Radical Larkin: Seven Types of Technical Mastery

303 Pages·2014·1.4 MB·English

by  John Osborne (auth.)

Radical Larkin
Also by John Osborne:
LARKIN, IDEOLOGY AND CRITICAL VIOLENCE (2008)
Radical Larkin
Seven Types of Technical Mastery
John Osborne
Director of American Studies, University of Hull, UK
© John Osborne 2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-0-230-34824-0
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First published 2014 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-59504-4 ISBN 978-1-137-41063-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137410634
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Transferred to Digital Printing in 2014
Dr Jane Thomas
Wythnos fu unnos, f’annwyl

Contents
List of Tables viii
Acknowledgements ix
List of Abbreviations x
Introduction: A Textuality that Dare not Speak its Name 1
1 Radical Ellipsis: A Girl in Winter 21
2 Radical Ekphrasis: ‘An Arundel Tomb’, ‘The Card-Players’,
‘Lines on a Young Lady’s Photograph Album’ 48
3 Radical Deterritorialization: ‘At Grass’, ‘March Past’,
‘Church Going’ 82
4 Radical De-essentialism: ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ 113
5 Radical Laughter: ‘This Be The Verse’ 152
6 Radical Plot Deflation: ‘Vers de Société’ 178
7 Radical Citation: ‘Aubade’ 202
Notes 238
Bibliography 271
Index 283
vii
List of Tables
1.1 The three-part structure 44
1.2 The four-act structure 46
3.1 The temporal structure of ‘At Grass’ 94
3.2 Larkin’s three-act structure 97
4.1 ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ and A Girl in Winter 120
4.2 ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ and Jill 123
6.1 Larkin’s titular binaries 182
6.2 Larkin’s four-act structure: binary opposition:
the social life v. the artistic vocation 183
6.3 Larkin’s four-act structure: binary opposition:
the social life v. the solitary life 188
6.4 The Aristotelian template 191
7.1 ‘Aubade’ and The Green Man 218
viii
Acknowledgements
The author and publishers acknowledge the following permissions to reprint
copyright material: Faber and Faber Ltd and Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC,
for quotations from The Complete Poems of Philip Larkin, excerpts from
Selected Letters of Philip Larkin, 1940–1985, Letters to Monica and Required
Writing; and Faber and Faber Ltd for excerpts from Jill, A Girl in Winter,
Further Requirements and Trouble at Willow Gables. Previously unpublished
material is quoted by kind permission of Jeremy Crow and the Society of
Authors as the Literary Representative of the Estate of Philip Larkin. Maurice
Rutherford’s poems are quoted by permission of the author; Carol Rumens
by permission of Picador; and Grace Nichols by permission of Bloodaxe
Books. Richard Cole’s cover graphic is reproduced by permission of the art-
ist. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders, but if any have
been inadvertently overlooked, the author and publishers will be pleased to
make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity. The author would
like to thank Monica Kendall for invaluable assistance in the preparation of
this text.
ix