The Silencing of the Attempting Pen in Four of Hardy’s Works
Silence represents for Hardy the primordial scene. It is inflicted on his first novel The Poor Man and the Lady which was rejected on account of its so-called “radical satire of society” (Meredith). From then on, silence will take the form of censorship and will compel Hardy to “mutilate” his texts....
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| I publikationen: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/fathom, |
|---|---|
| Huvudupphovsman: | |
| Materialtyp: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Språk: | Anglais |
| Publicerad: |
FATHOM
2013
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| Ämnen: | |
| Länkar: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| id |
openedition-oai:revues.org:fathom_444 |
|---|---|
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openedition |
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OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
écriture roman silence genre censure éducation Neutre (le) transgression writing novel silence gender censorship education Neutral (the) transgression |
| spellingShingle |
écriture roman silence genre censure éducation Neutre (le) transgression writing novel silence gender censorship education Neutral (the) transgression Bantz, Nathalie The Silencing of the Attempting Pen in Four of Hardy’s Works |
| description |
Silence represents for Hardy the primordial scene. It is inflicted on his first novel The Poor Man and the Lady which was rejected on account of its so-called “radical satire of society” (Meredith). From then on, silence will take the form of censorship and will compel Hardy to “mutilate” his texts. On the other hand, silence, that is the prudery and hypocrisy of Victorian society as applied to authors and their fiction, is also what Hardy relentlessly denounces. His vision of the writing artist who “expresses truly the views of life prevalent” in a given time is at cross purposes with that of publishers and the reading public for whom the only good writer keeps silent on a few unwelcome topics. Quite interestingly, all but one of the few writing artists in Hardy’s fiction are women, as if women were the best possible figures to exemplify the plight of the silenced writer in a puritan society. Even worthier of consideration is the fact that these four women artists share masculine attributes whereas the only man writer has conspicuous feminine characteristics. It seems that beyond his understanding of women’s struggle to be heard in an oppressively patriarchal society and his sense of the parallel attempt of the writing artist to prevent the silencing of his or her voice by the same constraining powers, Hardy is voicing his own personal view of the writing artist as an ungendered figure: what matters is not the artist’s gender but the speaking voice. In this regard, Hardy anticipates universalist thinkers of modern times and actively participates in the contemporary debate opposing differentialists to universalists. His modern and subversive vision of literature and the writing artist has travelled through time to us, and this is where his victory against the forces of silence is. |
| author |
Bantz, Nathalie |
| author_facet |
Bantz, Nathalie |
| author_sort |
Bantz, Nathalie |
| title |
The Silencing of the Attempting Pen in Four of Hardy’s Works |
| title_short |
The Silencing of the Attempting Pen in Four of Hardy’s Works |
| title_full |
The Silencing of the Attempting Pen in Four of Hardy’s Works |
| title_fullStr |
The Silencing of the Attempting Pen in Four of Hardy’s Works |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The Silencing of the Attempting Pen in Four of Hardy’s Works |
| title_sort |
silencing of the attempting pen in four of hardy’s works |
| publisher |
FATHOM |
| publishDate |
2013 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/fathom |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/fathom.444 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/fathom/444 |
| _version_ |
1877243460519460864 |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:fathom_444 https://doi.org/10.4000/fathom.444 urn:doi:10.4000/fathom.444 en https://journals.openedition.org/fathom/444 2013-09-21T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/gahr All rights reserved The Silencing of the Attempting Pen in Four of Hardy’s Works FATHOM Association française sur les études sur Thomas Hardy info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2270-6798 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/fathom Bantz, Nathalie écriture roman silence genre censure éducation Neutre (le) transgression writing novel silence gender censorship education Neutral (the) transgression Silence represents for Hardy the primordial scene. It is inflicted on his first novel The Poor Man and the Lady which was rejected on account of its so-called “radical satire of society” (Meredith). From then on, silence will take the form of censorship and will compel Hardy to “mutilate” his texts. On the other hand, silence, that is the prudery and hypocrisy of Victorian society as applied to authors and their fiction, is also what Hardy relentlessly denounces. His vision of the writing artist who “expresses truly the views of life prevalent” in a given time is at cross purposes with that of publishers and the reading public for whom the only good writer keeps silent on a few unwelcome topics. Quite interestingly, all but one of the few writing artists in Hardy’s fiction are women, as if women were the best possible figures to exemplify the plight of the silenced writer in a puritan society. Even worthier of consideration is the fact that these four women artists share masculine attributes whereas the only man writer has conspicuous feminine characteristics. It seems that beyond his understanding of women’s struggle to be heard in an oppressively patriarchal society and his sense of the parallel attempt of the writing artist to prevent the silencing of his or her voice by the same constraining powers, Hardy is voicing his own personal view of the writing artist as an ungendered figure: what matters is not the artist’s gender but the speaking voice. In this regard, Hardy anticipates universalist thinkers of modern times and actively participates in the contemporary debate opposing differentialists to universalists. His modern and subversive vision of literature and the writing artist has travelled through time to us, and this is where his victory against the forces of silence is. La mise au silence représente chez Hardy une scène primordiale sinon la scène primordiale. C’est la punition infligée au premier roman The Poor Man and the Lady en raison de sa nature jugée trop radicalement satirique : il ne sera jamais publié. C’est ensuite la censure imposée par les éditeurs qui exigent réécriture, altérations, autant de modifications des textes vécues par Hardy comme des mutilations. Il faut au contraire libérer la parole de l’écrivain que font taire la pudibonderie et l’hypocrisie de l’ère victorienne, car écrire, dit Hardy, c’est choisir d’être l’observateur et l’analyste de son temps sans restriction des sujets. Dans son œuvre Hardy met en scène des personnages écrivains. Ce sont pour la majorité des femmes. Est-ce à dire que Hardy voyait la femme, corsetée par la norme, comme plus à même d’incarner la figure de l’écrivain contraint par les conventions ? Il apparaît également que ces femmes présentent des caractéristiques traditionnellement réservées au masculin et qu’inversement, l’unique personnage-écrivain masculin partage de nombreux traits avec le sexe dit « opposé ». Les guillemets marquent bien la suspicion dans laquelle Hardy semble tenir la distinction imposée entre les deux genres, de façon générale et plus encore lorsqu’il est question d’écriture. Son regard de sociologue ne s’y est pas trompé : pour lui l’écriture procède non pas d’un genre mais d’une expérience. Anticipant les universalistes, il conçoit l’écriture comme une voix libre au-delà du genre et vient par là nourrir un débat toujours en cours. Il ancre dans le même temps sa pensée dans la modernité. |