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6 Subtexts of Psychosexuality What a slipper y fish i s identity ; an d wha t is i t beside s a slippery fish? —Eva Trout The Inscription of Creation in Eva Trout (1969 ) Structuring Stylistics. Eva Trout or Changing Scenes (hereafter ,£T), a s th e ful l titl e o f Bowen' s tent h an d final nove l reads , wa s published forty-od d year s afte r he r first (The Hotel, 1927 ) an d twenty year s afte r th e appearanc e o f he r sevent h (HD). Sinc e 1949, tw o volume s o f nonfictiona l writings , a historica l work , two mor e novels , a trave l book , a children' s book , an d he r las t collection o f shor t storie s ha d bee n published. 1 Th e onl y wor k t o appear i n prin t afte r ET wa s Pictures and Conversations (1975) , the unfinishe d se t o f autobiographica l essay s publishe d posthumously tw o year s afte r Bowen' s deat h i n 1973 . A t onc e suggesting a departur e fro m earlie r narrativ e scene s an d markin g a chang e i n th e author' s sociohistorica l setting , th e novel' s subtitle als o herald s a n alteratio n i n th e textua l surfac e itself , a shift i n term s o f styl e and/o r narrativ e method . Wherea s th e las t two emphase s ar e certainl y born e ou t b y th e text , th e suggestio n of a chang e i n narrativ e scen e i s somewha t misleading . Th e controlling them e o f ET signifie s a differen t angl e o n Bowen' s 206 Subtexts of Psychosexuality 20 7 lasting subjec t matte r rathe r tha n a deviatio n fro m it . Sinc e th e author considere d th e objec t o f th e nove l t o b e th e "non-poeti c statement o f a poeti c truth, " th e essenc e o f whic h i s "tha t n o statement o f i t i s final, " i t i s no t surprisin g t o find he r returnin g to he r abidin g preoccupation s i n wha t wa s t o becom e he r las t story.2 ET is , quit e appropriately , als o a n exploratio n o f "origins." Place d i n relatio n t o LS (1929 ) an d HD (1949) , whic h mark th e beginnin g an d th e middl e o f Bowen' s writin g career , respectively, th e nove l inevitabl y acquire s additiona l significanc e by virtu e o f bein g thi s writer' s final statemen t o f he r "poeti c truth." I t represent s Bowen' s las t novelisti c effor t t o explor e th e constitution o f (female ) sexuality/subjectivity . Although ET offer s n o chang e i n term s o f thematics , i t doe s represent a shif t i n perspectiv e whe n compare d t o HD, a difference i n outloo k tha t i s simila r t o tha t betwee n th e author' s war nove l an d he r "recal l book, " LS. A s we hav e seen , th e earl y novel's emphasi s o n th e constrainin g effect s o f th e ideologica l patterns o f outsid e "reality " upo n th e developin g subjectivit y o f the youn g heroin e provide s th e "interna l combustion " upo n which, accordin g t o Bowen , th e "movemen t [of ] plo t depends." 3 The war novel , on th e othe r hand , present s th e dynamic s o f crisi s situated i n externa l rathe r tha n interna l forces , i n th e materia l collapse o f th e sociosymboli c structure s i n relatio n t o whic h th e middle-aged protagonis t i s force d t o (re...

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