The Medieval Presence in Modernist Literature: The Quest to Fail PDF
Preview The Medieval Presence in Modernist Literature: The Quest to Fail
THE MEDIEVAL PRESENCE IN MODERNIST LITERATURE Jonathan Ullyot’s The Medieval Presence in Modernist Literature rethinkstheinfluencethatearlymedievalstudiesandGrailnarratives had on modernist literature. Through examining several canonical works, from Henry James’s The Golden Bowl to Samuel Beckett’s Molloy, Ullyot argues that these texts serve as a continuation of the Graillegendinspiredbymedievalscholarshipofthelatenineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Rather than adapt the story of the Grail, modernist writers intentionally fail to make the Grail myth cohere,thuscritiquingthewayaliteraryworkestablishesitsauthority by alluding to previous traditions. The quest to fail is a modernist ethicsoftenmisconceivedasapessimisticresponsetothecollapseof traditional humanism. The writings of James, Eliot, Kafka, Céline, and Beckett posit that the possibility of redemption presents itself onlywhenhopehasfinallybeenabandoned. jonathan ullyot isalecturerinHumanitiesattheUniversityof Chicago. His articles have appeared in journals such as Modern Philology,ComparativeLiterature,andGermanQuarterly. THE MEDIEVAL PRESENCE IN MODERNIST LITERATURE The Quest to Fail JONATHAN ULLYOT UniversityofChicago 32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,ny10013-2473,usa CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107131484 ©JonathanUllyot2016 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2016 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabySheridanBooks,Inc. AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Ullyot,Jonathan. Themedievalpresenceinmodernistliterature:thequesttofail/JonathanUllyot, UniversityofChicago. NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,2015. LCCN2015021267|isbn9781107131484(hardback) LCSH:Europeanproseliterature–19thcentury–Historyandcriticism.|Europeanprose literature–20thcentury–Historyandcriticism.|Failure(Psychology)inliterature.| Civilization,Medieval–Influence.|Modernism(Literature)–Europe LCCpn3352.f35u552015|DDC809/.93358207–dc23 LCrecordavailableathttp://lccn.loc.gov/2015021267 isbn978-1-107-13148-4Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof URLsforexternalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublication anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. Contents Acknowledgments pagevii Introduction:Failureaestheticsandthemodernistquest narrative 1 1 TheGoldenBowlandtheHolyGrail 18 2 JessieWestonandtheMythicalMethodofTheWasteLand 47 3 Kafka’sGrailCastle 82 4 Céline’sKnightoftheApocalypse 106 5 MolloyorLeConteduGraal 131 Conclusion:ReadingFailure 159 Notes 167 Bibliography 199 Index 211 v Acknowledgments Many people have contributed to this study. Françoise Meltzer, Eric Santner,andDavidWellberyhelpedtoshapemyargumentthroughplenty of false starts. Others who offered substantial criticism include Chris Ackerley, Katarzyna Bartoszynska, Bill Brown, Maud Ellmann, Boris Maslov, Lisa Ruddick, James Rolleston, Anthony Uhlmann, and the participants of the Poetry and Poetics Workshop and the Modernisms WorkshopattheUniversityofChicago.CountlessothersattheUniversity ofChicagohaveinspiredandencouragedme.AnearlyversionofChapter3 appearedinGermanQuarterly83.4(November2010),andanearlyversion of Chapter 5 appeared in Modern Philology 108.4 (May 2011). I gratefully acknowledgepermissiontoreprintthismaterial. vii
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