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Grasping At Freedom: Identity, Paradox, and Concessions of Will in the Works of Conrad, Gide, and Woolf

Dillenberger, Susanna Juliana
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8242-6245
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=odu1566744731937264

Abstract Details

2019, M.A. (Master of Arts in English), Ohio Dominican University, English.
Works of Modernism often portray figures at odds with nature, society at large, or the self. These figures may seem outwardly sick or lost, but their problems may emerge from some deeper place of irresolute confusion. In the figure of the Captain in Conrad`s The Secret Sharer, Michel in Gide`s The Immoralist, or Clarissa Dalloway and her psychic counterpart, Septimus Warren Smith, in Woolf`s Mrs. Dalloway, we see a battle taking place. In Rousseauian terms, the battle already exists between the wills: the general will versus the will of wills. However, how does this fractionalization of will correspond to these characters or to the state of each author around the time of writing the work? Can we see some of this same complexity of Modernism discussed by Freud in his theory of the drives of men and women, specifically in the death drive [Thanatos] as it emerges in these fictional personas and the challenges of the will each faces? Can we read the characters as avatars of the authors, questioning the tenets of Modernism, challenging personal identity and uncovering the deeper paradoxes that life in the Modern world initiates among the creative-minded? Do the writings of Henri Bergson in his Creative Evolution, a masterpiece of the era, also aid the reader to better ascertain how and why these characters bear out some of the similarities, maladies, and challenges of each of their respective author’s life experiences? Does a desire for creatively solving problems and resolving Modern challenges to identity predispose a character or author, for that matter, to an emotional or psychological cataclysm of sorts? Applying some of these author's non-fictional writings or other biographical sources may also help to resolve some of these questions, as well as allowing the reader to better grasp the impact of Modern societal forces and personal contacts within their lives.
Martin Brick, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Jeremy Glazier, M.F.A. (Other)
36 p.
Literature; Modern Literature
Conrad; Gide; Woolf; Modernism; Rousseau; Freud; Bergson; identity; paradox

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Dillenberger, S. J. (2019). Grasping At Freedom: Identity, Paradox, and Concessions of Will in the Works of Conrad, Gide, and Woolf [Master's thesis, Ohio Dominican University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=odu1566744731937264

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Dillenberger, Susanna. Grasping At Freedom: Identity, Paradox, and Concessions of Will in the Works of Conrad, Gide, and Woolf. 2019. Ohio Dominican University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=odu1566744731937264.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Dillenberger, Susanna. "Grasping At Freedom: Identity, Paradox, and Concessions of Will in the Works of Conrad, Gide, and Woolf." Master's thesis, Ohio Dominican University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=odu1566744731937264

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

odu1566744731937264
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© 2019, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio Dominican University and OhioLINK.