Transcript Literature and History
Literature and History
Block 6 An Introduction
(prepared by Dr. Angelica DeAngelis, A319 Course Chair)
Why literature and history?
“…one of the main thrusts of literary study in recent decades has been to suggest the impact of a fresh understanding of historical processes upon the meaning and interpretation of literary texts” (1)
Why literature and history?
The end of a course on literature in the modern world…would seem a good moment to make more explicit the underlying assumption of the courses: that there is some significant relationship between literary texts and contemporary reality” (1)
Why literature and history?
“Our aim here, then, is to problematise the relationship between literature and history so as to help you reflect upon the course as a whole, and the text you have already studied” (1)
Another Goal…
To introduce you to a selection of new texts from two genres – prose fiction and poetry And ones that directly address certain specific, large-scale, public and extreme historical events
Events such as:
Stalinist tyranny of 1936-39 The Irish “Troubles” The rise and fall of the Japanese Empire in the Far East
What is our project here?
To understand works of the past in the present To understand the questions a novel or poem asks and the answers it gives To think about what kinds of questions we are asking of a text from our particular historical point of view
What is history?
It is different from the past and bigger than the past – the past is what happened – history is how we tell the story of what happened
Thus for our purposes History is: Past events What is remembered or preserved of the past Written accounts of the past The disciplined study of the past Particular interpretations of the past
How the term “History” is used depends on: Ideological factors For example, is history neutral or coloured by a particular historian or writer’s class, race or gender?
Does or how does the historical moment in which we write affect how and what we write?
Or how does it affect how and what we read?
Some questions we will be asking of our texts: How is our response to a work affected by some knowledge of the circumstances of its origin, publication and reception?
Does literature offer unique and lasting insights into the time of its appearance?
What does a particular literary work tell us about our present?
Some questions we will be asking of our texts: What does a particular literary work tell us about our future?
What kind of insights into history does literature offer?
How does a writer’s identity affect all of this?
A specific question we can ask about a specific text could be: What does a work of literature (such as Empire of the Sun history? OR ) have to say to the present, as well as about the past or What kind of prose fiction is Primo Levi’s “The Juggler”? Is it fiction or documentary? Or is it both?
Another question about Levi’s “The Juggler” How does Sartre’s concept of “situating” the reader (drawing on an assumed knowledge of the historical context of the story, in this case Nazi concentration camps) help or guide us in our reading of Levi’s narrative?
(see Reader p. 82 for details)
“The Juggler”
Elements of personal testimony or autobiography Collective witnessing of a fundamental, unexpected event, which happened, therefore it can happen again (p. 6) Urgent desire to recall the past in order to say something to the present and the future
Poetry as “Bearing Witness”
Poets have a sense of themselves as guardians of their society’s historical past, its memory Registering the suffering of individuals Drawing attention to the repetitions and ironies of history
Bearing Witness
Akhmatova bears witness in “Requiem” to the Stalinist reign of terror Holub ironically to the orthodoxy of the Communist party in Czechoslovakia Heaney engages with Ireland’s “Troubles” and an Irish literary tradition
And more than Bearing Witness
They express deeply felt sentiments to “public” historic events
BUT
These poems are not “documentary” texts They register public events They also write out of the personal situation of the poet him or herself
And more than Bearing Witness
“The past can be seized only as an image which flashes up at the instant when it can be recognized and is never seen again” Benjamin (Reader p. 349) What many of these writers wish literature to express is that certain events and situations in the past must not be forgotten (p. 8)
To think about as you read the poems in this section In what ways, if at all, do the poems bear witness?
In what sense do the poems commemorate what they describe?
How far do formal features reinforce the sense of history which the poem articulates?
To think about as you read the poems in this section What is the importance of gender to conceptions of history?
For a further discussion of these ideas then you should listen to CD 7 , Track 2
Drama and History
In this class we have encountered three plays: Endgame The Dreaming of the Bones Sweeney Agonistes
Drama and History
At first they may all seem ahistorical – but are they?
If you look on pp. 10-11 of Block 6 text you will see that we can quite convincingly read mind.
Endgame for example with history in
Drama and History
For example, we can think about when the play was written, and read it in terms of nuclear holocaust anxiety We can argue that Becket’s apoliticism is in fact a political position This brings us again to Sartre’s idea of commitment (or engaged literature)
Drama and History
Now you should think about ways that you can do similar historical readings of the other two plays: Sweeney Agonistes The Dreaming of the Bones
Well, I’m waiting…
Drama and History
So now we can interrogate the relationship of engagement or commitment to history – especially in drama Or we can compare how this works in drama, poetry, novels, etc.
Drama and History
We can also think about performance as a shared making of history When a play is performed, the audience participates in a public event and in a sense in the making of history This is different than even a public reading of a poem or novel (and most reading is done individually)
Drama and History
Drama is communal, not personal It not only expresses, but it declares This speaking aloud or articulating can be socially cathartic It is also physical (the enactment or embodiment of ideas) – allowing us to experience them in a more profound way
Drama and History
Some however, such as Adorno, warn that drama risks trivializing what it seeks to depict (this is especially true with recent history) Think of cheesy movies of plane crashes, wars, etc. – can make these horrific events seem almost silly
2. Poetry and History
We know that novels (fiction) does not claim to be history or “the truth” YET: Realist novels and historical narratives have things in common (see Laurence Lerner in the Reader)
2. Poetry and History
AND History is another kind of narrative, just like fiction, and use fictional devices such as emplotment (see Hayden White Reader pp. 326-328)
But what about Poetry and History????
Remember the idea of “Poet as Witness” and assuming the role of guardian of the society’s historical past, its memory What then is the responsibility of the poet as a poet ?
For this we turn now to Seamus Heaney and his poems of the Troubles in Ireland (pp. 14-25)
Heaney’s Poetry
Consider the different ways that he uses the Viking past in relation to his present situation in Ireland Also consider his “debate” over the role of the poet – as a potential healer of sectarian wounds, or as a detached truth teller (p. 18)
Vikings
Pre-Christian colonizers Precursors to the British colonizers Ireland’s history then becomes one of conquest and domination This can also be seen linguistically
Poet as healer or truth-sayer?
Focus on the land and water – in a pre human sense the predates the human history (p. 23) Poems don’t all or only “bear witness” to the Troubles in Ireland They are also alternative ways of considering the sources and justifications of history (p. 25)
“But in setting these poems within the longer historical context, Heaney is not offering a ‘history’ but a contemporary appeal both for understanding and for forbearance” (p. 25)
Anna Akhmatova’s “Requiem”
Tell me what’s important to know about this poem in terms of the current theme – the relationship between literature and history I suggest that you also read Joseph Brodsky’ essay “The Keening Muse” and listen to CD 7, Track 2
Brodsky’s Assertion:
“that Akhmatova’s audience responded to verse about common human feelings because Russia was in crisis. In other words, although not explicitly addressing history, her poem was written out of a sense of crisis, and responded to in terms of an historical awareness” (p. 27)
What was the Soviet response to her poetry?
Condemnation and Censorship!
WHY?????
And what does it tell us about the relationship between history and literature?????
Our Block Text tells us this about the treatment of Akhmatova “This indicates not simply the brutality of state censorship but also gives an important insight into how those with political power judge the relationship between literature and history. Not only is there fear and hatred in this attack but also a deeply misogynist contempt” (p. 29)
Which means????
Think back to Foucault’s knowledge/power formula Those in power can “create” knowledge (even to the point of writing or rewriting history
Which means????
Those who articulate differing views and provide alternative “truths” (a kind of knowledge) are seen as challenging the hegemonic power and thus dangerous When women do this it is seen as especially dangerous (thus the misogynist elements in the criticism of her writing)
Remember Eve…
Some other things to think about in her poetry… Elements of autobiography 31) Commemoration 32) (see pp. 30 of the horror (see pp. 31 Collective witnessing and the hope of preventing it in the future (p. 33) All of these ideas were mentioned earlier (in section on “The Juggler”)
Some other things to think about in her poetry… It’s also worth thinking about the role of gender in her poetry (see pp. 34-35) and how this connects to discussions we’ve had throughout this course on issues of gender, language, power, etc.
Hiroslav Holub
Writing against the backdrop of the former Czechoslovakia First occupied by the Nazis Then by the Soviets Period of silencing and censorship Absurdist literature seen as best expressing the “absurdity” of Czech reality
Wait!
How does this allow us to reconsider a play like history?
Endgame in terms of the relationship between literature and (see p. 36 of the Block Text for some help with this issue)
History and “the Absurd”
For Holub [as for other writers like Havel], ‘the Absurd’ defined certain salient characteristics of Czech history between 1938 and 1989 A period of fluctuating but menancing state censorship (p. 36)
Back to Holub…
“Whereas Akhmatova’s perspective in “Requiem” involved a religious framework, that of Holub is related to his work as a laboratory scientist.” So he uses scientific terminology and invokes the work of scientists in his work
Back to Holub…
To Holub science and literature or poetry are related Both relate to instances of freedom and discovery It is his view of history that bring the two together “in ways that are very challenging” (p. 37)
Science, literature and history
Look at the paragraph (indented) on p. 37 for example “Holub’s theory of history therefore, embraces the smallest and earliest living organisms (like the prehistory return to nature in Heaney for example???) – from earlier slide on Heaney Focus on the land and water – in a pre-human sense the predates the human history (p. 23)
Now back to Holub on science, literature and history “Holub’s theory of history therefore, embraces the smallest and earliest living organisms, which developed billions of years before the human species originated, and also the ‘present moment’” (p. 37)
Holub on science, literature and history – from a Marxist perspective Look for example at the poem “A Helping Hand” on p. 38 – You are asked to consider in what sense ‘history’ is present in this poem…
And our text tells us…
“The model of history superficially conforms to Marxist orthodoxy” The theme of history is Man’s progressive mastery over Nature Yet the last line of the poem has a twist – that so far we only give help selectively
“The Fly”
How is history used in this poem?
Read the poem first, then turn to p. 41 for a discussion of the way it references history, human history vs. a kind of “immortality” or the fly
Humanity vs. History
Here we come to the idea of humans destroying or terminating history – perhaps through a nuclear war or ecological disaster Are you all thinking of right about now?????
Endgame again
Humanity and? vs? History
There are several poems in this section (pp. 41-45) that I strongly urge you review on your own “Whaling” is one Humans hunt/kill/destroy the whales, but the whales also are a metaphor for a (doomed?) humanity
Humanity and? vs? History
Exploitation of the natural world, if unchecked, will destroy the world it exploits Our human situation, then, is “itself a whale” The fate of the whale is thus the fate of humanity
Humanity and? vs? History
Thus the history of the virus and the history of fire is incorporated by Holub into a vision of human history He struggles to find value and significance “in modulations of our tiny individual centres of consciousness that are doomed, so far as we know, to complete extinction”
I can’t help thinking now of where we started, with the Modernists… And the final verse of a T.S. Eliot poem we didn’t read for this course called, “The Hollow Men” – and thinking about how this is different from and/or similar to Holub’s poetry for example, in terms of religion/science, doomed humanity, Modernism’s relationship to history…lots of issues
This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper.