Composition. Narrative Peculiarities of The Novel
Composition. Narrative Peculiarities of The Novel
Composition. Narrative Peculiarities of The Novel
4. The role of love within the realm of art: erotic love as fuel for an inspiring
artist to create art, or one that questions the artist’s ability to see the subject of
his art fully.
The theme of love constitutes an integral part and a whole basis for the
Murdoch’s novel “The Black Prince”. However, the love portrayed in here is not the
kind of love usually depicted in the literary soil, but love which is blinding,
overpowering, enabling, ambiguous, dangerous. Two particularly facets of love
paradoxically interwoven in this novel are erotic nature of love, exhilarating and
propelling, and illuminating one, that obstructs the reality.
The fact that forbidden affection between Bradley Pearson and Julian Baffin had
a profound impact and virtually shaped Pearson’s vision of art is beyond doubt. The
very first time he realized the extent of his feelings, as Pearson himself recalls, was a
moment of “blinding joy” for him. This overwhelming feeling made a man self-
centered and pensively concentrated on his own ego and self-exploration. For sure
this did not make Julian pleased. She felt deceived and misled. Claiming to be “an
equal partner in this game” she tried to illuminate the truth for him:
‘You mean you don’t care what I think?’
‘Not now.’
‘Because you’ve spoilt all the fantasy fun of your love by bringing it out
into the real world?’
This “fantasy fun” of Pearson’s love became its ultimate objective. As Martha
Nussbaum says in her essay, it creates “an egoistic fog”. (2004, p.691) Indeed, at first
this fog propels him to change his attitude towards the world, but as soon as sexual
aspect enters, Pearson’s adequacy fades away and his craving for the goodness
becomes corrupted. The mixture of lust, awe, desire to possess and anxiety
completely obscures his clear vision. Thus, he hides the truth about Priscilla’s suicide
as well as about his age. His creation of art is corrupted just as much. Focused on his
own passion and erotic desire he no longer can describe the real love that was
between them. The subject of his art is now crooked.
Does it mean then that this art of Pearson’s gained nothing from his love but a
spoiled perspective? By no means. Here, the other facet of love comes into view, the
love inspiring and propelling. From the very beginning Pearson appears as an
unsuccessful writer. However, in the course of the story we see the very paradox of
the situation: the blinding desire of love opened Pearson’s eyes to create. The story
itself became a clear vision of art. “The vision of love itself is inherently unstable and
inconstant. Only through the life of art do we ever succeed in possessing all that we
have loved, in the sense that only then does our mind embrace the past experience
with unerring specificity and sureness”, says Martha Nussbaum. (2004, p. 705)
Thus, Pearson could not clearly see and perceive the subject of his art until he
lived that subject. He could only use this very subject in order to create art, where, as
an artist, he could finally see the truth and possess it. In his postscript he said, “And
Julian. I do not, my darling girl, however passionately and intensely my thought has
worked upon your being, really imagine that I invented you. Eternally you escape my
embrace. Art cannot assimilate you nor thought digest you. I do not now know, or
want to know, anything about your life. For me, you have gone into the dark.”
References
Dooley, Gillian, (2003). Iris Murdoch’s Use of First-Person Narrative in The
Black Prince. English Studies, 85 (2), p. 134-146. Retrieved April 12, 2020,
from
https://www.academia.edu/2057816/Iris_Murdochs_Use_of_FirstPerson_Narrative_in_The_Black_P
rince
Nussbaum, C. Martha, (2004). "Faint with Secret Knowledge": Love and Vision in
Murdoch's The Black Prince. Poetics Today, 25(4), pp. 689-710. Duke
University Press. Retrieved April 12, 2020, from
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/177243/pdf
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