Frank - Spatial Form Parts 1 and 2

Spatial Form in Modern Literature: An Essay in Two Parts Author(s): Joseph Frank Source: The Sewanee Review, Vol.
53, No. 2 (Spring, 1945), pp. 221-240 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27537575 . Accessed: 05/09/2013 14:32
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SPATIAL
FORM
IN MODERN
LITERATURE
AN ESSAY IN TWO PARTS
By
JOSEPH Part
FRANK I
is one of remarked, or contradict every thirty of these atti neither advice, once writers.1 the plastic reference
IESSING'S those ^ tudes years. toward
Andr? Gide Laokoony books it is good to reiterate this excellent Despite Lao ko on has been to define
attempt Lessing's a dead arts has become is occasionally on influence came about made, esthetic
by modern adopted and the limits of literature to which
issue?one but which
thinking. in the nineteenth it is not so easy
respectful longer has any fecundating can understand this how One no its passion at present, for his when so
but toricism, many writers form. effort have To
century, with to understand
are occupied with on esthetic problems of questions or the plastic a historian of literature arts, Lessing's the unalterable ; but modern laws of these mediums no may overawed well by the
to define seemed
the bugbear problems he
quixotic of historical tried
method, to solve.
critics, have begun
longer to take up again
to these problems own solution seems, Lessing's to modern esthetic to have little relation thinking. of Laokoon the arguments school against which the school modern based whose of pictorial poetry, has since ceased ; and many
at first glance, The literary were directed, to interest the
sensibility on the plastic
discoveries, But second-hand. history,
arts, grew to make matters it was
long when of its conclusions, particularly out of a now-antiquated archeology worse, his Lessing
above
to define
precisely the unalterable
quixotic laws of esthetic
at knew mainly to rise attempt perception 4
222 rather
SPATIAL than to
FORM attack the or
IN MODERN defend any
LITERATURE which Gide
his work gives Since alluded. their the
of
first-hand with the artworks acquaintanceship to it is consider them apart from antiquity, always possible use them in the analysis these circumstances and of later develop fuses two distinct currents of
relationship extent of his
freshness perennial the validity of his theories to the literary movements
particular to which does of
school, Andr? not his
on depend time, or on
ments.
both
In Laokoony Lessing of great importance researches archeological stimulated a passionate went Lessing
thought, The time. history had of Winckelmann, his contemporary, the Ger in Greek interest culture among in the cultural of his back to Homer, Aristotle and the Greek to attack the distorted
mans.
using tragedians, critical theories, had taken filtered hold
his first-hand
supposedly into France through At famous
knowledge on classical based Italian same
which authority, commentators and then as Wilhelm Locke and Dilthey the em
in Germany. in his
the
emphasizes to esthetic
essay Locke
time, on Lessing, tried to
pirical school of English

speculation.2 by breaking knowledge and then of sensation, see how these was from method shifted of soon
philosophy had given a new impulse

complex the the problem of into simple elements to of the mind operations solve ideas to form ideas. of to an This interest analysis : the focus beauty
down
examining were sensations taken over
combined
external
by estheticians for prescriptions Writers to mention like
esthetic
Hutcheson selves
only character and combination of impressions the precise to the friend esthetic that gave Lessing's sensibility. pleasure this method of deal and critical ally, Mendelssohn, popularized with
perception. and Burke,
Hogarth, Shaftesbury, a few, concerned them
himself in Germany, and Lessing esthetic problems ing with same the was a close student in others and many of these works as a result, stands Laokoon} spirit. general currents: Lessing these intellectual analyzes at the the confluence of
laws
of esthetic
JOSEPH
FRANK
223
limitations how Greek by to
perception, literature writers
shows and
how
they arts,
the plastic
necessary prescribe and then demonstrates Homer, created
and these
obeying starts from the simple observation that literature His argument sensuous and the plastic arts, working different through mediums, must in the fundamental differ laws governing their therefore "that painting it is true," Lessing and poetry wrote, or symbols in their imitations make use of entirely different means in the ?the form and of arti of color second space, first, namely, a in time?if these symbols culated sounds require indisputably creation. "If suitable relation to then it is clear that symbolized, can only in juxtaposition of express subjects or parts exist in juxtaposition; consecu while thing the
painters, laws.
especially
masterpieces
arranged symbols the wholes which tive
can only express or the wholes of which subjects symbols did not originate consecutive." this parts are themselves Lessing has a long and complicated which but he formulation, history; as an instrument is the first to use it systematically, of critical analysis. sarily Form spatial, in the plastic arts, the visible because according aspect of of time. to Lessing, objects is neces can best be the of
in an instant presented juxtaposed use of language, other hand, makes words form, proceeding to harmonize primarily this argument through with time; the essential form
composed and it follows quality of
on Literature, of a succession that
its medium, sequence.
literary must Lessing
be based used
on some to attack
of narrative genres
two artistic
his day:
and allegorical poetry pictorial to tell a to the allegorical with tried words, poet painter paint to fail because their doomed story in visible images: both were with the fundamental of in contradiction aims were properties their mediums. scription impression might No matter how accurate and vivid not give a verbal de it could the unified figures
in highly popular The painting. pictorial
be, Lessing argued, no matter of a visible object;
how
skillfully
224 might could As
SPATIAL be not chosen
FORM and
IN MODERN a painting the various
LITERATURE piece of sculpture stages of an action. or
successfully
arranged, set forth
Lessing
the Greeks, the limits of human
to prove his argument, he attempts that develops sense of esthetic propriety, with an unfailing respected on different art mediums imposed by the conditions to understand But the importance of perception.
to follow distinction it is not necessary the ramifications Lessing's nor even to agree with his on of his argument, specific judgments one or individual writers. Various critics have quarreled with another in some was of these judgments, thinking in doing ; but position that, so, they were such a belief
based
history insights
way undermining Lessing's on a misunderstanding of Laokoonys It is quite possible of esthetic theory. of
in the importance to use Lessing's to proceeding they adhered
judge to the norms
as instruments solely the value of individual he laid down.
without analysis, works by how closely And unless this
of fact, the real meaning what Lessing offered was form. ception of esthetic The
of Lao ko on cannot not a new
is done, as a matter For be understood. but a new con
set of opinions,
form of esthetic inherited conception by the eighteenth was a one. Classical the from Renaissance external century purely was known to have what of it?was literature?or presumed reached imitate deduced perfection, its example. certain and A later writers horde of could do little and better critics than had like heard? if they these rules of a liter was rules. nothing a Such led a commentators
rules
from
the classical
the Aristotelian and modern wished came
of which unities, were warned writers
masterpieces?rules Aristotle had never to obey these rules
to a cultivated to appeal public. to form an external mold into which had technical to be poured: arrangement notion the form
Gradually, the material of by a work the form, was
ary work but the
dictated of
superficial to serious barbarian
and mechanical
esthetic
however, considered
of taste?Shakespeare perversions a writer even by so sophisticated
as Voltaire,
and Pope
JOSEPH found it necessary
FRANK deal
225
of
Lessing's editing. ternal conception in the tion to follow For Lessing,as we
to do a good in translating Homer point of view, breaking sharply with out the road for esthetic of form, marks future. have
this ex specula
arrangement provided by the sensuous lation between conditions of human
form is not an external seen, esthetic a set of traditional it is the re rules: nature of the art medium man and of the the as the natural by of
century eighteenth forms, but was to create so art was to them not create
perception. Just was not to be bound them its own
traditional with his own
political nature, than
in accordance forms out
accepting cism was
ready-made to prescribe
laws by which necessary with form confused esthetic not a strait jacket his creative ideas, into which but
itself, the practice Criti of the past. to explore the rules for art, but was was art governs No itself. longer from mere externals the artist, was technique?it to force had willy-nilly, of
rather
from the organization spontaneously it presented itself to perception. Time and of the art work were two extremes the the limits of literature and space defining issued as the plastic arts in their relation to sensuous example, between to and perception; trace the evolution it is of
following possible, art forms by their
these two poles.8 to the is method of The essay purpose present apply Lessing's trace the evolution to modern of form in modern literature?to
Lessing's oscillations
in the novel. The first two sec poetry and, more particularly, that modern tions will try to show literature, by exemplified as and Ezra Proust T. S. Eliot, Marcel such writers Pound, in the direction of spatial This is moving form. Joyce, James means that 'the reader is intended of time, in a moment ally, as the novel this is concerned, Djuna received Barnes's remarkable attention to apprehend their work spati rather than as a sequence. So far reaches tendency book Nightwoody it deserves. The its culmination which third has section never will in
the critical
deal with Nightwood
in detail, analyzing its form and explaining
226
SPATIAL
FORM
IN MODERN
LITERATURE in esthetic of a in always cultural particular the spiritual attitudes form form.
its meaning. Finally, volve changes major an effort will period, that have
since in the be made
changes
sensibility to outline of 1
led to the predominance
spatial
Modern from the
Anglo-American Imagist movement the first World
following any actual what for
received its initial poetry impetus of the years directly and preceding was not War. for Imagism important
one knew quite poetry written poets?no by Imagist an Imagist rather the way it because was?but poet opened Vic later developments sentimental by its clean break with The
the leading of Ezra Pound, critical writings are an astonishing of keen Imagism, farrago a series of boyishly thrown in among esthetic perceptions naughty to le it is whose chief would seem, purpose, remarks, ?pater the But Pound's shirts. definition stuffed startle bourgeois?to torian verbiage. theoretician of of the mental "An and image, perhaps for the keenest any discussion of his perceptions, of modern is of funda form. literary an intellectual implications not as a
importance image" Pound emotional
"is that which wrote, presents an instant of time." The in complex should be noted?an
of his definition pictorial emotions Such laws with
image but as unification of disparate ideas and reproduction, in an instant of time. into a complex spatially presented to the a complex to not is according discursively, proceed but is rather to strike the reader's of language, sensibility
is defined
stresses this aspect by add Pound impact. that only the instantaneous presentation ing, in a later passage, sense that "that of sudden of such complexes liberation; gives an instantaneous sense of freedom from time we limits and sudden growth, which est works of art." At the very method space limits; in the presence that sense of of the great a
experience
poetic
modern outset, poetry therefore, to the way in direct contradiction
championed in which Les
JOSEPH said had sing language Pound's of the definition tion of the psychology this profoundly must
FRANK be
227
comparing descrip clearly idea
process, our has influenced conception the distinctive For Eliot, of the nature of poetry. to is its form new wholes, capacity poetic sensibility into an organic unity. experiences ingly disparate in love, or reads Spinoza, "falls man, Eliot writes, how
image with of the poetic
By perceived. Eliot's well-known we
can see modern
of a quality to fuse seem The and ordinary these two
to do with or with have nothing each other, the experiences or the smell of cooking; in the mind noise of the typewriter of are new the poet these wholes." always experiences forming
While
esthetic
Pound had attempted to define the image in terms of its

attributes, origin; a view in this passage, Eliot, in a poem but the result of poetry more is describing was likely its psy to be the
chological
same.
Such numerous cluded
of the nature How
problems. of an image was its capacity in a poem? If the chief value an intellectual to present and emotional simultaneously, complex a most in would sequence up clearly images destroy linking one was vast the Or itself whose of their efficacy. poem image, individual then ness
was
rise to gave immediately than one image to be in
as a unity? But were to be apprehended components to undermine the inherent be necessary consecutive it would
the reader's normal of language, of frustrating expectation to a sequence the elements of the poem and forcing him perceive rather than in in time. space unrolling juxtaposed
This
major elements upon matters,
is precisely what Eliot

works. of poets, conventional and Both in their
and Pound
earlier
attempted
still retained were of
in their
some looked technical
structure.
as
the handling this is less considered of subjects non-poetic. Perhaps ordinarily the the more true of Eliot Eliot of than of Pound, especially pattern complex early works like "Prufrock," "Gerontion" and "Portrait
daring like the
revolutionary of metrical loosening
work, Their poems because chiefly and
228 of
SPATIAL
FORM
IN MODERN
LITERATURE
a Lady"; but even here, although the sections of the poem are not governed an the of skeleton by syntactical logic, implied structure is always present. narrative The reader of "Pr?frock" is swept up in a narrative movement from the very first lines: Let us go then, you When the evening. And mutual the reader, accompanying destination: and . . I,
Prufrock,
finally
arrives
at their
In the room the women of Michelangelo. Talking At
come
and go
a series of more or less isolated this point the poem becomes some dilem each stating emotional aspect of Prufrock's fragments, a on are now and the localized focused but ma; fragments specific them by referring set of circumstances: the reader can organize situation. implied while "Portrait of a Lady," the in a dry season"?the in a dry month, being both cases there disconnected one to The same method in "Gerontion" in is employed the reader is specific of for "an old man In the
ally told that he has been reading the "thoughts of a dry brain
stream-of-consciousness read to by a boy, waiting framework, of the poem the rain." which
is a perceptible
around can be
seemingly This was work were
passages reason why Pound's "Mauberly" not as forerunners first regarded,
organized. and Eliot's early of a new poetic
vers de soci?t??witty, with disillusioned, form, but as latter-day that quality of "high seri a somewhat brittle charm, but lacking as chosen the touchstone of had Arnold Matthew ousness" which poetic excellence. because vers de little from and difficulty the grand Waste These soci?t? poems had were fallen considered unusual mainly : there was
long as them in accepting nineteenth style of the Land," however,
out of fashion an
entertaining departure the In "Cantos" century. have been clear
"The
it should
JOSEPH that ture; a radical but this transformation transformation critics. while The R. was
FRANK
229
taking has been P.
by modern pherally the central problem "anecdotal" mur method.
struc in esthetic place on touched only peri comes to Blackmur closest what of he calls Pound's
analyzing special form and
up another.
"is that of explains, in one or more other This deliberate to
the anecdote places,
the "Cantos," Black in one place, taken begun at if in still finished, all, this art of off a thing short, is So the
disconnectedness,
continually the method soon poem, as the Mr.
alluding by which reader's
itself, continually breaking the "Cantos" tie themselves is concerted with
mind
together. the material of
ing fresh parently, equally given
Pound disconcerts it, either by introduc deliberately or by to old and, ap and disjunct material reverting Blackmur's remarks equally disjunct material." apply to "The Waste Land," where syntactical sequence of relation under another can another they in is
well
on the up for a structure depending perception To be properly disconnected between ships word-groups. one must these word-groups be juxtaposed with stood, perceived simultaneously; only for while when this follow is done one
and
be adequately understood; does time, their meaning
not
one difficulty of The ship. can is the internal textual overcome, exegesis wholly conflict be tween and the space-logic the time-logic of language implicit of the nature of poetry. in the modern conception Esthetic that form in modern demands a complete Since language. poetry, then, re-orientation the primary is based in the reference on a reader's of space-logic attitude
they on this relation depend temporal no amount these poems, which of
towards group
inside the poem is to something itself, language is completed the meaning-relationship reflexive: is poetry really in space of word-groups perception only by the simultaneous in time, have no comprehensible read consecutively when which, and immediate to each other. of the instinctive Instead relation reference of words and word-groups to the objects or events they
any word in modern
230
SPATIAL
FORM
IN MODERN
LITERATURE
of meaning the sequence and the construction from symbolize, to the of these references, modern asks its readers poetry suspend the entire pat of individual until reference process temporarily a unity. can as tern of internal This be references apprehended statement the extreme of an ideal con is, of course, explanation an state rather than of affairs; but the dition, existing actually to Pound of poetic form that runs through Mallarm? conception on a traces has left its whole and which of and Eliot, generation modern can be poets, reference. of reflexive the ments esthetic formulated And only in terms is the with of this principle of modern poetry the principle link connecting similar experi
development novel. in the modern
2 For famous a study county of esthetic fair scene form inMadame in the modern Flaubert's novel, is a convenient point
Bovary for its mordant of departure. justly praised its portrayal?unusually caricature of bourgeois sym pomposity, its the and bewildered old Flaubert?of for servant, pathetic This scene has been burlesque woos the the pseudo-romantic Emma. At sentimental of rhetoric by which Rodolphe to notice it is enough we im
the method might
present, the scene?a handles method which Flaubert by comes as well since this call cinematographic, analogy
sets the scene, there to mind. is action As Flaubert mediately at the on three and levels, physical position simultaneously going the On of each level is a fair index to its spiritual significance. mob in the street, there is the surging, lowest plane, jostling
mingling
slightly
with
above
the livestock brought

the street by a
to the exhibition;
are
raised
platform off reeling platitudes officials, bombastically level of all, from tudes ; and on the highest the spectacle, and carrying as those Rodolphe on their the and Emma amorous crowds.
the speech-making to the attentive multi
regaling
a window overlooking are watching the proceedings as stilted in phrases conversation, has compared Thibaudet Albert
JOSEPH this scene to the medieval
FRANK
231
in which various related mystery play, on different but this actions stage levels; simultaneously acute comparison intention rather than to his refers to Flaubert's occur method. later wrote, bellowing rhetoric But proach temporal dissolves levels of the of since this sound should Flaubert simultaneously," "Everything on this scene; "one should hear the in commenting the whisperings of the lovers and the of the cattle, the officials language all at the same time."4 to ap in time, it is impossible proceeds of up except by breaking simultaneity perception And this is exactly what Flaubert does: he sequence. by cutting back and forth between crescendo in a slowly-rising until?at the various the climax
sequence
of action
at almost raising
Chateaubriandesque scene?Rodolphe's as the names the same moment Flaubert takes care
the best pigs.
read phrases of prize winners for to underline this satiric as if he were would not had be ar
are
as by as well similarity by description, juxtaposition, the reflexive relations of the two actions afraid grasped: at rived cinnatus emperors by magnetism, and while M. affinities, at his plow, Diocletian of China ushering man was attractions "From slow
degrees, Rodolphe was le Pr?sident citing Cin and the his cabbages planting the new year with sowing woman the young ex some anterior from to
in
the young festivals, that these irresistible

istence."
explaining sprang
on a small scale, what we mean illustrates, by the a the For duration the in of novel. of form scene, spatialization is halted: attention at least, the time-flow is fixed of the narrative This scene on These of the interplay of relationships are juxtaposed within the limited of time-area. the progress scene is given
independently relationships of the and the full significance the narrative; units the of meaning. In relations the reflexive among only by is not, as in mod the unit of meaning Flaubert's scene, however, ern poetry, totality of a word-group each level of or a fragment of an anecdote, but the is action taken as an integer: the unit
232 so
SPATIAL that the
FORM scene
IN MODERN read with unawareness
LITERATURE an illusion of of complete the "dialectic of
large
can be a total
understanding, them
yet with
platitude" (Thibaudet)
ing
interweaving all levels, and finally link
with the In other words, together irony. devastating in form the towards Pound and Eliot in resulted spatial struggle a few of coherent after but the sequence disappearance lines; novel, sequence flow poetry sense, are led with its within can preserve of meaning, coherent larger unit the unit of meaning and break up only the time this of readers of modern (Because difference, forced of a novel to get any literal reflexively like Nightwood, for example, sequence by the deceptive normality this does poetry under re to read
of narrative.
while
are practically readers to expect
narrative
the unit of meaning). But of language sequence within not affect the parallel in modern between esthetic form can scene: both be and the form of Flaubert's properly stood only when in an their instant units of time. in itself, is skillfully of meaning are
apprehended is of minor blended its satiric by
flexively, Flaubert's
interesting although a as to and his novel whole, portance structure narrative after into the main tion. and But applied Flaubert's on method was scale of an a gigantic his novel which of
scene,
im back func
fulfilling taken over
in the
Joyce composed and cross-references of the
composition number infinite another before
James Joyce, of Ulysses. of references
relate
to one
together connected we a
time-sequence and, must these references into any meaningful pattern, as a whole. Ultimately, by the reader and viewed Stuart these of reference
the narrative;
independently the book fits be if
are to believe
complete the stages of
colors
form systems Gilbert, under the from of sun, everything practically picture life and the organs of the human body to the of man's are far more structures im but these the spectrum;
has remarked, than they could Levin for Joyce, as Harry portant ever possibly Students of Joyce, fascinated be for the reader. by his erudition, have usually applied themselves to exegesis. Un
JOSEPH such considerations fortunately, form of Joyce's novel. ceptual most intention obvious Joyce's picture sounds, Flaubert Flaubert,
FRANK have little to do with
233
the per
in Ulysses is to give the reader a seen as a whole?to re-create the sights and of Dublin as the people and places, of a typical Dublin day, much like had re-created his provincial fair. county And, Joyce wanted the same sense his depiction simultaneous to have the same unified
in dif of activity occurring impact, a use as matter of makes ferent places. fact, frequently Joyce, as Flaubert?cutting back and forth between of the same method at the same time?and actions occurring does different usually so to obtain of creating teeming it?through To meet Flaubert narrative the this city, same ironic effect. But of simultaneity impression it?or and of maintaining of pages that must Joyce had the problem for the life of a whole rather of strengthening as a sequence. far beyond what a clear-cut
hundreds
be read
to go this problem, forced Joyce was Flaubert had maintained had done; while
in the county-fair scene, line, except structure the very and transforms his narrative an instrument Joyce of his esthetic intention. as a modern Ulysses tells us in The Portrait of the artist, lambent
breaks up Joyce of his novel into
conceived Dedalus
Stephen Man y"the and then
personality a fluid and
epic; and in the epic, as of the Artist as a Young at first sight a cry or a cadence refines itself . . . the artist, speak or beyond or above finally out like his
indifferent, paring the The for Joyce with his fingernails." epic is thus synonymous of the author; self-effacement and, with his usual un complete compromising anyone had true?that Dublin him life rigor, Joyce dared before. his and readers carries He further implication assumes?what is obviously this than not
of existence, impersonalizes remains within the God of creation, out of existence, refined invisible, handiwork,
narrative, itself, so to
are Dubliners,
to refrain
the personal history from giving any direct
with acquainted intimately of his characters. This allows information about his char
234 acters:
SPATIAL such
FORM
IN MODERN would
LITERATURE
information
of an omniscient presence to present the elements Stephen and
have betrayed the immediately author. What is instead, Joyce does, of his narrative?the relations between
his family, between Bloom and his wife, between as the and Bloom and Dedalus Stephen family?in fragments, in the course of casual conversa they are thrown out unexplained tion, or as strata of symbolic in the various they lie embedded to Dublin and the same is true of all the allusions life, the external novel takes events place. the twenty-four hours during In other words, all the factual in an summarized for the reader of from
reference; history, which the
and
some fragments, times hundreds As a of pages apart, scattered the book. through to read Ulysses the reader is forced in exactly the same result, as he reads modern manner poetry?continually fitting fragments together ence, he and keeping allusions can link them to their in this way, as a totality, another the and reader in mind until, by in the the reflexive refer
background?so conveniently be reconstructed novel?must ordinary
intended, Joyce a sense of Dublin characters consciousness. to one As
complements. to build up including all the events all
reader's relations enter
mind of the their con
which
and allusions becoming necting aware of the pattern this sense was to be imper of relationships, it might of the novel, and, at the conclusion acquired; ceptibly a to wanted the almost be said that Joyce reader become literally Dubliner. at hand the For this is what Joyce demands: that the reader the have same knowledge life, a sense of Dublin the which huge, organism, surrounding as a is such It Dubliner possesses which, birthright. knowledge at any one moment of time, gives him a knowledge of Dublin's as a whole; and it is only such knowledge which past and present instinctive of Dublin as to place all the ref the reader, like the characters, enable might erences context. is in their proper it should be realized, This, cannot be read? that Joyce the equivalent of saying practically same
progresses through references spatially, gradually
the novel,
JOSEPH he can only be re-read. to an understanding of can be A
FRANK of the whole one the
235
is essential is a Dubliner, has been
knowledge but,
knowledge only are fitted into their proper all the references read, when place as a unity. on the the and grasped burdens Although placed seem insuperable, reader by this method of composition the may that Joyce, in his unbelievably laborious fragmenta on the tion of narrative that a structure, proceeded assumption work of his would unified be pos spatial apprehension ultimately fact remains sible. In the Since have the a far more same subtle of manner than with is at work and Flaubert, Joyce in Marcel Proust.
such
any part; obtained
unless after
book
principle Proust himself on
imprinted seem strange form of Time," it may He connection with form. has, almost spatial the novelist of time far excellence: considered terpreter that Bergsonian as distinguished from of what intelligence. Proust himself "real the To time"
composition all tells us that, before it "a form which usually
else, his novel will remains invisible, to speak of Proust in been invariably, the literary in by the sensi of is
intuited
bility, the conceptual to miss
time abstract, chronological at this stop however, point, the deepest significance
considered
of his work.
was
Obsessed with
certain last
the ineluctability of time, Proust

quasi-mystical volume of his work, experiences?de "Le temps
visited suddenly by in the in detail scribed retrouv?"?which,
a him with by providing technique spiritual him to escape what he considered for transcending time, enabled a novel, to be time's domination. the By writing by translating to the of these experiences transcendent, quality extra-temporal level of esthetic form, Proust the world?for of reality. they seemed not only And to reveal to their nature hoped to him a clue to the ultimate secrets the world a descriptive feel their learn about of these them,
should
experiences but,
by reading indirectly, it would his novel, through
account impact on
the sensi
bility as Proust himself had felt it.
236 To first
SPATIAL define understand Each
FORM
IN MODERN
LITERATURE
the method
lation. ing set free
one must this is accomplished, by which reve nature the the of Proustian precise clearly such experience, Proust tells us, is marked by a feel of had takes things, usually seemed life is concealed, dead but was as it receives
that "the and
essence permanent our true self, which awakes,
not dead the ment "sensed why that
in other ways, nourishment celestial consists anew, should Proust of some
long on fresh
to it." This nourish celestial brought or or other sensory sound, odor, stimulus, the in the But and present past." simultaneously moments them only seem celestial? operate valuable overwhelmingly Proust his Because, observes, on the past; and the material so
these calls could to his
imagination presented
im lacked any sensuous therefore, imagination, at the of sensations certain moments, But, physical mediacy. in back to fuse with the present; the past came flooding and, a that he "real Proust these moments, believed reality grasped without Only ?"to flash" ment ideal of the present moment, being moments most did he attain his in these seize, isolate, what otherwise of time immobilize he could for not but not abstract." ambition cherished
the duration
moment, "Situated the
in its pure state." Proust adds, the word outside the scope of
apprehend, For a person this experiencing no "death" longer has meaning. time, what could he fear from
of a lightning a frag "namely:
future?"
hinted of this experience, though obscurely significance at throughout the book, is made in the concluding only explicit narrator at the the final of the describe appearance pages which The of the Princesse reception to dedicate the remainder ences all that in a work of art; at de Guermantes. of his and life The narrator these decides experi from reality to re-creating will will an differ be
this work
others has
because, been
its foundation, through critics
essentially a vision of
refracted
extra-temporal found
perspective. to
Viewing Proust as the last and most debilitated of a long line of

neurasthenic esthetes, many have in this decision
JOSEPH
FRANK
237
step
create burdens links suming thing?a
a work of
of art merely Edmund reality. with
up
this view that Proust work
in his flight from the so discerning, Wilson, ordinarily to conquer Proust's ambition time, as the final
ingenuous in the last volume with conviction, special intensity expressed a prophetic that he was mission. It was of his work, fulfilling not the work of art qua work of art that Proust cared about?his for the horde contempt a work of art which but conquest it was because through of that vision which sonal of time. of faddish stand his scribblers own work it was the was unbounded? to his per do not simply the vehicle substance reader should This as a monument could
some to oppose time by establishing hoped to its flux; but this somewhat of art?impervious own to Proust's does scarcely interpretation justice
a work
of art, but because and he conveyed his vision which
at once concrete the
re-experience The prototype tory moment, Guermantes. almost umes, tion. tion,
shaped by a method its exact effect. of this method, occurs during the
compels
to
like
the analysis of the revela at the Princesse de reception
After
completely the narrator He and finds the among
in a sanatorium, years losing touch spending the fashionable with world of the earlier vol comes out of seclusion by the to attend changes in character the recep posi per
himself even more his
bewildered
in social and
sonality minded French
former
critics, Proust aristocratic society breakdown War. of all No
changes striking friends. According to paint here intended by the upper social and moral doubt
to some the
socially invasion of and caused the
gradual the first World scribed tell us,
at some
but, length; it is far from being strikes
by this process is incidentally de as the narrator takes great pains to the most of the important meaning almost with the force of a blow, the masks which, the a
bourgeoisie, standards
scene.
What
the narrator,
old friends under is this : in trying to recognize to them, he is jolted as he feels, the years have welded for of time. When of the passage first time into a consciousness
238
SPATIAL
FORM
IN MODERN
LITERATURE
the narrator instead of familiar young man addresses respectfully, as if he were an elderly the narrator realizes sud gentleman, ly an that he has the become him but for gentleman; denly elderly passage become had To of time had gone unperceived up until that moment. to it conscious of time, the narrator begins understand, to remove himself first been necessary from his accustomed what amounts that to the same acting on into the stream after found himself environment?and thing, then from the to plunge the nar world by as
environment?or, stream of time back rator he had that he
a lapse of years. two with presented it, and him; the world, and when
In so doing, images?the transformed these two
formerly now saw before the narrator
known
the passage of discovers, that uni its visible effects. through Habit, experienced denly the those time conceals of from versal passage soporific, ordinarily at any one moment have gone their accustomed of who ways: juxtaposed, as to be are so minute "Other changes imperceptible. cease to change in relation Proust writes, "never places people," to ourselves. In the imperceptible, but eternal march of the we regard too them as motionless in a moment of vision, world, time the short But we them them for us have to perceive the motion that our to in select memory only moments, altered is sweeping two pictures them taken on. of
time, are images time is sud
at different not to have
the difference say?and to us." in relation that they have undergone the displacement By a moment two images the in of these passage time, comparing in the impact of its visible of time can be experienced concretely, effects on the in numbers. rather sensibility, And this discovery than as a mere gap counted
however for close enough together in themselves?perceptibly, that is to the two pictures between is a measure of
off
a the narrator with provides is an "objective correla in T. S. Eliot's method phrase, which, to the visionary of "pure of the fragment tive" apprehension moment. in the revelatory time" intuited When the narrator discovers this method of communicating
JOSEPH
FRANK
239
as we have he decides, the nar But the novel and its by the reader; has outlined the narrator is substi words, author throughout his before occupies
his
experience
said, already rator decides form
of the revelatory moment, to incorporate it in a novel. to write has just been the method The and finished that
is controlled by in its concluding pages. for the narrator, tuted the book in the same
reader,
in other
This
de Guermantes. experience of character?a is done by the discontinuous presentation is the clue to the form of device which, nevertheless, simple soon that Proust vast structure. reader notices Proust's Every does his not follow novel: but course of the whole any of his characters through various and in re-appear, stages of their they appear the time sometimes hundreds of pages go by between the time the passage of Instead way. for Proust, they time and when re-appear; they do them has invariably changed stream in the of being submerged be the equivalent in a continuous line with various of present of develop of the snapshots
own
is placed by the as narrator the position at the reception of the Princesse
lives,
they turn up again, in some decisive of time?which, ing a character
are last seen and
would
ment?the
progressively, is confronted reader
of vision," taken at different characters "motionless in juxtaposing these images, stages in their lives; and the reader, as the nar of time the the effects of passage exactly experiences Proust does As he had promised, rator had done. therefore, stamp his novel indelibly to understand in a position To with the form what time; he meant of but we are now by the promise. it was neces learned,
in a moment
exactly
the passage of time, Proust experience simultane to above rise sary it, and to grasp both past and present time." But "pure he called of what in a moment "pure ously a moment not at in is perception all?it time is time," obviously, of time, tion that is to say, space. Proust presenta And, by the discontinuous to juxtapose forces the reader disparate so that a moment in of time, spatially, will be fully communicated to
of character, of his
images the
characters of time's
experience
passage
240 their
SPATIAL
FORM
IN MODERN
LITERATURE
There is a striking analogy here between Proust's sensibility. but this method and that of his beloved painters; Impressionist comments the far usual the than about goes deeper analogy "impressionism" of Proust's tones on the style. Impressionist instead of mixing canvas, the blending of colors gives of us what them The painters them on to the eye be called in a allows Each
pure juxtaposed to leave in order the palette, Proust of the spectator. Similarly, of his pure views moment of vision" characters?views in various
might "motionless
view
the sensibility of the reader must be aprehended by is only achieved when purpose to each and tural other reflexively the modern scaffolding
of their lives?and phases to fuse these views into a unity. the these reader units of as a unit; of meaning time. form As is also
and Proust's are referred with the Joyce struc
in a moment
poets, we see that spatial of Proust's labyrinthine [To be concluded in the next
masterpiece. issue"]
FOOTNOTES The New with the intention of doing for in 191c, wrote Loakoon, Babbitt, Irving art what had done for the art of his own day. Babbitt's modern Lessing Brieflly, to in Lessing's of genres thesis was time could be traced that, just as the confusion so the artistic a false theory of imitation, aberrations of our own time could be traced to a false theory to do with Babbitt's has nothing of spontaneity. thesis, however, in the first half of the book merely The of Lessing rein discussion theories. Lessing' own. and Babbitt's between forces the analogy Lessing's purpose von Wilhelm und Die Dichtung, 2Das Erlebnis p. 38-60. Dilthey, a veritable in the last few decades, has experienced renais ^German art criticism, sance along out by Lessing, to have the lines marked he seems had no although on these writers. to trace have direct efforts been made Numerous the influence evolution of esthetic called the Germans?by establishing forms?usually style by certain of perception these with various and correlating climates of feeling categories and opinion. familiar to English readers these critics, perhaps the name most Among is Wilhelm of whose ideas were the into currency many put through Worringer, of T. E. Hulme. and lectures This whole and Wor critical movement, writings in more detail in a later section. will be discussed Mention ringer's ideas in particular, at this point, of Edwin Muir's should also be made, Structure the only of the Novel, to the present writer?which in English?so to discuss far as is known work attempts in terms of perceptual form in literature categories. 4This Gustave discussion of the Flaubert, probably from Flaubert's quotation his book. a good deal to Albert scene owes Thibaudet's county-fair on the subject. The the best critical study yet written letter is used by Thibaudet and has been from translated

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Spatial Form in Modern Literature: An Essay in Two Parts Author(s): Joseph Frank Source: The Sewanee Review, Vol.

IESSING'S those ^ tudes years. toward

by modern adopted and the limits of literature to which

issue?one but which

thinking. in the nineteenth it is not so easy

but toricism, many writers form. effort have To

century, with to understand

the bugbear problems he

quixotic of historical tried

critics, have begun

longer to take up again

at first glance, The literary were directed, to interest the

sensibility on the plastic

discoveries, But second-hand. history,

arts, grew to make matters it was

precisely the unalterable

quixotic laws of esthetic

at knew mainly to rise attempt perception 4

FORM attack the or

IN MODERN defend any

LITERATURE which Gide

his work gives Since alluded. their the

relationship extent of his

freshness perennial the validity of his theories to the literary movements

particular to which does of

school, Andr? not his

using tragedians, critical theories, had taken filtered hold

supposedly into France through At famous

knowledge on classical based Italian same

time, on Lessing, tried to

pirical school of English

philosophy had given a new impulse

examining were sensations taken over

by estheticians for prescriptions Writers to mention like

perception. and Burke,

Hogarth, Shaftesbury, a few, concerned them

perception, literature writers

necessary prescribe and then demonstrates Homer, created

arranged symbols the wholes which tive

composed and it follows quality of

on Literature, of a succession that

its medium, sequence.

literary must Lessing

in highly popular The painting. pictorial

be, Lessing argued, no matter of a visible object;

224 might could As

SPATIAL be not chosen

IN MODERN a painting the various

LITERATURE piece of sculpture stages of an action. or

arranged, set forth

the Greeks, the limits of human

way undermining Lessing's on a misunderstanding of Laokoonys It is quite possible of esthetic theory. of

in the importance to use Lessing's to proceeding they adhered

judge to the norms

as instruments solely the value of individual he laid down.

without analysis, works by how closely And unless this

of Lao ko on cannot not a new

is done, as a matter For be understood. but a new con

the Aristotelian and modern wished came

of which unities, were warned writers

masterpieces?rules Aristotle had never to obey these rules

Gradually, the material of by a work the form, was

ary work but the