Art and Life in John Fowles’s “The Ebony Tower”

ACTA UNI VERS IT AT IS LODZIENSIS

FO LIA LITTER A R IA A N G L IC A 3, 1999

A gnieszka K siążek

ART AND LIFE IN JOHN FOWLES’S “THE EBONY TOWER”

T h e second h alf o f the tw entieth century brings chaos and d iso rd er in all spheres o f life. M a n ’s ideas o f freedom and selfhood are qu estion ed, m o d e rn psychology becom es incom prehensible and the n o tio n s o f a rt and life are easily confused as having incoherent m eanings. A rtists w ho are excessively preoccup ied w ith form d evalue th o u g h t in re su lt o f w hich expression dom in ates w hat is being expressed. T h ere are n o longer only tw o co n tra stin g ap p ro ach es - one advocating eq u a tio n o f life an d a rt and the o th er sep aratin g them definitely from each other. F ro m the m ultiplicity o f attitudes arise different concepts o f the artist. Jo h n Fowles as a theoretician and p ra ctitio n er deals with a rt on the pages o f his novels an d sh ort-sto ries w hich are peopled by painters, w riters, m usicians w ho differ n o t only in th eir craft b u t in their vision o f a rt as well. T here is a b ro ad p a n o ra m a o f artistic creeds in F ow les’s books including th a t of the a u th o r himself w hich is perversely simplified in The A ristos:

Inside this fundam ental relationship with time, the artist has used his art, his ability to create for three main purposes. . . . His simplest purpose is to describe the outer world; his next is to express his feelings about that outer world, and his last is to express his feelings abou t him self.1

Fow les states in his “ self-portrait in ideas” th a t m an s su periority lies in the ability to m ak e unscientific judgem ents, to give answ ers to the questions m ath s and physics c a n n o t answ er. W hile m ak in g a decision m an is helped by philosophy and art, science w ith its com plexities and specia­ lisations blurs the h u m an context. It is em bedded in h u m an n a tu re to believe in h az ard and in tu itio n , to deal w ith m ysteries which c a n n o t be solved and it is only a rt th a t can offer it. In The A ristos Fow les glorifies a r t and p re sen ts th e a rtis t as su p e rio r to a scientist. H ence th e tw o

1 John F ow les, The A ristos: A S elf-Portrait in Ideas (London: Pan B ook s in association with Jonathan Cape, 1993), p. 189.

ch a rac te rs in The Collector2 c a n n o t un derstan d each o th e r as M ira n d a revels in art w ith o u t explaining it an d Clegg follows only objective scientific know ledge. She tries to draw him into the w orld o f a rt b u t she fails in the sam e way as the n a rra to r o f “ P o o r K o k o ” - the th ird sto ry in The

E bony Tow er3 collection. Inability to com m un icate th ro u g h a rt leads to

conflict and disaster which in The Collector is M ira n d a ’s d e a th and in “ P o o r K o k o ” is a cruel act o f biblioclasm - destro ying the w riter’s life w ork. The M a g u s4 throw s a different light on the relation o f art an d life, it p resents A risto te lia n co n c ep t o f m im esis reversed. In the novel life im itates th eatre w hose actors are real people and a d irecto r - an unk no w n m a n ip u la to r playing god. T h e m aster-player C onchis m ak es it im possible fo r his p u p p et N icholas to establish coh eren t unities o f reality an d unreality. Likewise it is n o t easy to distinguish betw een reality and fiction in the sh o rt-sto ry “T h e E n ig m a.” H aving defied the rules o f the detective story and com m on sense the a u th o r lets his ch aracter w alk o u t on the re ad er and he m akes life and a rt overlap. T h e sam e h app en s in The French

L ie u te n a n t’s W om an5 where the p artic ip a tio n o f the reader in the lives o f

the n o v el’s heroes m akes the novel a living w ork o f art.

H ow in tricate a problem a rt in F ow les’s fiction is can be seen in “T h e E bony 7 ow er — the title story o f the collection. A rt ap p ears here on m any levels. M o st obviously the sto ry ’s characters are artists, nam ely p ain ters w hose lives and careers are focused on p ainting, organising exhibitions, teaching A cadem y students and w riting critical reviews o f o th e rs’ w orks. It is n o t only W illiam s and Breasley, the m ain heroes, w ho are p ain ters in the story, bu t there are som e w om en w ho share the sam e profession as well, nam ely D ian a , one o f the girls in the m a n o r and W illiam s’s wife. C o nsequen tly there is som e ro o m fo r co m parison o f attitu d e s and styles. J o h n Fow les, how ever, does n o t only use ap pro ach es to a rt as a m ean s o f co n stru c tin g his ch aracters, he uses artistic m etap h o rs and im ages to create the w orld o f the story. T h e world presented in “P o o r K o k o ” is verbalised, it is enclosed in language devices, the n a rra to r uses epigraph s, m e ta p h o rs, similes as he him self is a m an w ho lives “ by b o o k s” , earn s his living using a w ritten w ord. Q uite differently, the w orld o f “T h e E bony T o w e r” is visualised, the scenes o f the story rem ain in p arallel w ith the pictures in Breasley s studio. 1 he p a in te r w orks on the m edieval series and

2 John F ow les, The Collector (London: Pan Books in association with Jonathan Cape 1986), p. 75.

3 John Fow les, The Ebony Tower (London: Pan B ook s in association with Jonathan Cape, 1986). A ll references in the text are to this edition.

4 John Fow les, The M agus (London: Pan B ooks in association with Jonathan Cape, 1987). s John F ow les, The French L ieu tenan t’s Woman (London: Pan B ooks in association with Jonathan Cape, 1978).

the w hole m a n o r has the air o f m edieval B rittany; he p ain ts a forest with a clearing and this becom es sym bolic for W illiam s’s transg ression into a new state o f aw areness. T h e scenes o f the story arran g e them selves into fam ous paintings, like the one when the host takes his co m p an io n for a picnic, becom es sim ilar to Dejeuner sur I ’herbe. T h is device is repeated a couple o f tim es in the story w hen W illiam s feels he has alread y seen these things before. 'Thirdly, and m ost im p o rtan tly the story is a d eb a te on w hat a rt really is and w hat the key to full u n d ersta n d in g o f it is. “T h e E bony T o w e r” is an a tte m p t a t answ ering the question w hether life and a rt are interconnected o r if they have no relation a t all.

“T h e E b ony T o w e r” is a record o f a m eeting o f tw o artists. T h e very fram e o f the situation is very sim ple, to o simple, one m ig h t say, fo r so perverse a w riter as J o h n Fowles. O ne o f them is old and co n v en tio n al in his a rt, the o th er is young and keen on ab stra ct style. T hey m eet, they talk, they disagree, after a couple o f days they p a rt an d on the surface n o th in g happens. T h e change takes place in th e m ind o f one o f th em and th e en c o u n te r m akes his credo sh attere d in the end. T h e n a rra to r p rep ares the re ad er for a conflict draw in g carefully the b ac k g ro u n d o f the tw o m en, presenting their different attitu d es to life and referring to th eir biographies. W hen the young a rtist D avid W illiam s arrives at H enry B reasley’s house, everything there seems m ysterious and builds up atm o sp h ere o f th e enigm a. T o his surprise he finds an im pressive collection o f fam ous paintings. T here is a D erain , th ree P erm eke draw ings, the E n so r and th e M arq u et, an early B o n n a rd , a Jaw le n sk y , a D u fy , an early M atisse. W h en W illiam s is w atching the collection o f the hall, the ow ner ap p ears “ as if to solve the en ig m a” bu t n o t by m eans o f his w ords but by m eans o f his behaviour. H e is an old E nglishm an living ab ro ad w ho sneers a t everything th a t is E nglish, w ho shares his house with tw o tw enty-year-old girls, he p ro b a b ly has sex w ith them , allow s them to lie naked o utside and encou rag es W illiam s to swim w ith them with n o th in g on. L ate r on W illiam s finds o u t th a t Breasley actually proposed to one o f the girls and , in fact, does n o t pretend he would m ind D a v id ’s going to bed w ith her. T h e y oung p ain ter is shocked as m u ch as he is surprised by the way his in terlo cu to r talk s a b o u t art. T h e old m a n ’s language is sim ple and rude, it resem bles the old slang and is strikingly vulgar in com p ariso n w ith the y o un g m a n ’s cultivated expressions like: “ arricio ” , “ in to n a c o ” , “ sinopie” . “ I ’m n o t a scholar, d ear bo y ” (25) — the old m a n says. D avid perceives the old m a n ’s lang uag e and b e h a v io u r as te rrib ly cru d e, they seem to be all “ o u t-o f-d a te B ritish upper-class m an n erism s” (26). B reasley’s studio is also n o t as it should be, in D a v id ’s o pinion, it is littered w ith sketches and papers, it is in a terrible mess. T h e stu d io looks m u ch different from the stu d io D avid enters later w here D ia n a w orks. T his, in c o n tra st, is m eticulously clean an d tidy. T h e

m ess in B reasley’s studio rem ains in parallel w ith th e ap p a re n t m ess in his life. It disgusts D avid, altogether, everything in H enry lacks h arm o n y and o rd e r, he seems to defy any conventions in life. T h e y o un g p a in te r is shocked as long as he does not see B reaslcy’s p ain tin g in the studio. T h e p a in tin g springs from a very obscu re recollection o f early ch ild h o o d - a desire o f a child to tak e pleasure in being at a fair. Suddenly D avid sees som ething m uch m o re elab o rate and sophisticated th a n he expected. It is as if a vulgar literalness o f th e way the old m an spoke was slowly replaced with refinem ent. T hen David says to himself: “ too great a dissonance betw een the m a n and his a r t” (34). H is pictures are all p rod uced w ith a m ix tu re o f being hum ble and being assertive. D avid suspects he is stan d in g in fro n t o f “ a p aper tig er,” w ho w ants to shock people using the ridiculo usly old-fash io n ed n o tio n s o f m a k in g them d isg usted . H e was playing “m a ta d o r to a blind b u ll” (32) and only a fool can be cheated by his life-style. It becom es clear th a t B reasley’s ignorance o f tech niq ues o f pain tin g is faked, he know s them very well and uses w ith great dexterity.

A lth o u g h the reason for the m eeting is collecting m aterials for the book o n Breasley, W illiam s selfishly directs discussion to w ard s his ow n painting. H e feels a desire to be recognised as an artist. T h e qu estio n com es up at last: “ F o o tste p s o f P y th ag o ras, th a t rig ht?” (41) It co n tain s B reasley’s a ttitu d e to w ard s ab stra ctio n and starts a direct c o n fro n ta tio n . In stead o f the w ord “ ab stra cts” H enry says “ o b stru cts” , uses expressions like “ synthetic cubist non sen se.” F o r him ab stra ctio n has becom e a m eaningless term , it is “th e greatest betrayal in the history o f art. T he triu m p h o f the bloody e u n u c h ” (45). A b stractio n m ean s a rt castrated . W h at is significant, the sam e m e ta p h o r o f ca stratio n is repeated at the end o f the story, but then D avid uses it in relatio n to himself. F ull ab stra c tio n is a fo rm o f escape from being h u m an and social responsibility, ab stractio n ists q u a rre l a b o u t the theories and they are afraid o f w hat is closest to them - h u m an body. H en ry calls them destroyers, accuses them o f selling art o u t. H e tends to be vulgar a b o u t it because he does n o t w ant to to lera te w hat he hates. T o le ra tio n for H enry m eans sitting on an English fence - on e leg on the one side and one on the other. T his is an o th e r slap on the cheek of E n g lan d . H e says: “ A rt is a form o f speech. Speech m u st be based on h u m an needs, n o t ab stra ct theories o f gram m ar. O r an y th in g but the spoken w ord. T h e real w o rd ” (49). D epriving a rt o f h u m a n fact will lead to d estru c tio n like depriving politics o f h u m an fact led to fascism . “ B loody g eom etry ” in a rt does n o t give people freedom , w ith its rig h t angles and bold lines it builds enclosures fo r people, lim its their th o u g h ts and sensitivity. “ F o o tste p s o f P y th a g o ras” are closer to science th a n a rt and a r t should have a su p erio r position in th e w orld. D avid q u arrels w ith H enry. In his o p in io n , p hilosop hy needs logic and so art needs its fu n d a m e n tals, needs

the verbal texture to explain. A rt is n o t only a pain ting , a scu lp tu re or a piece o f m usic - art is also an artistic m anifesto, a creed o f an artist. In a pain tin g m an can express everything he can th in k a b o u t an d th a t is the freedom offered by ab stractio n .

T h e tw o artists in the story differ no t only in th eir com plexity o f techniques, they also differ in their m eans o f expression. Like S alv ado r D ali, Breasley says th a t painters should n o t talk, they should p ain t. G o o d painters m ust be intelligent bu t their intelligence m u st be given vent to in painting, n o t w ords. Breasley him self feels an alm ost to ta l in adeq uacy with w ords - w hen he tells the story o f Eliduc he m akes a farce o f it. D avid gets annoy ed easily at the old m a n ’s m isuse o f w ords. T h e gap betw een the ability to express in w ords and in painting is en o rm o u s. T h e pictures “ predicated a sensitive and com plex m an; and alm ost everything o u tw ard in him denied it” (58). W h at H enry lacks is w ords, b u t w hat he ab o u n d s w ith is a kind o f m agic.

H enry B rcasley’s attitu d e to m o d ern a rt is visualised by th e sym bol o f the E b o n y T ow er w hich is the Ivory T ow er co rru p ted . T h e Ivo ry T o w er has often been used in culture as a m e ta p h o r o f artistic iso lation - a place o f a recluse who p onders o n higher things, rem ote from the d o w n -to -earth existence. T h e artist o f the Ivory T ow er does n o t have m u ch in co m m o n w ith everyday problem s o f life; in fact, he does n o t k now life. Ivory is a sym bol o f virtue, virginity and innocence. Such is a rt adv ocated by the ro m an tic artists: pure, innocent, sublim e, yet d ista n t from life. M a n creatin g in isolation c a n n o t be a tru e artist, as he does n o t u n d ersta n d th e core oi hum anity. T h e E b o n y T ow er is soiled and co n tam in ated , it is n either aesthetically beautiful n o r filled with h u m an th o u g h t. B oth tow ers are entirely self-purposive and form a kind o f enclosure fo r m en. D avid lives in so hopeless an enclosure and the en co u n ter w ith Breasley is to m ak e him realise th a t. A n o th e r elem ent o f this m e ta p h o r which is very telling is the tow er. F ro m the tim es im m em orial, a tow er h as been a sym bol of asp ira tio n to heaven. All the vertical objects like trees, tow ers, ro o d s have been considered to be axis m undi, elem ents connecting heaven an d earth . “ P resu m p tu o u s people used to build tow ers to reach G o d , th e exam ple o f which was the Babel T o w er w hose to p m ay reach u p to heav en .’ 6 In this respect th e a rtist in F ow les’s story aspires to be th e G o d o f creatio n , a hom o creator “ p laying p u p p et-m aster to their c re a tio n ’ 7 M o n o th eistic cultures accept only one G o d o f C rea tio n and th u s the m eeting o f tw o F ow lesian artists inevitably leads to a conflict.

6 G enesis 11.4.

1 John F ow les, ‘Forew ord’, in: The Timescapes o f John Fowles by H . W. Fawkner (London: A ssociated U niversity Presses, 1984), p. 10.

T h e m eeting takes place in B rittany which is the source o f all m edieval tales, and A rth u ria n spirit still inhabits the forest o f C oet. T h e old m an is fascinated w ith A rth u ria n legends and m orality o f the people o f the p ast ages. N o t only d o his paintings reveal traces o f this fascinatio n b u t so does the sto ry o f E liduc he tells at on p o in t as well. Significantly, all m edieval legends used a m o tif o f forest as a place w here wild and n atu ral d o m in ate over w hat was civilised an d cultivated. In th e legend o f Sir G a w ain unkn ow n pow ers are visualised by trees an d stand in c o n tra st to the hom eliness o f the court, yet it is m a n ’s fate to travel th ro u g h the un k n o w n . In the R enaissance the m o tif o f forest was also used to describe a dw elling place o f spirits w ho cast spells on people ( The M idsum m er

N ig h t’s Dream ) and as a m irro r in which m an can see his n a tu ra l self {Faerie Queene). I f one does n o t get lost in th e forest he is allow ed to

reach the clearing - the core o f the forest. T his is the jo u rn e y W illiam s has to m ake. A t the beginning he sees the gate with the sig n b o ard nailed to it: “ Strictly no visitors except by p rio r arran g e m e n t” (10) and he realises he is one o f the few to get there. T he w arning soun ds alm ost like a notice ab o v e the gates o f Hell in D a n te ’s Divine C om edy (“ All h ope a b a n d o n ye w ho en ter h ere”).8 Like D a n te with Virgil and B eatrice step into the d ark n ess o f Hell, D avid enters th e prop erty and w alks bravely am o n g huge oaks and beeches. T h e m a n o r is islanded and stands in a clearing an d for W illiam s to get there m eans to be initiated into a new self:

T o som eone like D avid, always inclined to see his own life (like his painting) in terms o f logical process, its future advances dependent on intelligent present choices, it seemed n ot quite fair. O f course one knew that the way to the peak was never by the book, that hazard and all the rest m ust play its part, just an action and aleatory painting formed an at least theoretically im portant sector in the m odem art spectrum. (56)

W illiam s w ho has so far been so ra tio n a l and reaso n ab le learns how to perceive the m ysterious and u n d ersta n d s how in tu itio n and h az ard m ay becom e superior to the b o o k know ledge. H e im agines “ a sm irking old saty r in carpet-slippers, delightedly d am nin g all com m on sense an d c a lc u la tio n ” (56) - a sym bol o f som e su perior pow er behind logic. It is easy to find a trace o f the idea o f m a n ip u la tio n w hich is ever-present in The M agus. N o m a tte r w hether it is a personified god o r a m agus, he sneers at people and their helplessness in their earthy endeavour.

D avid feels infatu ated by D ian a , one o f the tw o girls living at C oet. H e is fascinated by her w om an h o o d and th e artistic charm she em anates. Being u n d er the spell o f m edieval B rittany he feels like a k n ig h t in fro n t o f his dam sel and at the sam e tim e he w ants her in physical sense. W hen

8 D an te Alighieri, The Vision; the H ell, Purgatory and Paradise (London: Frederick W am e and C o., 1890), trans. R ev. H . F. Cary, A . M.

the m u tu a l feeling requires him to forget ab o u t his m arria g e, he hesitates and escapes from the m oo n lit garden. H aving realised his m ista k e he re tu rn s to D ia n a ’s bedroom only to find the locked d o o r. It is to o late, the act o f escape has already been com m itted and W illiam s rem ains faithful “ by the benefit o f a turned key” (108). Technically he stays in n o cen t bu t this innocence becom es his failure. W ithdraw al from his real em o tio ns and desires into the safety o f his m arriag e m eans op tin g for m ediocrity. H e com pares him self to Breasley and realises th a t the old m a n lives m u ch m o re bravely an d thus his experience is m uch broad er. A s a result his a rt is filled with h u m an context, it is a p ro d u c t o f a h u m an being w ho is n o t afraid o f experience. T h e old m a n has u n d ersto o d the im p o rtan ce o f sin as a necessary co m p o n en t o f life, an act o f bravery an d im aginatio n. M an sins o u t o f n atu re , likewise m an runs risks o u t o f n atu re . W illiam s’s art is u p ro o ted from life as his perception o f life is lim ited. H e lo ok s only for w hat is sublim e and high and he loses co n tac t with w h at is real. His d ed ica tio n to ab stra ctio n , to avant-garde, to po p a rt is a sym ptom o f “ rootlessness, o rb itin g in frozen o u ter space” (110), it im prisons him in the ebony tow er. H e is lost in th eo retical assum ptions and a variety o f technical devices in w hich he escapes.

All his life W illiam s sheltered behind the n o tio n s o f co n tem p o rary a rt and its form and renounced “ an um bilical cord to the p a s t” (109) as a sign o f regression. T h e sad conclusion a t the end o f th e story explains the m ean in g o f the m e ta p h o r o f the ebony tower:

D avid and his generation, and all those to com e, could only look back, through bars like caged anim als, born in captivity, at the old great freedom . T hat described exactly the experience o f those last tw o days: the laboratory m onkey allowed a glim pse o f his lost true self. One was misled by excess in vogue, the officially blessed indiscipline, the surface liberties o f contemporary art; which all sprang from a profound frustration, a buried but n o t yet quite extinguished awareness o f non-freedom . (109)

W illiam s does n o t w ant his life to be reflected in w hat he p ain ts because his life is so com prom ised and uninteresting, the hollow reality m u st be hidden und er craftsm an sh ip and theoretical ideas. H av in g lived a riskless life, on the way hom e W illiam s ru n s a risk o f driving to o fast. H e has been challenged and has n o t faced the challenge d u e to the tear oi h az ard . T h e p u n on the w o rd “ M u se” suggests th a t D ia n a is a M use w hom he has rejected, hence he has rejected the G re at A rt. H is life is do o m ed to be dull, enlightened only w ith the illusion o f excellent techn iqu e an d good taste. H e is enclosed in b o o k know ledge, he pain ts for theories n o t people, n o t even fo r him self. A rt is an institu tion for W illiam s, it is full oi w ords which are as banal as his life. Initially disgusted w ith B reasley’s inad eq u acy w ith w ords he later feels unable to w rite and speak ab o u t a rt, perceives

w ords as full o f pretence and banality. As a p ain ter he chose p ain tin g for his m edium o f com m u n icatio n and his tragedy is th a t he has n o th in g to com m unicate. Breasley lives bravely and enjoys life, his existence is intensive and filled w ith m eaning, so is his art. T h e lesson the y oung p ain ter is ta u g h t is th a t one ca n n o t refuse “ a chance o f a new existence” (112) which he has ju st done, and o p t for being a decent m a n in all situ atio n s. “ A rt is fu n d am en tally am o ra l” (112) - he states in th e end as an echo o f O scar W ilde’s: “T h ere is n o such thing as a m oral o r an im m oral b o o k . B ooks are well w ritten, o r badly w ritten. T h a t is all.” 9

A t one p o in t in the sto ry D ia n a says th a t w hat she learn s a t C o et is how to live n o t how to p ain t and this is exactly w hat W illiam s feels, how ever, his situ atio n is tragic ra th e r th a n optim istic. H e feels ca strated , deprived o f its prim al naivete, as his life will n o t change a t all, it will stay du ll as it has been so far, the only difference being his realisatio n o f how m o re m eaningful it could be, h ad it n o t been fo r his fatal indecision. T o som e extent he rem inds P la to n ic m an in the cave w ho has seen th e light and c a n n o t com e to term s w ith the necessity to look a t its reflection.

U nderlying all this there stood the knowledge that he would not change; he would go o n painting as before, he would forget this day, he would find reasons to interpret everything differently, as a transient losing his head, a self-indulgent folly. A scab would grow over it, then fall away, and the skin would be as if there had never been a wound. H e w as crippled by com m on sense, he had n o ultim ate b elief in chance and its exploitation, the m issed opportunity w ould becom e the finally sensible decision , the decent thing; the flam e o f deep fire that had singed him a dream, a m om ent’s illusion; her reality just one m ore unpursued idea kept am ong old sketchbooks at the back o f the stu dio cupboard. (112)

H a v in g experienced the spirit o f m edieval B rittany W illiam s sees his failure “ b o th in co n tem p o rary and m edieval sense” (107). T h e story o f E liduc becom es the source o f the m o o d in the final p h ase o f th e yo ung m a n ’s experience. Eliduc is a knig h t w ho travels from B rittan y to E ngland leaving his faithful wife behind. In E ngland, how ever, he falls in love with a princess, a d a u g h te r o f an English king w ho does n o t know ab o u t his previous engagem ent. H e takes her to B rittany an d on the way hom e reveals the tru th to her. O n h earin g th a t she falls as if dead an d is tak en to an old chapel w here her beloved visits her every day. W hen his wife learns ab o u t his m isery she decides to revive th e girl. She sees a weasel reviving a n o th e r one by placing a red flow er in its m o u th and tries this w ith th e girl. She succeeds an d lets his h u sb and live w ith th e girl. U nlike E liduc, W illiam s opts o u t o f passio n ate love w ith th e y o un g girl an d re tu rn s

9 Oscar W ilde, The Com plete Illustrated Stories, P la ys and Poem s (London: Chancellor Press, 1995) p. 3.

to the life which is “ settled-for-thc-safc” (109). T h e story explains his failure in the m edieval aspect, his refusal o f the challenge m ak es him d eno un ce real passions and em otions.

T h e great a rt is the expression o f the very essence o f life, it speaks m o re a b o u t the a rtis t’s self th an his w ords. I t is n o t only the sublim e th a t provides m ateria l for the m asterpiece, n o r is it only th e m o d est, bu t the low and n asty as well. M iran d a , a n o th e r Fow lesian ch a rac te r, defines it in

The Collector saying:

Every great thing in the history o f art and every beautiful thing in life is actually what you call nasty or has been caused by feelings that you would call nasty . . . By passion, by love, by hatred, by truth . . .

A n artist deprived o f rich h u m an experience w ho escapes from reality o f life an d existence in to the w orld o f a rt will never be able to create a m asterpiece. A rt does n o t exist in a vacuum , it is m u tu ally inclusive with life. N eith er does it play a com plem entary p a rt n o r is it less real th a n life. T o som e extent life an d a rt having an equal statu s m irro r one a n o th e r so narrow -m ind edness in life leads to m ediocrity in art. “ T h e E bo ny T o w e r” presents a lesser artist in a painful m o m en t o f realisatio n o f the tru th . T h e realisatio n is p artly due to the enco u n ter w ith a g reater artist an d p artly d u e to th e u n d erstan d in g o f the n a tu re o f life, u n fo rtu n a te ly it does n o t result in a d ra m a tic change o f attitu d e , it results in reconciliation with m ediocrity. O ne h as to live, to be able to create. A n im m oral art, how ever bad, also con stitu tes a p a rt o f experience and th u s enriches the a rtis t’s creatio n . In one o f the interview s Fow les tells a G re ek folk-legend in w hich a m aso n o f A rta h ad to build a bridge, bu t it always fell dow n. O ne d ay he realised th a t the bridge w ould stan d only if he buried his wife alive in the fo u n d a tio n s o f the bridge. So he did and it sto o d . T h e m a so n is p ro b a b ly a better artist, n o t necessarily a b etter person. L a te r o n F ow les adds: “ G o o d m o ral b eh aviour and good art have no re la tio n at a ll” 10 and this can be inferred from the story.

Departm ent o f English Literature and Culture U niversity o f Ł ódź

A gnieszka K siążek

S Z T U K A I Ż Y C IE W O P O W IA D A N IU H E B A N O W A W IEŻA J O H N A F O W L E S A

O pow iadania Johna Fow lesa ze zbioru H ebanowa wieża stanow ią ciekawy głos w dyskusji nad znaczeniem sztuki i jej relacji z życiem. U tw ór tytułow y jest zapisem spotkania dw óch artystów malarzy, diametralne różniących się od siebie stylem tw órczości i postaw ą życiową. Starszy z nich - żyjący pełnią życia, bulwersujący niejednokrotnie opinię publiczną swoim zachowaniem - opow iada się za konw cncjonalnością w sztuce, odrzuca abstrakcję, która, jego zdaniem , obca jest człow iekow i, gdyż go ogranicza. M łod ego malarza n atom iast cechuje konform izm , ciągła ucieczka przed ryzykiem i korzystaniem z radości życia. W ieża hebanow a jest sym bolem artystycznego odosobnienia, odrzucenia tego, co ludzkie w im ię dobrego smaku i w yrafinowania technik malarskich. Jest ona w spółczesną wersją wieży z kości słoniow ej, w której rom antycy upajali się sw oją sam otn ością. Spotkanie to u zm ysław ia m łodem u człow iekow i, że lęk przed życiem prowadzi do przeciętności w sztuce, że zam knięcie się na wszelkie przejawy człowieczeństwa musi skończyć się zubożeniem malarskiego wyrazu. D okonując wyboru m iędzy bezpieczeństwem stałego związku a uleganiem prawdziwym em ocjom i prag­ nieniom , m łody malarz skazuje się na przeciętność, zarów no w życiu, jak i w swej tw órczości. Kieruje się nakazami moralnym i, a nie własnym i uczuciami. Sztuka i życie pozostają bowiem w ścisłej zależności, co dzięki pobytow i w tajemniczej posiadłości uświadam ia sobie bohater opow iadania.