Modernist Impersonalities: Affect, Authority, and the Subject

227 Pages·2012·1.169 MB·English

by  Rochelle Rives (auth.)

Modernist Impersonalities
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Modernist Impersonalities
Affect, Authority,
and the Subject
Rochelle Rives
modernist impersonalities
Copyright © Rochelle Rives, 2012.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-1-137-02187-8
All rights reserved.
First published in 2012 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United
States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York,
NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the
world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers
Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-43773-3 ISBN 978-1-137-02188-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137021885
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rives, Rochelle.
Modernist impersonalities : affect, authority, and the subject / Rochelle Rives.
p. cm.
1. Modernism (Literature)—English-speaking countries. 2. Literature,
Modern—20th century—History and criticism—Theory, etc.
PN56.M54R58 2012
809'.9112—dc23 2012001767
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Scribe Inc.
First edition: September 2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For S.M. and E.M.
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Modernism and the “Escape from Personality” 1
1 “The Dissociation of Personality”: Space and
the Impersonal Ideal 21
2 The Impersonal Contract: H.D. and the Limits of
Poetic Authority 47
3 A “Peculiar Feeling of Intimacy”: D. H. Lawrence,
Modernist Violence, and Impersonal Narrative 81
4 Problem Space: Wyndham Lewis, Mary Butts, and
the Impersonal Object 113
5 A “Solicitude for Things”: Elizabeth Bowen and
the Bildungsroman 149
Conclusion: Emotion after The Death of the Heart 175
Notes 181
Index 209
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Acknowledgments
This book is about engagement and the meaningfulness of relationships,
both personal and impersonal. That said, I owe many for their various
engagements with this project. First, I extend serious gratitude to my col-
league sisters at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, City Uni-
versity of New York, Joyce Zonana and Page Delano, who acted generously
both as my friends and as readers of the manuscript. More than anyone
else, they understood my desire to continue working as a serious scholar
while juggling the demands of community college teaching and service.
Another round of thanks goes to my mentors at the University of Illinois
Urbana– Champaign (now elsewhere), who helped give life to this project
and have continued as its advocates: dissertation director and baby whisperer
Janet Lyon unearthed texts for me that reconciled pleasure with academic
work; Tim Dean created the seminar that would ground the next ten years
of my academic labors; Jed Esty is responsible for generating so much excite-
ment about the Bildungsroman that the subject occupies two chapters of this
book; and Joe Valente read every chapter of my dissertation with unparalleled
attentiveness— at least three times. I would also like to give credit to my more
informal advisors—o riginally peers from graduate school and now lifelong
friends: fellow impersonalist Christina Walter deserves recognition for both
her generosity in sharing hotel rooms and her instant answers to any hast-
ily emailed bibliographic queries; Melissa Girard should win a special award
for just listening; and Scott Herring never fails to indulge me with opportuni-
ties for laughter and perspective—a s well as incisive professional advice. If the
heart really is the seat of emotion, I thank him from the bottom of mine.
Through the efforts of the Professional Staff Congress of the City
University of New York (CUNY), I was entitled to both contractual and
awarded released time from teaching, without which it would have been
impossible to finish this book. A Faculty Development Grant at BMCC also
provided me with time and funds to pursue this project. CUNY’s Faculty
Fellowship Program not only aided the completion of my manuscript but
was also a boon for my personal life, for it was within the small assembly of
scholars it facilitated that I found my husband, Michael Garral. My thanks
go to the participants of our writing group, who read and commented on