Violence in Early Modernist Fiction: The Secret Agent, Tarr and Women in Love

Description

This study focuses on texts exploring human proclivity to violent behaviour. Building on the anthropological insights of René Girard, and on the premise that literature is a reflection of a cultural moment, Curyłło-Klag shows how early modernism registers symptoms of crisis which even the outbreak of World War I failed to resolve. Arranged in chronological order, the works of Conrad, Lewis and Lawrence reveal an unfolding pattern and form a triptych, indicative of the growing intensity of the epoch in which they were produced. Izabela Curyłło-Klag teaches in the Institute of English Studies at the Jagiellonian University, Kraków. Her research interests include: the modern British novel, dystopian writing and roman noir, and the intersections between literature, history and culture. She has published articles on modernist fiction and co-edited an anthology of immigrant memoirs, The British Migrant Experience, 1700-2000. Cover Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter I. Modernist Consciousness of Crisisand the Emer gent Violence Mythos Modernism as Sacrificial Crisis The Secret Agent, Tarr and Women in Love Mimetic Rivalries and Con tagion of Violence The Violence My thos of Modernism Review of Critic al Approaches to Violence and Modernism Chapter II. Ticking Towards Disaster—Violenceas “The Enemy Within” in Conrad’s The Secret Agent England must be brought into line Madness alone is truly terrifying Blood alone puts a seal on greatness She was not a submissiv e creature Simple ferocity of the age of caverns Chapter III. “All Personality Was Catching”—Mimetic Rivalryand the Con tagion of Violence in Tarr Doomed, evidently All in order for unbounded in flammation A thirst for action She had lain in wait for him The bubonic plague Not a duel but a brawl Only a game, too Chapter IV. Humanity in a Cul-de-sac: Women in Loveas an Epic of Sacrificial Crisis An omen of universal dissolution Mutual hellish recognition A lurking desir e to have gizzard slit Conclusion Bibliography Back cover