Seenan, Mary (2000) The watcher at the crossroads: Ideological negotiations in the fiction of N ...

361 Pages·2008·14.9 MB·English

Seenan, Mary (2000) The watcher at the crossroads: Ideological
negotiations in the fiction of N. Brysson Morrison. PhD thesis.

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THE WATCHER AT THE CROSSROADS:
IDEOLOGICAL NEGOTIATIONS IN THE FICTION OF
N. BRYSSON MORRISON
Submitted for the degree of Ph.D.
UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW
DEPARTMENT OF SCOTTISH LITERATURE
© MARY SEENAN May 2000
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ABSTRACT
This thesis contributes to the recuperation of N Brysson Momson,
1903-1986, a Scottish woman writer who has largely been omitted from accounts of
Scottish literary history, and whose oeuvre has received little critical attention This
detailed literary study of all her published novels is supplemented, where
appropriate, by reference to her biographical and religious works Contextualising
her fiction within the Scottish literary tradition, the thesis argues that the world view
communicated by Momson's novels represents an articulation of the complexity of
Scottish experience during the period of social and cultural change that defined her
career as a novelist
Herself a victim of critical exclusion, Momson's preoccupation with
marginality is foregrounded. Although deeply concerned with the articulation of the
problematic position of women in patriarchal society, her work should not be seen
as dealing only with `women's issues', an assumption present-day readers might
make from the example of The Gowk Storm (1933), the only Momson text in pnnt
at the time of writing The thesis indicates that Momson's fiction also demonstrates
a robust engagement with such questions as the re-visiomng of history, the role of
religion in Scottish culture, and the representation of national and social identities,
topics that are more widely acknowledged to have preoccupied Scottish male writers
of her time
Post-Saussurean discourse theory and the Bakhtiman concept of dialogism
provide much of the theoretical framework underpinmng cntical discussion The
term 'ideology' is used in accordance with Althusser's theory, and the ideological
vision of Momson's fiction is analysed as a negotiation of the different subject
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positions available within the ideologically-inscribed discourses articulating
Scottish experience. Morrison's novels adopt a complex, often ambiguous
perspective; they are identified as presenting a dynamic equilibrium between
subversion of, and collusion with, cultural, religious and socio-political aspects of
the dominant ideology supporting the bourgeois-capitalist social formation.
The discussion adopts a thematic approach, attention being given to areas of
interest which recur throughout Morrison's fiction; for clarity, however, detailed
discussion of each theme generally focuses on the close reading of two or three
representative texts. Morrison's position as a historical novelist is reasserted. Her
early novels are shown to offer a re-vision of history and a reformulation of the
historical novel. Her fiction is shown to subvert the genre's ideological assumptions
by foregrounding 'counter-historical' elements that refuse to conform with the
Enlightenment concept of progress, on which conventional plot resolution is
predicated. Alternative constructions of the past are also shown to be presented
through the feminising and psychologising of history. It is argued that her novels
undermine the notion of the forward directional impetus of historical progress by
disrupting narrative linearity with frequent intrusions of the past. Morrison's
ambivalence towards the concept of progress is highlighted by identifying in her
representation of historical change sympathetic identification with the various
conservative and progressive tendencies that she portrays as coexisting in constant
tension throughout time.
The thesis also argues that Morrison's fiction evinces a preoccupation with
religion shared by many more widely recognised Scottish writers. Although offering
a social critique of the Presbyterian church as an institution, her novels adopt a
liberal approach to religious belief; but these views are shown to be complicated by
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adherence, conscious or unconscious, to residual Calvinistic tendencies. Morrison's
engagement with history and religion have been chosen because of their prominence
in her novels, and also because, as central formative elements in the construction of
national, social and female identities, they provide a context within which to explore
her handling of these topics.
Identity is shown to be constructed in discourse, and responsive to historical
changes in Scottish discursive practices. The thesis examines the ways in which
Morrison's fiction questions conventional representations of national identity, and
regards this in the context of contemporaneous interest in redefining Scottishness.
Her handling of class and social mobility in urban and rural settings is considered,
observing how her own class position influences their representation. Female
identity is shown to be portrayed in Morrison's novels as a contested space where
feminist- and patriarchally-inscribed discourses compete. Her early fictional
explorations of the restrictions imposed on women in patriarchal society are
discussed, and ambivalence towards marriage as the defining role for women is also
highlighted as a key issue in Morrison's early novels. Her later fiction is shown to
question new definitions of 'femininity', and the exploration of the feminist
possibilities of sisterhood as an additional, if not alternative, defining role for
women, is discussed as a major focus of her last novel.
Although organised thematically, each topic is discussed chronologically,
thereby enabling developments in the ideological vision of Morrison's fiction to be
contextualised within a framework of socio-economic cultural change and
contemporary literary trends. In adopting such an approach the thesis gives a sense
of the breadth and depth of Morrison's fiction.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There are several people to whom my thanks are due for the help they have
given me in completing this thesis.
Firstly, I should like to record my appreciation of the generosity of Dr
Elizabeth Michie, N. Brysson Morrison's literary executrix, who has allowed me to
borrow those texts which I could not obtain elsewhere. She has also given of her
time to answer my many questions, and has given me access to biographical notes
made by her husband, the late Dr James Michie, for Morrison's obituary.
My most sincere thanks must also go to my supervisor, Dr. Carol Anderson,
whose helpful suggestions and constructive criticism have kept me on course, and
enabled me to see through the detail to the bigger picture. Her support and
understanding at a difficult period during the gestation of the thesis is particularly
appreciated.
Lastly, I must thank my husband; without his help, both practical and
emotional, this thesis would not have been completed.
It is dedicated to my grandchildren, Jonathan and Sophie, in the hope that
when they are old enough to understand it, N. Brysson Morrison's work will have
received the recognition it deserves.
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PREFACE
'A writer [ ...] must have the persistence of the watcher who stands
at the crossroads of all other discourses ....'
Roland Barthes (1977)
Inaugural Lecture, College de France.
Published as Leon (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1978); translated, by Richard Howard,
collected in A Roland Barthes Reader, edited and introduced by Susan Sontag
(1982; repr. London: Vintage, 1993)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 10
INTRODUCTION 11
i Introductory Comments 12
ii Biographical Details 19
iii Historical Background 29
iv Ideas Informing Morrison's Fiction 32
v Theoretical Framework Underpinning Critical Discussion 38
vi Thesis Structure 46
CHAPTER 1 REINTERPRETING HISTORY: HISTORY AS 50
NARRATIVE
1.1 Contextual Comments 51
1.2 Re-visioning Scottish History: Breakers and the 62
'Counter-Historical'
1.3 Psychologising History: Solitaire 89
CHAPTER 2 REINTERPRETING HISTORY: HISTORY AS 104
PROCESS

2.1 Introductory Comments 105
2.2 Change and Stasis: A Study of The Winnowing Years 109
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CHAPTER 3 'SOMETHING DARK AND HARD, LIKE A KERNEL': 143
RELIGION AS A SHAPING FORCE IN MORRISON'S
FICTION
3.1 Contextual Comments 144
3.2 Calvinism: A Qualified Rejection 155
3.3 A Wider Vision? 170
3.4 The Vision Narrows: The Later Novels 183
CHAPTER 4 NATIONAL AND SOCIAL IDENTITIES 191
4.1 General Introduction 192
4.2 National Identity: Constructing the Myth 194
4.3 National Identity: The Myth Reconsidered 197
4.4 National Identity in Morrison's Fiction 200
4.5 Social Identities: Introductory Comments 222
4.5.i Rural Social Identities 224
4.5.ii Urban Social Identities 233
CHAPTER 5 SUBVERSIVE SUBMISSION SUBMISSIVE SUBVERSION:
FEMALE IDENTIFICATION AND PATRIARCHAL
IDEOLOGY 243

5.1 Introduction 244

5.2 Contextual Considerations 246

5.3 A Troubled Bid For Freedom: The Early Novels 251

5.4 The Effects of War 286
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CHAPTER 6 GENDER ISSUES IN MORRISON'S LATER NOVELS 292
6.1 Introductory Comments 293
6.2 A Period of Transition: Gender Issues in The Following Wind 298
6.3 'Caught Between Worlds': Female Identities in Thea 310
6.4 Concluding Comments 335
CONCLUSION 339
BIBLIOGRAPHY 344