Henri Bergson and British Modernism

225 Pages·1996·13.403 MB·English

by  Mary Ann Gillies

Henri Bergson and British Modernism
While the influence of French philosopher Henri Bergson on mod-
ernism has long been debated, this is the first thorough, current
examination of the ways in which his ideas are manifest in British
modernism. Mary Ann Gillies shows that he played a central role in
the development of British literary modernism.
Focusing on the work of T.E. Hulme, the Men of 1914, the Blooms-
bury Group, T.S. Eliot, and John Middleton Murry, Gillies convinc-
ingly demonstrates that Bergson's theories underlie the literary
aesthetics of the period that forms the intellectual basis of modern
literature. She then turns her critical eye to five major modernist
writers - Eliot, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Dorothy Richardson, and
Joseph Conrad - and provides insightful and detailed Bergsonian
readings of their major works.
Drawing on material not previously available, Gillies persuasively
argues that Bergson was a major intellectual force in British literature
during the first thirty years of the twentieth century.
MARY ANN GILLIES is assistant professor of English, Simon Fraser
University.
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Henri Bergson and
British Modernism
MARY ANN GILLIES
McGill-Queen's University Press
Montreal & Kingston • London • Buffalo
© McGill-Queen's University Press 1
ISBN 0-7735-1427-9
Legal deposit third quarter 1996
Bibliotheque Rationale du Quebec
Printed in the United States on acid-free paper
This book has been published with the help of a grant
from Simon Fraser University.
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Gillies, Mary Ann, 1959-
Henri Bergson and British modernism
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7735-1427-9
1. Bergson, Henri, 1859-1941 - Influence.
2. Modernism (Literature) - Great Britain. 3. English
literature - 20th century - History and criticism.
I. Title.
PR83O.B47G541996 820.9'! 096-900332-3
This book was typeset by Typo Litho Composition
Inc. in 10/12 Palatino
For my mother
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 3
1 Henri Bergson: Antecedents, Philosophy,
and Context 8
2 Bergson and British Culture 28
3 Charting Bergson's Theories of a Modernist
Aesthetics 39
4 T.S. Eliot: The Poet 78
5 Virginia Woolf: Bergsonian Experiments in
Representation and Consciousness 107
6 James Joyce: Fiction as the Flux of
Experience 132
7 Dorothy Richardson: The Subjective
Experience of Time 151
8 Joseph Conrad: Bergsonian Ideas of Memory
and Comedy 166
Conclusion 186
Notes 189
Bibliography 201
Index 209
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Acknowledgments
During my decade of work on Henri Bergson and British Modernism,
I have incurred a number of significant debts.
As a doctoral student, I received grants from the Rhodes Trust
(Rhodes Scholarship) and from the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada (Doctoral Fellowship). This book is a sub-
stantially revised version of my dissertation, which was supervised by
Lord Quinton. Simon Eraser University's University Publications
Committee provided a grant toward the publication of this book.
During the lengthy revision process, I benefited from the assistance
of many individuals. I thank Philip Cercone at McGill-Queen's Uni-
versity Press for his unwavering belief in this project and for his
astute advice; Wendy Dayton, who skilfully edited the text, improv-
ing it in many ways; and Joan McGilvray, who saw it through the
publication process. Carole Gerson's assistance at a critical time in
the preparation of the manuscript was truly generous. I also would
like to thank the following individuals for their advice and support:
Kathy Mezei, Patricia Srebrnik, Betty A. Schellenberg, Leith Davis,
John Kelly, June Sturrock, Joseph McAleer Jr., Norman Ingram,
Sandra Djwa, Ila Burdette, Elona Malterre, Anthony Warrens, Judith
Heaton, and Dr. Robin Fletcher and his wife, Ginny.
Some parts of chapter 4 originally appeared in my article "T.S. Eliot
and Henri Bergson: An Uneasy Relationship" Literary Half-yearly y 29,
no. 2 (July 1988): 1-13. In addition, chapter 8 is a revised version of
my article "Conrad's The Secret Agent and Under Western Eyes as Berg-
sonian Comedies," Conradiana 20, no. 3 (1988): 195-213.
Finally, my family encouraged me during my long journey toward
this point and also kept me solidly grounded in the here and now. My
brother Alan was particularly generous with his time. I gratefully
acknowledge my debt to them.