Reichmann, Angelika

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Eger Journal of English Studies XII (2012) 21 29Angels and DaemonsAspects of the MansPoint Counter PointAngelika ReichmannAmong the continental writers who had a profound impact on major figures ofEnglish Modernism, the Russian classic F. M. Dostoevsky ranks highly. As-starting in 1912 (cf. Kaye 1 7). He was a presence few writers of the time couldescape Katherine Mansfield and John Middleton Murry were no exception.The latter published his monograph entitled Fyodor Dostoevsky: A CriticalStudy in 1916, and, parallel with thatmajor novels (Mansfield 63 5) an experience that would stay with her until the1919 article of the Athenaeum she compares the London literary scene to the-writers declaringKaye 19). Indeed, as a fascinating episode of those times illustrates, Russiannessor DosBoxing Day, 1916, saw the acting out of a half- -Mansfield and her husband featured(Alpers 227).It is in this context that I would like to discuss a most curious phenomenon:Aldous Huxley, in 1916 an ardent participant not only in this Dostoevskian play-like admiration associated with Murry,launched, in his 1928 Point Counter Point, a harsh attack against his fellowwriter-turning exploitation of his deidolisation of his dead wife. In my analysis I will argue that this specific featureaesthetics, but it gains such prominence because Murry/Burlap is anPoint Counter Point. It is22 Angelika Reichmanni.e. spiritual quest as a solution for thedilemmas of modern consciousness summed up for Huxley at the time in1920s and his representation as a Dostoevskian figure. Through the half-comicsChristian aesthetics, crystallised in his reading of Dostoevsky, are represented astwo interrelated fictions that mutually discredit each other.Point Counter Point is, to agreat extent, a rejection of the Dostoevskian spiritual quest, which he saw atthe time as a defining feature of diseased modern consciousness. In Robertromanticism referred to here is an intellectual and spiritual approach to life at thecost of denying the body. Originally rooted in Platonic philosophy and most- the Marquis de Sade, Baudelaire or Dostoevsky(On Art and ArtistsDevils,the novel Point Counter Point systematically rewrites.1 Characteristically for thecharacters with the author in fact, he formulates his image of the writer solelyon the basis of his demonic figures.2On the one hand, Murry offers himself as an easy target for satire in thiscontext because his critical output of the period, as William Heath emphasises,with a pronouncedly Christiantwist. By 1924 Murry coined his own definition of romanticism, which is,Literature andissue that is religious in nature: the resolution of the paradox presented by therelationship of the I and the not-I, that is, the internal, spiritual world and theexternal world of necessity. A most acute awareness of this paradox is whatdefines for Murry modern, that is, rebellious post-Renaissance consciousness,whi51) He calls this modern1 Huxley reads its main character, Stavrogin, remodelled in his own novel as Spandrell, in terms ofpsychopathology (perversion, abjection, masochism, solipsism and monomania) resulting fromthe unhealthy liberty and dominance of intelligence (On Art and Artists 178 9).2 This reading deserves comparisoidentification of the writer with his most troubled fictional characters (Kaye 44 5).23consciousness, in turn, Romantic (155 8).3 Throughout the essay Dostoevsky isone of the most often mentioned examples of Romantics in the wider sense (e.g.158). Not by chance: the germs of this train of thought are clearly recognisable4 Even in that text,he almost idolises the most troubled, rebellious and demonic Dostoevskiancharacters (Svidrigaylov and Stavrogin), whom he identifies with Dostoevsky(58 9; 198). Thus there seems to be an alreading of Dostoevsky as a creator of rebellious spirits, through his concept ofromanticism and modern consciousness, to his notoriously religious phase in histhirties (Frank Lea qtd. in Kimber 85).On the other hand, Murry might have lent himself easily tocritique because in the eyes of some contemporaries he was actually identifiedwith Dostoevsky. Burlap as editor of the Literary World evokes the Athenaeumwith the Murrys, 1919 and 1920. It was theheyday of Dostoevskian influence in Britain, during which Murry featured inin 1927 28, and thus much later events were layered over Hreminiscences of Murry from 1916 20.5 s relationshipwith D. H. Lawrence, might have had a central role in both the formulation ofposturing as theby Lawrence, his close friend then.6 In their heated debates Lawrence identified44). By 1925 26, however,allegiances were shifted: the Huxleys and the Lawrences, both having brokenwith the Murrys, established a close attachment to each other (cf. Cushmanpassim). Its deep impact is clearly palpable, among other things, in the closeMurrys, so bitinglyfictionalised in Women in Love3 Historical Romanticism is only a sub-period within this larger era which is characterised by amomentary mystical resolution of the above paradox Literature and .4 FyodorDostoevsky 47).5 This overlayering is highlightedhistorical-biographical periods in Point Counter Point through his two fictional alter egos,Walter Bidlake and Philip Quarles (Firchow 530). The former character a young writerinvolved in the tedious chore of producing reviews for Burlapliterary apprenticeship mentioned above (cf. Alpers 216 35, 290 306; Murray 111 21).However, Quarles a mature writer just back from India with his wife and a five-year-old sonpoints to the years 1925 85).6and Lawrence (Kaye 35 44).24 Angelika Reichmannunderstanding of Murry as the embodiment of Dostoevskian, diseased modernconsciousness. The other sad event that played a crucial role in the shaping ofworking at full power by 1925 27 served as a convenient target7 and an easystance both as a critic and a human individual.It is so because certain elements of the Mansfield Myth, whose constantswere formulated by Murry on its emergence, right afterMeyers 24 5), seem to reverberate the terms and rhetoric of his religious-romantic aesthetics: the myth seems to be both a product and a justification ofarlyfinds its echo in depriving Mansfield of her body.8 As several critics havepointed out, what remains of her in the myth is a disembodied spirit (Meyers 1921; Kimber 81)angel, if she also wants to be an artist of the higher order, must also embark on areligious/spiritual quest. And indeed, as Gerri Kimber does not fail to emphasise,quest was so successful, that her reception in France, for example, is oftenspoken about in terms of hagiography (72 84). Nevertheless, to rank among thegreatest, she must also be a Romantic; hence, as it has been often noticed, she ismentioned consistently together with Shelley, Keats and Blake (Meyers 32, cf.64).9Needless to point out, it is the satirical representation of this mytholigisingcreates a fictional image of his dead wife, Susan, as a child-like, fully spiritual,angelic creature a household saintPoint Counter Point 172).Point 73) whose sole importance isthat sh -playing asthe devout admirer of absolute spiritual beauty. The role involves wallowing inself-humiliating emotional outbursts.10The phantom and the disgusting scenes result from a process which Huxley7(qtd. in Kimber 75).8 A body, that was not only prominently physical because ill but also transgressively so: afemale, lesbian and somewhat promiscuous body torn not only by the romantic andmentionable illness of tuberculosis but also by STD.9 Her aesthetically perceived death in the myth evokes instances of the cruellest romantic-like beautifulwoman as the most proper subject matter and inspiration for art.10 They are highly reminiscent of Dostoevskian novels, a connection clearly indicated by theHuxley, Point 173), which features both in the novel and25Point 173).11Indeed, Huxley gives a sharp-Mansfield Myth as hagiography in his rather distasteful personal outpouringssold as literary criticism.Huxley is also a keen-eyed perceiver of the connection between the angelic-romantic-Dostoevskian posturing as as fictional narrative ofhis dead wife and in his critical credo. Just as with-story that both saves Burlap from the effort of building up mature emotional-sexual relationships, and serves as his major tool for seducing women into hisbed bothe had such a pure, child-like and platonic way of going to bed withwomen, that neither they nor he ever considered that the process reallycounted as going to bed. [...] Susan died [...]. [In front of Ethel Cobbet]he plunged into an orgy of regrets, [...] of repentances, excruciating forbeing too late, of unnecessary confessions and self-abasements. [...] Abroken-hearted child in need of consolation, he would have liked tolure his consoler, ever so spiritually and platonically, into a gentle anddelicious incest. (Huxley, Point 174 5, emphasis added)his critical credo also reeks ofinauthenticity: he portentously sounds it to everyone willing to listen,ridiculously regurgitating his own editorials, like pre-written theatrical roles.This is the impression he makes right from his first appearance: his introductionduring a literary discussion with a Mrs Betterton at a party. During the evening,thesePoint 67 8).Presumably, under the influence of their lofty discussion Mrs Betterton seesPoint 67), whileyoung Walter Bidlake, who has just faced the same ideas in the proof of next11 As Jeffrey Meyers hi-playing of both Murryand Kat8).26 Angelika ReichmannPoint69).12and by implication theuntenable nature of the kind of spiritual-Dostoevskian solution Murry embodiesfor Huxley is further underscored by at least two most Dostoevskian motifs indevil as his hallucinatory double. It is a distinctive feature of a favouriteit indcase the motif is devoid of the tragic Dostoevskian overtones: his own pettydevil evokes a parodistic, sacrilegious morality play as a rather ironic reflection(Heath 56).13 Rather comically, Burlap has the annoying habit of talking to one(Huxley, Point 66). Whenever Burlap pronounces one of his hypocritical,sententious statements, his other, sceptical, ironic, and honestly immoral selfhis demon or devil interferes. Thus, when Burlap rejects the idea of a cynic asa great artist in the discussion quoted above, in his thoughts,Point 67).14 A signof Dostoevskian-romantic self-division, rebellion and ontological crisis, theunextraordinaryhypocrisy. This is also affiliationwith established Christian churches, since Burlap is the one character in thenovel who is most consistently associated with an overtly religious stance, moreparticularly with Catholicism.e is revealed by a secondDostoevskian motif: the archetypal crime in several of his texts, driving achild/woman to suicide. Among other Dostoevskian characters, Stavrogin drivesa child to take this fatal step in Devils by sexually abusing her, while arguably inThe Idiot12that in this scene he mentally relegates Mrs Betterton a woman of much material wealth, butof rather limited understanding, ungainly appearance and adulterous past, Point 67) simply because she provides a faithful audience to his posturing as aprophet of spirituality.13, Point 67) and his epitheton ornans e(Huxley, Point 69). The latter is an ingenious pun on the two meanings of Sodoma: the morewell-known Biblical one, and a reference to a Renaissance painter, contemporary of Leonardoda Vinci by implication a painter associated with the Gioconda smile.14 To add to this irony, it is right after this comment that Burlap recognises Mrs Betterton as anangel.27and sexual being is also a major factor in her suicidal return to Rogozhin, whichboundaries between all kinds of Dostoevsky characters saints and villains (cf.Kaye 38) here: Burlap drives Ether Cobbett to suicide under the cover-story ofa Mishkin-like pure spirituality, but his real motifs are those of Stavrogin-likeseduction. In fact, Ethel kills herself not because she is seduced, but because sheis ultimately rejected, though it is so because seeing through the hypocrisy ofthe thing that makes her fall for him in the first placemakes it impossible for her to succumb to his advances. Burlap manages to luregrieving widow, but she takes it too seriously and falls in love with him becauseof the romantic image Burlap creates about Susan. Naturally, she finds hisnarrative of pure spirituality incompatible with his attempts to start an affair withher, and working for him as a secretary she becomes a burden after rejecting hisadvances. tofinally get rid of her when he has found his ideal partner: Beatrice, who takespart willingly in his game of childlike innocence and spirituality; she idoliseshim and most platonically andthus ultimately her suicide after her dismissal is the product of his fiction ofspirituality. Thus her story makes a powerfully ironic comment on the mortallyharmful aspects of what Huxley conceives to be Dostoevskian spirituality.This might suffice to illustrate that PointCounter Point is far from being an arbitrary personal attack that has lost all itsconcern with modern consciousness, with the dilemmas the individual has toface in the modern world, and with the function of literature in theirrepresentation and potential resolution. One kind of solution spiritual questwas summed up in the name of Dostoevsky at the time, but for the Huxley of thelate 1920s it appeared to be unacceptable. He satirises Murry as the closest thingavailable to the original. The creation of the Mansfield Myth the figurativedestruction of the female body which serves as a stage for the poet-creator toparade on as a prophet of spiritual truth made Murry an easy target bothbecause it repeats a Dostoevskian motif and because it simultaneously sums up-consciousness through Rampion as his mouthpiecein the novel stood the test of time. However, his ingenious satire clearlyillustrates how devastating myth-making is at least in one respect. Huxley neverdemonstrates how Katherine Mansfield, the brilliant woman writer disappearswithin five years of her death behind the angelic figure of the Mansfield Mythin fictional and non-fictional worlds of critical debate, male rivalry and devilishcounterfeit. The mythical angel similarly to that other, more famouskills.28 Angelika ReichmannWorks CitedAlpers, Anthony. The Life of Katherine Mansfield. New York: The Viking Press,1980.Baker, R. S. The Dark Historic Page: Social Satire and Historicism in theNovels of Aldous Huxley 1921 1939. Madison: The University ofWisconsin Press, 1982.Holmi 18.1 (Jan 2006): 121 31.: Huxley, D. H. Lawrence, and PointCounter Point Aldous Huxley's Point Counter Point: A Casebook. Ed.D. G. Izzo and E. McShane. Dalkey Archive Press, n. d.http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/casebooks/casebook_point/cushman.pdf1-24.Dostoevsky, F. M. sion and the Plan of the Life of a GreatSinner. Trans. S. Koteliansky and V. Woolf. Richmond: Hogarth Press,1922.. The Possessed. Trans. C. Garnett. (1914) The Project Gutenberg. 2005.http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/8devl10h.htm#1_3_5.Point Counter Point MagicMountain Studies in the Novel IX (Winter 1977):518 36.PMLA70.1 (Mar 1955): 47 57. JSTOR.Huxley, Aldous. On Art and Artists. New York: Meridian Books, 1960.. Point Counter Point. London: Panther Books, Granada Publishing, 1978.Kaye, Peter. Dostoevsky and English Modernism 1890 1930. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 2006.Reinventing Katherine ManMoveable Type 3 (2007): 71 102.http://www.ucl.ac.uk/english/graduate/issue/3/pdf/kimber.pdfMansfield, Katherine. Journal of Katherine Mansfield. Ed. J. M. Murry. NewYork: Alfred A. Knopf, 1933.Journal of Modern Literature 7.1(Feb 1979): 15 38.Murray, N. Aldous Huxley An English Intellectual. London: Little, Brown,2002.Murry, John Middleton. Fyodor Dostoevsky A Critical Study. (1916) NewEdition. London: Martin Secker, 1923. Internet Archive.http://archive.org/stream/fyodordostoevsky00murruoft#page/ii/mode/2up. The Critical Response to Katherine Mansfield. Ed.Jan Pilditch. London: Greenwood Press, 1996: 53 65.29and Religion The Necessity of Art. A. Clutton Brock, PercyDreamer at al. London: Student Christian Movement, 1924: 137 66.Internet Archive.http://archive.org/stream/necessityofart007162mbp#page/n5/mode/2up.Studies in the Novel IX (Winter1977): 378 88.

Burlap's Angels and Daemons Aspects of the Mansfield Myth in Aldous Huxley's Point Counter Point

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Burlap's Angels and Daemons Aspects of the Mansfield Myth in Aldous Huxley's Point Counter Point

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