MODERNISM AND NATURALISM IN BRITISH AND IRISH FICTION,

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1 MODERNISM AND NATURALISM IN BRITISH AND IRISH FICTION, This book argues that the history of literary modernism is inextricably connected with that of naturalism. traces a complex response among aesthetes to the work of Émile Zola at the turn of the century, in the process recovering naturalism s assumed compatibility with impressionism as a central cause of their ambivalence. Highlighting a little-studied strain of reflexive naturalism in which Zola s mode of analytical observation is turned upon the authors themselves, Joyce suggests that the confluence of naturalism and impressionism formed the precondition for so-called stream-of-consciousness writing. This style served to influence not only the work of canonical modernists such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf but also that of lesser-known writers such as George Moore, Sarah Grand, and George Egerton. simon joyce is the Margaret Hamilton Professor of English at the College of William and Mary. His previous books include Capital Offenses: Geographies of Class and Crime in Victorian London (2003) and The Victorians in the Rearview Mirror (2007).

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3 MODERNISM AND NATURALISM IN BRITISH AND IRISH FICTION, SIMON JOYCE College of William and Mary

4 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny , usa Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. Information on this title: / This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2015 Printed in the United Kingdom by Clays, St Ives plc A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Joyce, Simon, 1963 author. Modernism and naturalism in British and Irish fiction, /SimonJoyce. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn (hardback) 1. Modernism (Literature) Great Britain. 2. English fiction History and criticism. 3.English fiction Irish authors History and criticism. 4. Naturalism in literature. I. Title. pr888.m63j dc isbn Hardback isbn Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

5 Contents Acknowledgments page vii Introduction: A modernism on all fours 1 1 How Zola crossed (and didn t cross) the English Channel 28 2 Portraits and artists: Impressionism and naturalism 53 3 A naturalism for Ireland 84 4 Photo-sensitivity: Naturalism, aestheticism, and the New Woman novel The voice of witlessness: Virginia Woolf and the poor 151 Afterword: Nietzsche contra naturalism (contra Nietzscheans) 180 Notes 190 Index 211 v

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7 Acknowledgments I ve come, perhaps unfairly, to think of this book as a darker counterpart to its predecessor, The Victorians in the Rearview Mirror. This is partly to do with the subject matter, of course: it s not always easy, and probably not advisable, to deal with naturalism lightheartedly. To reuse the joke with which I invariably begin presentations from this project (a line that most people mentioned here have heard at least once), it can feel like a dirty job; but for reasons I can t quite recall now, I once felt like somebody had to do it. Incredibly, I thought at the time that it would be a quick and easy job to argue for naturalism s formative influence on what I understand literary modernism to have been. The work has taken a number of detours and redirections over the years, and encountered some delays. Most obviously, I suffered a major health crisis toward the end of writing it that added at least a year to the labor, and threatened to render it wasted. Although they ll probably never read these words, then, my first thanks are to a dedicated network of doctors, nurses, specialists, surgeons, and therapists, without whom this book almost certainly wouldn t exist. Under these circumstances, it hasn t always been easy to write about a literary form that is itself so obsessed with heredity and deterioration. I am very thankful to acknowledge how easy my chairs, colleagues, deans, and administration at the College of William and Mary made it to take medical leave and to resume where I d left off, which kept the delay to a minimum. Among many others in Williamsburg, I should single out Arthur Knight, who was tirelessly thoughtful and kind as a friend, neighbor, and colleague during that difficult chapter of my life. At greater distances, Stephanie Foote and Chris Foss, as well as old friends in Texas and California, took on the selfless work of keeping my spirits up, for which I ll be forever grateful. The earlier parts of the project are associated, for the most part, with sunnier summers. I first conceived of it as a book rather than a hunch at an NEH Summer Seminar on The Decadent 1890s at UCLA s Clark vii

8 viii Acknowledgments Library in 2009, under the erudite and generous direction of Joe Bristow. Friends from the seminar have now heard me talk about these matters more than anyone should, and I want especially to record my thanks to Lisa Hager, Kristin Mahoney, Diana Maltz, Beth Newman, and So Young Park, especially for helping me think about naturalism, aestheticism, and the New Woman. The book took an Irish detour thanks to a summer s teaching in Galway and an Irish Aestheticisms conference, also organized by Joe Bristow at the Clark. That experience helped me to reconnect with my old friend Joe Valente and to find a network of exciting Irish Studies scholars who helped me rethink the role of naturalism in the Revival: I owe thanks especially to Greg Dobbins, Alison Harvey, and Tina O Toole, as well as the two Joes. Finally, I tested the propositions of the volume about modernism and naturalism at a Modernist Studies Association seminar in 2011 and benefited enormously from the help of two longtime co-conspirators there, Varun Begley and Barry Faulk. A generous research leave in gave me the time and space to do most of the heavy lifting. William and Mary has continued to be a model of providing help when it s needed and keeping out of the way when it s not. For the former, and sometimes the latter, I m especially grateful to Elizabeth Barnes, Susan Donaldson, Antoine Krieger, Rich Lowry, Deborah Morse, Suzanne Raitt, and Bob Scholnick. At just the right time, Ray Ryan passed through town, and has been just the kind of editor with whom faculty love to work by making straightforward and simple what so often feels like a torturous process. Nearer still, actually at home, my wonderful family has given immeasurably more of the same. Jenny Putzi remains my best reader and my true love, and has shared all these ups and downs with me while still, somehow, brightening all the days and making everything better. Raising kids together while writing about naturalism hasn t always been an easy combination; parenting too often resembles a Zola-esque hunt for patterns of hereditary transference that can feel egotistical and self-indulgent at times, as if our children s stories can only be our own with minor variations. In writing this book, then, I m most grateful to Sam and Charley for the lessons they teach me about what Andrew Solomon has called apples that fall far from the tree. I can t picture them any other way, or imagine loving them any more than I do. Beyond their courageous capacity for self-definition, they ve given me a boundless strength and an unqualified belief that the best and most beautiful times are always ahead of us. May the road rise with you all.