Modernism by Peter Faulkner, and: The Logic of Fiction by John Woods (review)

Books 337 selves.For some, this book will servethat purpose: theauthor isa self-supporting artist who has very definite ideas about the present state of contemporary art, how it came to be as it is and what the future should be. According to him, his purpose is ’. .. to throw light onto the real, rather than merely the assumed or best-known areas of conflict, with the object of aiding the causes of more perceptive criticismno lessthan those of saner art’ (p.vii). He examinesand criticizesmany important issues surrounding contemporary art; for example, the idea of monolithic ‘evolution’ in art, the obscurantist language of some artists and critics, and the socalled ‘lesson of Impressionism’ (that is, one cannot judge an artwork at least until its artist is dead). In a discussion of the relationships among artists, the public and critics he includes an interesting account of his frustrating single-handedbattle against the policies of the British Arts Council and the Tate Gallery. He presents a revealing picture of the ludicrous situation in Britain today-where, for example, a pile of blankets and a stack of bricks are purchased at great expenseand exhibited as significant artworks. However,in spite ofthe fact that I began reading the book with some sympathy for Auty’s position, he succeeded in destroying my sympathy through his manner of presentation. The problem is not in his literary style, as such; his sentences are well constructed and his thoughts clearly presented. It lies in his plethora of sexist, racist and elitist comments. Auty somehow manages to make purely gratuitous but highly caustic comments about nearly everyone, including students, teachers, academics, people under 40 years of age, liberals (whose ‘blood runs with a pinkish hue’), USAmericans and art historians. Surely none of this helps to achieve more ‘perceptivecriticism’ and ‘saner art’. The ‘light’Auty intended to shine on contemporary problems does not show through the opacity of his satirical, offensive and completely unnecessary asides. While some of his arguments are interesting and convincing, they cannot bear the weight of his prejudices. His points are lost in the sea of deliberately cruel and highly gratuitous comments that add nothing positive to what otherwise might have been a good book. It iswellbound and nicelyprinted; there arefewerrors, and the illustrations, although only in black and white, are pleasant. If the price were more reasonable, I would recommend the book to artists, teachers and critics because some of the arguments are insightful and worthy of consideration. However, at the price, the ratio of valueless to valuable writing is too large for me to recommend it to anyone. Modernism (The Critical Idiom Series, No. 35). Peter Faulkner. Methuen, London, 1977. 86pp. Paper, f1.20. The Logic of Fiction.John Woods. Mouton, The Hague, 1974. 152pp. Paper, DM 3I .OO. Reviewed by Blake Morrison* Given the current interest in ‘Modernism’-vident in the huge Bradbury-MacFarlane critical anthology Modernism (1976),and in the increasing attention given to the subject in university arts and humanities departments-it ispotentially veryusefulto have such a concise study as Faulkner’s: in 75 pages he attempts to give the term Modernism ‘enough substance to make discussion useful beyond the sphere in which it originates, so that it may cast somelight on, say. Picassoor Stravinsky’. However,as he readily admits, his study is severely limited in scope: there are some preliminary ‘general considerations’, but the book very quickly boils down to a consideration of five literary topics: T. S.Eliot’s early criticism, Virginia Woolf s critical essays, Ezra Pound’s poem ‘Hugh Selwyn Mauberley’, James Joyce’s Ulysses and the work of D. H. Lawrence. These are important topics, and to treat them with insight and incisivenesswould be to contribute usefullyto our understanding of Modernism. But Faulkner’s discussions are strictly introductory , and to anyone with only a passing acquaintance with Englishliterature between 1910and 1930his comments will seem somewhat pedestrian. Eliot’s criticism, we are told, emphasised impersonality and tradition, and became more social and *34 Mycenae Road, Blackheath, London SE3, England. political as the years passed; ‘Hugh Selwyn Mauberley’, which Mr Faulkner scrutinizes closely but not illuminatingly, is said to be ‘Pound’s energetic repudiation of the various falsenesses...