -- tenets defining contemporary fict{on. Of themany people l should thank, the following' - ? / \ " .' t 0, CONTENTS ~':. fi fi, ~ , , j~', 1 l ' , , • 1 ~, FREF ACE ............. , . , ................... , ............ , i 1 • i CHAPTER 1: THE PROBLEM OF SELF-REALIZATION A"ND THE JOURNEY fl'lOTIF IN CONTEMI;>ORAR f,~ LI. 'l'ERA TU RE ••..•.•••••••• '\0' ..••.... , .. 1 1, \1 1 1 ... \ '. CHAPTER II: THE ~AWBACKS ITO SELF-REA~f~ATION AS REVEALED BY THE SPATIAL A D TEMPORAL 22 -. -. JOURNEYS. " .• : ... " •. I •••••• , ••••••••• 'f .•• / CKAPTER III : THE P,SYCHOLOGI~~L JOURNEY AS AN \ l NDIÇATION OF SELF-REAL! ZATIÛ'N ••••••••.•• '1 54 CHAPTER IV 1 CO~CLUSION ... " .••.•.•••.••.••••••••.•••• ' .. 80, , , 1 l ' ~ LSELECT~D IHBlLI OGRAPHY ••••••.•••••••••", • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• BQ., \." )" " ' ''t \, ~ \ " "' ' "" .. " -,, ( - ! CHAPTER 1 ( THE PROBLEM OF SEtF-REALIZATION AND THE JOURNEY MOTIF IN CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE The relevance of alienation, 10ss of self, fragmen­ tation and victimization as concepts central to the vision of contemporary literature has long been established by th~ frequency of their use to de6cri~e the tensions Inherent in modern day existence. 'l'hat "our age ls not simply an age of ~\ change or transition, bU1' much more u1timately, an age of ~riBiS,"1 18 reflected by "the 1066 of faith in. the super­ \ ~ 1 natura1, the triumph of scientlfic rationalism followed by the c011apse of th~ utopian ideal,"2 ~\1 of whlch laft its , shattering impact on the twantfeth-cèntùry. mind in the form of a"p~vaBive epidemic Ôf,anxiety, skepticism, ~oubt' and inde ci sion. History prediçts \, no salvation for man and accords nO'meaning retrospecti velly to his efforts. The 'dom­ inant political trend of the age fortlfi~s ! the collecti VB and technical" organization 1 of society, ... Existentialist philosophy ex­ . poses the ,absolute nudi ty of· the self in a world devoid of preconceived values or sig­ nificance.3 r) \. j With the breakdpwn'of flxed~ ethlcal standards and accept­ éd, efIectua1 modes of feeling and conduct. "chance and 1·1 -- ~<;, '\ • " 'absurdity rule human actions••• and ••• r~ality is but'anoth- er name' for chaos."4 In 'a world govern'ed by contingency,, , ,credenèë 'can no longer be given -to the ~ion ,of the uni- 1 \ ...................------~----~---------~·i " 1 2 J 1 verse as a stable, "symmetrical and h'armonious ent ty of- 1 fering "an assured resting place for,.'the quésting ou1i.5 , wi thln a logical s,eries of correB,P'~.mdences. The a .ur~ \ a;'ce of ordered permanen~e has been sin\\e replaced iby t~ansience and disintegratio\nl,' , ' 1 Everywhere the, old configurations have . \ br0)ce'n up. Out of the flux that has supers~d~d the comparative flxl ty of the past, new forms, rapidly crystalllse only ta dissolve once more lnto the pow of thlngs; Society no longer offers the app~arance\of an entit~, but 15 instead conceivgd ~s an aggreg te of'confli~ting . forcee. .. 1 • Once d' flned in termo of absolutes and as entirèly l' 1 >"'" he r f;e of man' s comprehension, the uni verse has now' , \ \ c, e be v,isualized\as a relativ~. and, therefore conf~~ng J welt of phenomena. ~ercei ved from a,; mui tiplici ty Of per- " l ' ' f 1 specti es, reali ty becomes "prob~ematlcal, ..• truth la '. unatta~nable, reason ls bankrupt, huma~ knowledge a sub- ject~;e di stortlon ... 7 !I 1 \ 1 1 'Wi th the emergence of a radicall}y transf~rmed world view. the concept of man in cont'~porary l1tera- 1 , 1 tupe undergoe,J! a corr~spondirgly extrem~metamorPhosiB. 1\ • "The dialectic forces of history atM soc' ety (the World) 8 affect our idea of the self' (thè '"Haro) Il to such an extent ~ that "the upheaval of our world and the, pneaval in ~on~ .. sciouàness la one 'rd the' same.·· 9 FoPite ly daring ..... in- , J tegrated apd self-a,ured. the self lB .w portrayed as .. powerless and 'fractureb. , ',1 ( \ 1 \ 1 - ,. - J ,\ i, 1t , ~ \ broken into warring lernents, pal sied ' 1 { wi th doubt and indeci sion, no ,lJ.onger sure of·i t'self. An' a e that i8 skep- , ,/' tical of aIl absolutes can do ,no more i~ than ask questions, it can hit up6n ' l' ~~ no satisfactory solution ta iits e:x.- , lstential dilemmas. 10 , l,' \ ~ t Ironically, the mediaeval c01ceptl' ofl "ma!lsumming \ u~ the l l1 univers. in himself· ,still imaintal s a strong h014 on l the modern! imagination, but the c~rrf~pondence betwe\en man (micro osm) and the cOsmds, (macrocosm) is now Il heg- , / ative one mphasizing, fragmerttation and insecuri.t~ at the / 1 i expense 0yeSi'On: or.,.~er and stabi.lity. In oth~r words, •f / "modern ma~eems to find the, labS'rinth 'an accurate me~a- \ l, \ i 1 , 1 phor for h~ms If andl the' wo~ld. in which he lives. ,,12 . ' l ' 1 Th i m~d ..f~edl verslot. 0 f the re1'" at~onshlp bet~een man unive se has rehdered untenable "the notion l ' 1 sUb;stantial ènti ty ..