University of Dundee MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY The nature of appropriation: Eric Linklater's 'Juan in America' Marsh, Rachel Award date: 2011 Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 01. Oct. 2021 MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY The nature of appropriation: Eric Linklater's 'Juan in America' Rachel Marsh 2011 University of Dundee Conditions for Use and Duplication Copyright of this work belongs to the author unless otherwise identified in the body of the thesis. It is permitted to use and duplicate this work only for personal and non-commercial research, study or criticism/review. You must obtain prior written consent from the author for any other use. Any quotation from this thesis must be acknowledged using the normal academic conventions. It is not permitted to supply the whole or part of this thesis to any other person or to post the same on any website or other online location without the prior written consent of the author. Contact the Discovery team ([email protected]) with any queries about the use or acknowledgement of this work. The Nature of Appropriation: Eric Linklater’s Juan in America Rachel Marsh MPhil College of Arts and Social Sciences University of Dundee 2011 DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE I declare that I am the author of this thesis; that, unless otherwise stated in the text, all references cited have been consulted by me; that, except for those parts of work which are declared in this thesis to be based upon joint research, the work which this thesis records is mine; and that it has not been previously presented or accepted for a higher degree. Rachel Marsh Submitted 30 March 2011 i ABSTRACT The objective of this thesis is to investigate the numerous influences which shaped Eric Linklater’s Juan in America (1931) and show how these influences work together to create a unified satirical text. Juan in America pays homage to Byron’s Don Juan (1819- 1824) through appropriation, intertextuality and allusion, and Linklater’s interpretation of Byron and his work will be a focus of this investigation. The early twentieth century Byron scholar, Frederick Beaty, suggests in Byron the Satirist (1985) that ability, temperament and use of raw materials – such as response to society and literary tradition – are the best guide to understanding Byron’s satire, and it is through these elements that a comparison between Don Juan and Juan in America will be made. After thoroughly comparing both texts, this thesis will use theories from adaptation studies to determine the appropriative relationship between the two texts. This dissertation will also suggest that the act of appropriation can extend beyond literary transposition, and that ‘raw materials’ – which Beaty states to be influences from history, memory, and culture – can also be appropriated for satirical purpose. These elements will be investigated using concepts from the disciplines of autobiography, history and anthropology. Finally, Linklater was influenced by various literary traditions evident in the work of satirists, transatlantic authors and his peers. These areas of literature will be put into context against Juan in America using ideas from comparative literature studies. Because both Juan in America and Don Juan are satires heavily laden with intertextual references, as well as autobiographic, historic and cultural representations, taking a multi-disciplinary approach is necessary in an investigation which hopes to uncover how Linklater interacts with his surroundings to create a unique form of satire. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without the support of several key individuals and institutions the completion of this thesis would have never occurred. Primarily I would like to thank my partner Kristoffer Getchell who kindly and empathetically took the brunt of my anguish during the writing of this dissertation. Additionally, I must acknowledge the support of my father, Bobby Marsh, my sisters Marianne and Susan, and my brother Robert, as well as the rest of my family who have encouraged my studies abroad. A very special thank you also goes to Carmen Martin, and Esther and Thomas Moore, who helped me come to the UK in the first place. I also would like to thank the many friends who supported me through this long process: Anne Marie Bottoms, Dr. Beverley Craw-Eismont, Julie Danskin, Karen Graham, Kathleen Gray, Louise Hallman, Hope Jennings, Kirsty Lee, Sam Longden, Samira Nadkarni , Cate Simpson, and Eddie Small. Without their encouragement I would have most certainly given up on the project. Professor Kirsty Gunn, Dr Jim Stewart and Dr Nicole Devarenne must also be given a note of gratitude for their advice, eternal support, and open doors. I would also like to thank Professor Cairns Craig for going above the call of duty with the attention and insight he provided during the final changes to the thesis. While at the University of Dundee, I had the pleasure of interacting with a number of departments who encouraged me on a professional and personal level: Disability Services, International Support, External Relations, Dundee University Press, Literary Dundee and several members of the History Department. Also, I would like to thank the number of Postgraduate students at the University of Dundee who commented on my papers at the various forums and conferences. I would like to acknowledge the Clan McBean Foundation for funding a year of this project. And, finally, I would like to thank Eric Linklater for writing some of the most poetic and insightful novels of the 20 th century. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………… ii INTRODUCTION: Byronic Inspiration………………………………………… 1 CHAPTER ONE: Interpreting Mimetic Fiction………………………………… 13 Appropriation Studies: Making Comparisons……………………..... 15 Satiric Form: Beaty’s Principles of Satire…………………………... 24 Autobiografiction: The Fictional Self………………………………. 27 Autobiography: Representations of Memory……………………….. 33 Historic Context: Validity of Historic Representations…………….. 43 Comparative Literature: Cultural Evaluations………………………. 58 Conclusion: Using the Discipline…………………………………… 62 CHAPTER TWO: Comparing Texts: Juan in America and Don Juan …………. 65 First Impressions: Narrative, Protagonist and Narration……………. 77 Narratives: Structures and Rhyming Patterns…………..... 78 Protagonists: Picaros or Mere Heroes?............................... 95 Narrators: Different Views, Different Voices……………. 100 Satiric Elements: Comparing Multiplicity…………………………... 106 Byron the Genius: Linklater Interprets Ability…………... 107 Pushing the Satire Forward: Temperament and Motivation. 118 Concluding the Comparison: Adaptation or Appropriation?............... 127 CHAPTER THREE: Raw Materials: State of Society and Literary Traditions… 132 State of Society: Representations of History, Memory and Culture... 136 Negating the Present: The Crash that Never Happened…. 136 Subverting the Past: Reactions to the War………………. 141 Ethnological Judgments: The Hypocrisy of Prohibition... 149 Representations of an Indigenous People: India…………. 152 Representing the Self: The Autobiographic Nature of ‘Raw Materials’………………………………………....... 154 Literary Tradition: Influences in Context…………………………… 157 Don Juan : Adopting the Adapted……………………….. 159 Multiple Traditions: Satire and Influence……………….. 161 Transatlantic Influence: Satire and Traditions…………… 166 America versus Britain: Ethnological Representations….. 176 Regional Influence: Linklater and Scotland……………… 180 Justifications for ‘Raw Materials’…………………………………... 189 CONCLUDING REMARKS: Justification for an Interdisciplinary Reading….. 190 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………… 194 Included Illustrations (Figure 1)…………………………………… 204 1 INTRODUCTION: Byronic Inspiration I went to the Grammar School of Aberdeen, whose most famous pupil was Lord Byron. Before the school there was a statue of him in robes of flowing bronze: I read Don Juan and The Vision of Judgement , and my affection for romance was cut in two, and the other half of my mind fell far in love with wit. Dirty-fingered, we sat at our desks, – rough with deep-cut initials – and gave glum attention to Samson Agonistes and The Cause of the Present Discontents ; but Byron, through the window, undid the schoolroom teaching that literature must be a solemn thing. 1 Eric Linklater affixed that shadow of Byron to himself, and pulled the silhouette of the revolutionary dandy with him from his schoolboy days, through university and into his early adulthood, so that when the time came to cast a light creating his own shadow upon literature, the image of Linklater and Byron became so intertwined that fact and fiction, persona and personality appeared to be indistinguishable. It is this relationship between reality and invention upon which Juan in America (1931)