A C T A U N I V E R S I T A T I S L 0 D Z 1 E N S 1 S FO LIA LITTERAR1A A N G LICA 6, 2003
M aria Edelson
T H E S E C R E T G A R D E N O F M A RY AND C O L IN IN T H E C O M F O R T O F S T R A N G E R S BY IAN M C E W A N
The C om fort o f Strangers (1981) belongs, together with th e collection of sh o rt stories First Love, iMSt R ites (1975) and the novel The C em ent Garden (1978) to lan M cE w an ’s earlier prose which has established his re p u ta tio n as a controversial w riter on the one hand adm ired for his ability “ to point a sentence with enviable exactness” as well as his “ evocation o f atm o sp h ere” and, on the o ther han d , regarded to be “ a w riter o f a m aca b re and disturbing im ag inatio n” as A llan M assie describes h im .1
The C om fort o f Strangers is by no m eans an easily digestible pleasant novel and its au th o r does often m ake use o f drastic m atter, but it would be w rong, in m y opinion, to decree, as is done som etim es, th a t its chief purpose is to shock the reader. I shall argue in the present p ap e r th a t it has definite functions to perform which co n trib u te to the general effect and m eaning o f the book.
Its tw o m ain characters, M ary and C olin, whose long th ou gh not legalized relationship has lost som e o f its attractiveness, have com e to a foreign cou n try to spend together their holidays in an old seaside city and revitalize their feelings for each other. In the course o f their w anderings thro u g h the city, M ary and C olin get to know R o b ert w ho invites them to visit him and his wife C aroline at their villa.
M ary and C olin find the m arried couple slightly od d, m ysterious, and intriguing; R o b ert and C aroline seem to exert a stran ge influence o n them which m anifests itself in stim ulating their erotic im agination an d, indeed, revitalizing their relationship. N either th e discovery th a t R o b ert h as earlier w atched them and even taken pictures o f Colin from hiding n o r the gradual revealing o f the sado-m asochistic n atu re o f R o b ert and C aro lin e’s m arriag e
' Allan Massie, The Novel Today. A Critical Guide to the British Novel 1970-1989 (London, New York: Longman in association with The British Council, 1990), p. 49.
deters M ary and C olin from visiting th eir new ac qu aintances again ju st before their scheduled return to E ngland. As if h ypn otized , ignoring signals o f danger, M ary and C olin are draw n to the villa where the culm inating scene o f the novel takes place. R o b ert and C aroline, w ho seek in Colin a safe m eans o f satisfying th eir sexual fantasies w hich w ould no t en danger C aro lin e’s life or health, m u rd er him and, having fou nd their thrill in death and blood, ab a n d o n the body lying in fro n t o f M ary w ho has witnessed the scene unable to m ove or speak after having d ru n k drugged tea.
T h e crim inal perverts d isap pear from the villa and the city an d M ary has to stay on in the foreign place because o f the police investigation; she is in a state o f shock and it is very difficult to im agine her re tu rn to the everyday routin e o f her life in England.
T h e rem oteness o f the norm alcy o f everyday life has increased in the bo ok step by step, alm ost im perceptibly and parallelly to the escalatio n of the tension from an indeterm inate unease and anxiety to h o rro r, all in strict connection with the suggested (one is tem pted to say: insinuated) m eanings o f the book.
T h e very first pages o f The C om fort o f Strangers ab o u n d in am biguities, indeterm inacies, and obscurities. W hen, for instance, C olin an d M ary wake up in their hotel room , they hear street noises and voices w hich they ca n n o t un derstan d or identify, footsteps o f an u nk no w n person in the co rrid o r, the sound of a key unlocking a d o o r, and a m ale voice singing th e M ann unci Weib duet from The M agic Flute. Also later, d u ring th eir w andering th ro u g h the city, they perceive its reality as a series o f disconnected, fragm entary images which they ca n n o t con trol by placing in the context o f a fully m eaningful whole. A typical exam ple o f the situ atio n is provided by the follow ing description:
Inside the kiosk sat the vendor, barely visible through the tiny hatch, and in virtual darkness. It was possible to buy cigarettes here and not know w hether it was a m an or a woman who sold them. The customer saw only the native deep brow n eyes, a pale hand, and heard muttered thanks.2
Chiaroscuro, forcefully present in the novel, th e c o n tra st betw een dazzling light and deep shade, limits the ch a rac te rs’ perception so th a t they ca n n o t see people and places clearly as w hen they have problem s w ith d eterm ining w here exactly they are because “ W ith such stron g light directly in to their eyes, it was difficult to discern the p attern o f streets below an d gauge their position to the h o tel” (56). O n the level o f im plied m eanings, the c o n tra st betw een light and darkness helps to reduce the situ atio n o f M ary and Colin
2 la n McEwan, The Comfort o f Strangers (London: Pan Books in association with Jonathan Cape, 1982), p. 20. All quotations from the novel are from this edition.
to "‘the essential th in g s” o f hum an life p ointed to by the m o tto borrow ed from C esare Pavese.
T h e frequent use o f indefinite articles in the text, suggesting incom plete know ledge o f the su rro u n d in g s, reinforces th e effect o f th e d ra m a tic chiaroscuro which creates a “ patch w o rk o f light and sh ad e” (47) ju x tap o sin g various elem ents o f w hat is seen bu t n o t fully recognized. M ary an d C o lin ’s observation s and im pressions evoked by street scenes, city architecture, and glimpses o f the sea and the sky resem ble the frag m en tary sn ap sh o ts taken by the crow ds o f tourists doing their sightseeing as well as R o b e rt’s p ho to s taken by R obert.
M ary and Colin are all the m ore disoriented since they have forg o tten to take their m ap s with them and this significant circum stance causes th a t, provided with no instructions, they soon get lost, literally and m etaphorically, in the labyrinth o f winding streets o f the city. T hey are also hungry, thirsty and tired.
If one takes in to consideration the fact th a t they are foreigners am ong people speaking a language different from theirs and th a t they experience sights, sounds and smells th a t con stitu te signs they find difficult to read, one m ay consider their situation quite realistic. H ow ever, their uncertainty, the sense o f being lost gradually introduces an atm o sph ere o f m enace, m ystery and the unreality o f a nightm are, which m akes som e critics o f M cE w an read the book in term s o f m agical realism . T h e effect o f d efam i liarisation is augm ented by the deliberate w ithholding o f certain in form ation. F o r exam ple, only C hristian nam es o f the m ain ch aracters, M ary and C olin, are given and the city they are in, its streets, squares and ancient m o n u m en ts rem ain unnam ed th ro u g h o u t the novel even th o u g h its internal evidence m akes it obvious th a t the locus in question is Venice.
It is com m on know ledge that, as R yszard M atuszew ski rem inds us, a literary convention which gives up literalism , consciously aim s at gene ralizations.3 T his certainly applies to The C om fort o f Strangers. T he very choice o f Venice for the setting o f the book alm ost au to m atically associates it with certain m eanings and atm osphere since, as is n o ted by scholars researching the subject, the city has become, especially in English literature, a sign o f deception, conspiracy, plotting, m ystery, eeriness and h o rro r. A ccording to B eata P iątek, the au th o r o f an essay in the b o o k on the co n tem p o rary B ritish novel, Współczesna powieść brytyjska. Szkice, those w ho have read H enry Jam es, E dg ar A llan P oe o r E. M . F o rs te r are well aw are o f the fact th a t the English tend to have m o st uncann y adventures when in Venice.4 One could add to the nam es m entioned by h er also those
3 See: Ryszard Matuszewski, Doświadczenia i m ity (Warszawa: PIW, 1964), p. 85.
1 See: Beata Piątek, “ ła n M cEw an” , in: Współczesna powieść brytyjska. S zkice, ed. Krystyna Stam irowska (Kraków: Universitas, 1997), p. 208.
o f e.g. Jean ette W interson w hose Venice in The Passion resem bles an “ invisible city” o f Italo C alvino and o f D a p h n e du M au rier w ho has chosen the place for the strange and thrilling events described in the story “ D o n ’t L ook N ow .”
T h e im age o f Venice as a d an gerous and co rru p t, albeit fascinating place linked with “ pestilent a r t,” owes a great deal to the influence o f Jo h n R uskin w ho glorified the M iddle Ages and denigrated the R enaissance with Venice as its stronghold. His vision expressed, first o f all, in The Stones o f Venice (1851-1853) bu t also in e.g. M odern Painters (1856) is interpreted by C harles T. D ougherty in the follow ing way:
T he greatness o f Venice was built upon a religion which was false. Venice made a garden of the sea, and she called upon the Angel of the sea to protect her. ( . . . ) Bui the religion o f the Venetians was false, the Angel of the Sea was really the Serpent of the Sea, and when the sea and the worm devoured their work the Venetians vanished as a rainbow .5
Venice is, then, a false hortus deliciarum - a false garden o f E den and the S erpent o f the Sea - L eviathan identified w ith evil an d, as N o rth o rp F rye stresses, with the fallen w orld.6 H u m an beings w ander in the d a rk w inding labyrinth o f the m o nster’s belly - the underw orld and the m aze o f m a n k in d ’s history o f m isery.
T he m o tif o f the false garden (visually present in The C om fort o f Strangers in the description o f the thick greenery o f suffocating smell grown by C aroline in pots on the balcony o f her villa) which is also a laby rinth m erges the idea o f jou rn ey w ith the quest o f false happiness consisting in satisfying hidden needs and desires. T h e strange m arried couple attra cts and fascinates M ary and C olin so m uch exactly because it stirs their instinctive drives and longings which are n o t clear to them selves. I hey w ander th ro u g h the labyrinthine com plexities o f their ow n sub-conscious existence, find the key to their ow n secret garden - a perverse hortus deliciarum and get an inkling of the tru th ab o u t them selves as well as the h u m an co ndition in general. T hey are like their nam esakes in The Secret Garden (1909) by Frances Eliza H odgson B urnett, w ho, w hen th e girl heroine finds the way and the key, get to know w hat is hidden and inaccessible to others. H ow ever, the insight into tru e h u m an n atu re gained by M cE w an ’s characters brings abo u t, as was the case w ith A dam an d Eve in the garden o f E den, disaster.
5 Charles T. Dougherty, “ O f Ruskin’ s G ardens” in: M yth and Sym bol, ed. Bernie Slote, (Lincoln: University of N ebraska Press, 1973), p. 146.
6 See: N orthrop Frye, Anatom y o f Criticism. Four Essays (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1973), pp. 190-191.
T he connection between The C om fort o j Strangers and the biblical m otil o f loss o f innocence as well as stories o f children perceived as innocent, who find a secret place as in the novel by H odg son B urnett, w ander in d ark woods like H ansel and Gretel, or, like Alice, get lost in the nightm arish W o n d e rlan d , does n o t a p p e a r alto g eth er accidental since the sto ry of M cE w an’s M ary and Colin is ab o u t w andering, being lost, experiencing h o rro rs and a b o u t loss o f innocence. Besides, C olin and M ary resem ble som e o f M cE w an’s children characters in his o th er w orks, w ho ap p e ar to have the paradoxical innocence o f those following n atu ra l drives w ithout being aw are o f their m oral im plications; since M cE w an, unlike R ousseau and m ore in keeping with de S ade’s views, envisions h u m an n atu re as controlled by d a rk forces, their “ innocence” is tainted.
T he jo u rn ey m o tif has a fu ndam en tal im portan ce in The C om fort o f Strangers and this is signaled at the very start bo th by the m o tto and the title o f the novel. T he m o tto draw s read ers’ atten tio n to the b ru tality of traveling, loss o f “ all th at fam iliar com fort o f hom e and frien ds,” while the title suggests perfidiously th a t the co m io rt can be given by strangers. A nd, indeed, it is given to M ary and C olin, bu t it tu rn s o u t to be very different from th a t of hom e and friends.
If hom e and E ngland m ean ro u tin e b ehavior and con ven tio nal in te rp e r sonal relations, C olin and M a ry ’s going to an o th er co u n try denotes a change tow ards a different state o f their m inds which enables them to see them selves and the w orld in a new light. 1 he jo u rn ey they u n d ertak e is, like m any o th er literary jo u rn ey s charged with sym bolical im plications, an exp lo ration o f the self.
T he tru th discovered by the tw o characters, and especially M ary , in the course o f the exploration is realized on several levels o f m eaning. In term s o f surface literal ascertainm ents, it is the tru th concerning the crim inally perverse passions o f R o b ert and C aroline. On a m o re general level, the book deals with differences between the n atures o f m en and w om en and the com plex relations betw een them . M cE w an’s critics dealing w ith this problem som etim es em phasize the feminist aspect present in the p o rtra y al o f R obert; it m ust be stressed, however, th a t this feminism has n o th in g to d o with straightforw ard pro p ag an d ist m eth o d s and th a t, in fact, am biguity which characterizes M cE w an’s app ro ach renders the fem inist overtones som ew hat uncertain.
His upbringing in a family dom inated by an a u th o rita ria n father, with a sym pathetic and protective m o th er and am ong sisters whom he adm ired, feared and hated, m ust have had an influence on R o b ert s a ttitu d e to m en and wom en. R o b e rt’s wife, C aroline, is som ew hat older th a n her h u sb and and as a girl she was tau g h t devotion to m ale au th o rity ; she has certain features of R o b e rt’s m oth er (which is suggested by the concu rren ce o f the
im age o f the m o th er as a beautiful w om an in w hite and the clothes o f C aro line preparing for the bloody scene when she says: “ .. .with so m any things to arrange, I feel m o re efficient in w hite.” (105), bu t R o b ert sees in her also his sisters whom he wished to punish for th eir wilfulness and rebellion against his godlike father as he wishes to punish all wom en rejecting th eir trad itio n al roles and subm issive attitu des. A t the sam e tim e R o b ert feels contem pt for co ntem po rary m en whom he regards as effem inate w eaklings very different from his ow n fath er and g ra n d fath er in w hose tim es, he m ain tain s, “T here was no co nfu sio n ” (72) while
‘Now men doubt themselves, they hate themselves, even more than they hate each other. Women treat men like children, because they can’t take them seriously.’ . . . ‘But they love men. W hatever they might say they believe, women love aggression and strength and pow er in men. . . . N ow the women lie to themselves and there is confusion and unhappiness everywhere.’ (72-73)
M ary an d C olin are to R o b ert typical representatives o f such attitudes. C ertain features o f C olin’s personality and the delicate beauty o f his physical ap pearance betray, in the eyes o f R o b ert, a deficiency o f m ale character. M ary, on the o th er h an d , is no t fem inine enough: she has a professional career, takes interest in public life, is in dep end en t and active. T h e fact th a t she, like m any o th er w om en, has tak en over som e tra d itio n a lly m ale roles is em blem atically rep resen ted by h e r w o rk in a th eatrical com pany consisting o f w om en only and playing m e n ’s roles in H am let.
R obert is m otivated by com plex feelings then. T his super-m acho worships m aleness and is attracted by the fem inine in C olin (hence suggestions of the hom osexual strain in his attitu d e), he w ants to kill the w om an in Colin and the m an he despises as well as, vicariously, C aroline. He also wishes to punish him self for breaking his fa th e r’s rule w hen a child and for failing to becom e a father him self and so, he does n o t try very hard to avoid being arrested after the crime.
C aroline, to whom love m eans th a t “ . . . y o u ’d do an ythin g for the o th er person. . . . A nd y o u ’d let them do anything to y o u ” (63) seems to identify w ith the victim (she sm ears her own blood o n the lips o f C olin, which are th en kissed by R obert), but, at the same tim e, in union w ith R o b ert, she revels in her pow er over the young m an . M ary has been allotted th e role o f a passive witness; she, to o , is a victim o f violence, b u t th e scene of m u rd er is a kind o f fulfillm ent o f her earlier sexual fantasy in w hich C olin had no legs and arm s and was a kind o f sexual object, som etim es lent to her friends and this fact will m ak e her d o u b t her own innocence. Even Colin, w ho appears to be quite a rational and responsible person, experiences secret sem i-conscious tem ptations and a desire to answer the call o f darkness:
A narrow commercial street . . . vanished enticingly into shadow. It asked to be explored, but explored alone w ithout consultations with, or obligations tow ards, a com panion. To step down there now as if completely free, to be released from the arduous states ol play of psychological condition, to have leisure to be open and attentive to perception, to the world whose breathtaking, incessant cascade against the senses was so easily and habitually ignored, dinned out, in the interests of unexamined ideals ol personal responsibility, efficiency, citizenship, to step down there now, just walk away, melt into the shadow, would be so very easy. (104-105)
T h e tem p tatio n to reject obligations tow ards others m ay be interpreted as a wish for the d eath of his social identity and yielding to instinctive desires. C olin ap p ears to be only partially aw are o f w hat his h idden needs are, bu t the w ords o f C aroline addressed to him: “ M ary understan ds. I’ve explained everything to her. Secretly, I think you un derstan d to o ” (119) suggest th at, even if he does n o t nam e it, he know s th e n a tu re o f the im pulse which has bro u g h t him to the villa.
T h e cultural-social factors which have shaped the civilized personalities o f C olin and M ary, have given them sim ilar ways o f thinking, behaving and even sim ilar appearance: they are “ B oth so finely built, alm ost like tw ins” (67). H ow ever, the separation from the fam iliar m akes them look at the w orld from an unaccustom ed angle and it reveals deep differences between the “tw o w orlds” o f “ the d au ghters and the m o th ers in the kingdom of the so n s” m entioned in the b o o k ’s o th er m o tto (Irom A drienne R ich).T he relations betw een m en and wom en function in The C om fort o f Strangers on two antagonistic planes: o f socially controlled b ehavio r and o f instincts and so they are subject to co n trad icto ry im pulses o f a ttra ctio n ( h p j i d hostility, passive subm ission and aggressive do m inance, sacrifice and • violence no t always ascribed to one sex only, which creates ties between ^ ^ T ian and w om an th a t resem ble a m o rtal em brace. In this situ atio n , the ^ “ Tme from The M agic Flute often heard by M ary an d Colin: “ M an n und ^ ^ W e i b , und W eib und M ann, T ogether m ak e a godly s p a n ” (13) sounds like an ironic refrain-com m ent on M cE w an’s story ab o u t tw o couples. T he discovery o f the hidden n atu re o f the ties between m an and w om an m akes M ary d o u b t the possibility o f harm ony and full u nderstan d in g betw een the tw o sexes, because “ the im agination, the sexual im agin atio n, m e n ’s ancient dream s o f hurting, and w om en’s o f being h u rt, em bodied and declared a pow erful single organizing principle, which d isto rted all relatio ns, all tr u th ” (124). If this is also M cE w an’s view o f the p roblem , it does not necessarily single him ou t as an exceptional pessim ist, because sim ilar views, alth o u g h m ore cautiously expressed, are to be found am o n g psychologists. F o r exam ple, in the papers o f som e o f the p articip an ts o f the conference7
7 Conference proceedings: Przemoc dzieci i młodzieży w perspektywie polskiej transformacji ustrojowej, eds Jan Papież, Andrzej Plukisa (Toruń: W ydawnictwo A dam M arszalek, 1998).
on violence am ong children and youth, differences betw een m ale and fem ale b ehavior are ascribed to socializing influences (girls arc prepared by their upbringing for the dom inance and even violence o f m en) an d , at other tim es, when “ the hidden aspects o f hum an n a tu re ” are considered, it is suggested th a t aggression and violence could be viewed as, ju st like pow er and fighting, a kind o f aphrodisiac for men."
T h e problem of relations between m en and w om en in the novel by M cE w an is p art o f an even m o re general question and leads the n arrativ e to a higher level o f generalizations concerning creative and destructive hu m an im pulses and the bond between life and death.
T h e d a rk forces ruling hu m an life in The C om fort o f Strangers seem to have m uch in com m on, in spite o f their stronger link with sexuality, with the concept o f evil in e.g. W illiam G o ld in g ’s w ork o r, m ore obviously, with the “ w ilderness” , darkn ess and chaos in Jo seph C o n rad ; the journ ey o f C olin and M ary from E ngland to a foreign city and then th ro u g h its lab y rin th o f streets to the place o f ultim ate h o rro r is also a kind o f jou rn ey to th e h ea rt o f dark n ess. H ow ever, Ia n M cE w an , unlike C o n ra d or G olding, expresses m eaning by m aking use o f devices ch aracteristic of literatu re associated with the G o th ic trad itio n such as extrem e cruelty, crim e, h o rro r, suspense and m ystery. These devices are no d o u b t m e a n t to strongly im press the re ad er’s im agination, b u t they also place the novel in the category o f the sublime which cannot but affect the m eaning o f the novel.
T h e sublim e tends to be u nderstood today as lofty feelings.9 H a rry Saw, for exam ple, defines “ sublim ity” in his Dictionary o f L iterary Term s as “ N obility, impressiveness, grandeur. Sublim ity refers to qualities in a literary w ork th a t tra n sp o rt a reader, carry him ou t o f him self, and set his th o u g h ts on a loftier plane.” 10 W hen we speak o f the sublim e in the G o th ic novel, how ever, we usually link it, as was done in the 18th century, w ith an aw e-inspiring effect which m akes ordinary people feel small and insignificant.
A significant influence on this aspect o f 18th century English aesthetics cam e from A Philosophical Inquiry into the Sublime and B eautiful (1756) by E dm un d Burke w ho argued th a t the sublim e, unlike the beau tiful, involves pain, to rm en t, and anguish. Im m anuel K a n t, w ho developed these ideas, also linked the sublim e with the presence o f a m ight perceived as an object o f fear. His concept o f the sublim e is a dynam ic category since it depends on the evoking in the m ind the o f notions such as e.g. “ in fin ity ” , which the im ag in atio n c a n n o t em brace. It is from K a n t th a t J e a n -F ra n c o is L y o ta rd ’s postm odernist interp retatio n o f the sublim e, the key concept in
8 See papers by Stanisław K awula and Kazimierz Pospiszyl in: Przemoc dzieci i młodzieży... 9 See: Bogdan Baran, Postmodernizm (Kraków: inter esse, 1992), p. 177.
10 H arry Shaw, Dictionary o f Literary Terms (New Y ork: M cG raw -H ill Book Company, 1972), p. 361.
his The Postmodern Condition, is derived. B oth K a n t and L y o tard stress the fact th a t it is im possible to represent sublim ity, which causes pain, but while K a n t opposes reaso n ’s notions to images, L yo trad sets reality against text, which represents it inadequately. L yotard in o u r ow n tim e and Burke and K a n t in the 18lh century give m uch atten tio n to the hiatus between the notion o f the sublime and the desire to co n tro l it w hich c a n n o t be fulfilled and so becom es a source o f fru stratio n and pain.
In The C om fort o f Strangers, the sublim e functions m o st directly in two aspects: the psychological m otivation o f characters, especially R o b ert, and in the re ad er’s reception o f the narrative. R o b ert s case can be interpreted in term s o f the “ biological sublim e” o f which concept E lan a G om el writes in her interesting article “ F rom Dr. M o reau to D r. M engele, I he Bio logical S ublim e” th at, draw ing on D arw inism , eugenics, and nazism , it has produced the ideology o f the New M an, w hose su p erh u m an perfection verges on the terrible. She points ou t th a t “T he sublim e m ay terrily, but one circum vents terro r by becom ing its source. 11 T his was the case w ith, for instance, the N azis, who identified w ith the sublim e (the New M an), them selves caused terro r and, in order to convince them selves th a t they were superm en, they needed “ the o th e r” : subm en-victim s they could to r ture, over whom they had absolute power. A s G o lan explains, In the ideology o f the New M an the sublim e o f violence functions as a tool reconstructing subjectivity.” 12
Sim ilar factors m otivate the behavior o f R o b ert, w ho w orships his fath er as if he had been a pow erful god, tries to im itate him and usurps the right to tu rn others into inferior subhum an beings w hom he m ay abuse and kill.
C aroline, his passive victim, is terrified and tran sp o rte d and she re presents the attitu d e o f the victim ’s love for the to rtu re r and , from the p oint o f view o f the sublime, she exemplifies the aesthetic of witnessing. D u rin g the act o f m u rd er also M ary is a witness; she is tem porarily paralyzed an d can n o t prevent w hat she is looking at, b u t afterw ards she feels vaguely guilty as if she had derived a certain pleasure from the scene.
As stated earlier, the im plications o f The C om fort oj Strangers are am biguous and complex: a victim can cause others suffer or, a t least, consent to pain. H ow ever, this is to be expected in a novel w hich deals w ith fusing opposites (represented by sad o -m aso ch istic re la tio n s) and uniting ecstasy w ith h o rro r o f the sublime. Such a co n tra d ictio n is to be
" Elana Gomel, “ From D r. M oreau to Dr. Menegele: The Biological Sublime” in: Poetics Today. International Journal fo r Theory and Analysis o f Literature and Communication 21/2 (Summer 2000): 105.
found in the situation o f R o b ert an d C aro lin e (indirectly, also o f M ary), who are greatly im pressed by the ex trao rd in ary beauty o f C o lin ’s body, w hich, how ever does n o t p revent them from m u rd e rin g him . O n the co n tra ry , ju s t because he is beautiful, he has been elected to be their victim . It seem s th a t the m u rd e r is for them an a tte m p t to possess them selves o f sublim e b ea u ty an d p erfectio n by d estro y in g it, which is an all to o fam iliar im pulse present in, for exam ple, the irresistible desire to leave fo o tp rin ts in a virgin field o f snow as if its pu rity were un b earab le. D e stru ctio n is th en , in a sense, an expression o f intense ra p tu re. A nd in view o f this parad o x , R o b ert an d C aro lin e’s love can be regarded as absolute love, because it accepts the possibility o f o n e ’s own as well as the o th e r’s d eath in the attem p t to reach the u n a tta in able. T his extrem e situ a tio n delineated by E ro s and T h a n a to s, tra n s gressing lim its o f hum anity terrifies M ary , bu t it is exactly because she and C olin sense its n ature th a t they are d raw n to R o b e rt and C aro lin e like m o th s to fire which will bu rn them . A nd the re a d e r’s fascination w ith the shocking story is n o t unlike this attitu d e o f C olin and espe cially M ary.
T he intensity o f feelings, the pow er o f inner drives and d ark forces hidden in hu m an natu re, which render people helpless, show n in The C om fort o f Strangers, confro n t the read er with the te rro r o f the sublim e th a t w orks like a spell. T he d ark forces are all the m o re d istu rb in g since they are n o t analyzed o r identified; they rem ain a m ystery. M o reo v er, the w riter gives us to u nderstand th a t these d a rk forces can in hab it an y o n e’s inner world.
U nlike the earlier, trad itio n al G othic novel, The C om fort o f Strangers does n o t represent evil as an external facto r m anifesting itself in the presence o f su p e rn a tu ra l pow ers, vam pires, gh osts, m o n ste rs o r d eg e n erate h u m an beings, b u t m ak es one view it as an in teg ra l p a rt o f hu m an n ature; hu m an beings do n o t ju st w ander in the lab y rin th of L ev ia th a n ’s belly - the secret false garden o f p arad ise - bu t carry it in them selves. Ian M cE w an’s tru th s ab o u t h u m an n a tu re are m uch m ore d istu rb in g th a n sexual excesses an d deviation s he o ften w rites a b o u t. T h e fact th a t it is those tru th s th a t m a tte r m o st in his w riting is co n firm ed by his novel B lack D ogs published in 1992: in it, th e w riter no longer resorts to very drastic m aterial, b u t still m akes dem o ns of violence central in his narrative and rem inds his readers th a t they have no t disappeared for ever w ith the wars they caused, b u t can still bring ab o u t disasters.
The C om fort o f Strangers is virtually overloaded w ith m eanings and they con stitu te a co nstruction which actually gives an allegorical character to the novel. It explains the som etim es criticized “ th eatricality ” o f M cE w an ’s
narrative and, in spite o f their com plex m otivations, in fact, fairly superficial p o rtra its o f characters. P ointing the finger o f scorn at these and other “ defects” o f his prose equals, in fact, com plaining ab o u t the n atu re o f allegory, which one m ay, o f course dislike, but one should n o t forget th a t it has its rules. Besides, the painfully strong effects created by the w riter are justified by the need to express his painful tru th s, w hich, ju st like allegory, one m ay no t fully accept, but they certainly c a n n o t be dismissed as a m ere m eans o f providing m orbidly exciting ho rro rs.
D epartm ent o f English L iterature and Culture U niversity o f Łódź
