Smells of the Wicked

7/27/2019 Smells of the Wicked

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Smells of Decay: Olfactory

imagery in Anthony Burgess'

Nothing Like the Sun

Despite the critical interest in the body, we remain firmly within the aesthetic which

we have inherited from the 19th century in which only two senses: vision and hearing are

thought to be worthy of consideration. In an attempt to address the neglect of the sense of

smell in current criticism, this paper elaborates on the olfactory landscapes of Anthony

Burgess Nothing Like the Sun. A large variety of unpleasant odours and delightful scents can

be observed throughout the novel. !mells play a significant role in conveying feelings,

emotions which are difficult to utter in the form of words, or memories which remain hidden

until their recollection is triggered by a specific scent. "he greatest master of narratives in the

beginning of the #$th century, namely %ames %oyce also ac&nowledged the uncontrollable

force and sweeping effect that senses may have both on his characters and his readers,

therefore he deployed a wide scale of imagery from auditory through gustatory to &inesthetic

and even organic imagery. 'ne of the common features of post()oycean writers is the

abundance of sensory images. *obert Adams as regards Burgess as one of the inheritors of

%oyces &een awareness of his surroundings and their effect on the individual, thus states that

+Burgess, li&e %oyce is delighted by the linguistic that form in the finding shadows of

unconsciousness -1/0.

An essay written by Danuta )ellestad on the aesthetics of smell in regard to

postmodern fiction called my attention to the fact that the olfactory features of Burgess

Nothing like the Sunis a less e2amined dimension by literary scholars. !trongly relying on


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3ans %. *indisbachers The Smell of Books: Ac Cultural-Historical study of Olfactory

Percetion in Literature -199#0, )ellestad outlines the marginal status olfactory had in

philosophical discourses throughout the past. 3er discussion sets out from 4ants strong

dismissal of the sense of smell: 5It does not pay us to cultivate it or to refine it in order to gain

en)oyment6 this sense can pic& up more ob)ects of aversion than of pleasure -especially

crowded places0 and, besides, the pleasure coming from the sense of smell cannot be other

than fleeting and transitory5 - 7td. in 8e urer ;0.

3owever, edieval philosophies on the

sense of smell that are predictive regarding the present position of this sense in the ?estern

culture. iddle Ages thought that smell

was a vulgar sense contributing nothing to the intellect. @evertheless, it contributed

elsewhere, as disease was thought to be caused by malodorous air that could be e2punged by

fumigation with fragrant smo&e or by imbibing aromatic wines. !ocrates was less dogmatic in

comparison with


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hierarchy of senses: 5as the sense of lust, desire and impulse it carries the stamp of animality5

-Ne!"ork Timeschapter10.

Despite the fact that Danuta )ellestad discusses e2clusively postmodern te2ts in her

aforementioned essay, she reaches a very thought(provo&ing conclusion that the three

analyed novels re(code the conventional olfactory landscapes. In accordance with =ronn,

she identifies the foul smells that were constructed during the nlightenment as the sense of

unreason, madness, savagery, and animality. 3owever, she proceeds to present in the analyses

of the novels how these unpleasant smells are reconstructed in postmodern fiction as the

sense of love and relationship, while fragrant scents become mar&ers of falsehood and death.

urthermore, )ellestad states that ?interson, for instance, underscores the conventional

gendering of smell as a female sense and e2hibits the conventionality of representing women

in terms of delicate scents by e2plicit references to its se2ual powers and by ma&ing

unpleasant odors carry the same power of se2ual attraction as scents. >y hypothesis derives

from )ellestads findings, as this paper is going to e2plore the occurrences and the role of

diverse scents and odours inNothing Like the Sun. >y main line of in7uiry is the function of

olfactory imagery deployed by Burgess in his novel, and whether his writing challenges the

conventional gendering of smell or corresponds with assigning sweet scents to women and

classify foul smells to animality. >oreover, the paper is going to include the olfactory

imagery used by %ames %oyce in The Portrait of the Artist as a "oung #an, as the influence of

%oyce on Burgess writing is most conspicuous regardingNothing Like the Sun.

?hen %ohn ullinam named %oyce to be one of the literary models of Burgess in an

interview, the writer claimed +But IEve never really regarded %oyce as a literary model. %oyce

canEt be imitated, and thereEs no imitation %oyce in my wor&. All you can learn from %oyce is

the e2act use of language -7td. in the Art of iction0. @evertheless, the plot of Nothing like

the Sun indisputably relies on the ninth chapter of the $lysses, entitled +!cylla and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scylla_and_Charybdishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scylla_and_Charybdis


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harybdis. In this episode, at the@ational 8ibrary, !tephen e2plains to various scholars his

biographical theory of the wor&s of !ha&espeare,especiallyHamlet. !tephen claims that this

play of !ha&espeare is based largely on the posited adultery of his wife. 8ater in the chapter

Bloom enters the @ational 8ibrary to loo& up an old copy of the advertisement he has been

trying to place. "he two protagonists encounter each other briefly and un&nowingly at the end

of the episode. Burgess dramaties !ha&espeares life in Nothing Like The Sun mostly

according to !tephens theory in $lysses. As the %oycean scene is a fundamental element of

the novel, a comparison of the olfactory images utilied by the two writers is called for since

other similarities might become evident during the comparative study.A Portrait of the Artist

as "oung #anis more suitable for such an analysis on account of its corresponding length

and Bildungsroman nature.

4rissy 4ing wrote an e2cellent essay on the dubious nature of !tephen Dedaluss

sense of smell which e2poses

!mells are utilied in the novel to convey mostly emotions, yet odours play a vital part

in furnishing the liabethan world presented by Burgess. "he +acrid smell of the city -//0

and the +immemorial stench of urine -#$F0 are few of those features that are omnipresent

throughout the 8ondon scenes.


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the first chapter of the BurgessE novel innocent essences fill the senses of the readers and

resemble the innocence associated with childli&e e2ploration of the world: 5sweet hopeful air,

sad, with mild south(westerly whisper of afternoon rain5-110 or smells associated with family

5rom his fathers house marched on muffled feet the smell of stockfishbac&ed with clo%es

and cinnamon.Bread& ale& ale'ohns5-1F0.

In line with the conventional gendering of the sense of smell, the narrative of the boo&

attributes foul smells to the female domain. 3owever, although the mar&er of women tend to

lye in the olfactory, in the first chapter of the boo& theses scents are not e2plicitly unpleasant.

?hen ?! is headed towards the house of 'ld >adge, we read 5the night promising fair,

scented, the moon in her third 7uarter. . . her housesmelt of no de%il(s comacts, but of

ungent her)s& foul linen, and a !oman(s old age. 3e wal&ed, calming himself, through the

odorousdar& . . .5-#10. "he italiciation was added by myself to highlight the distinct and

strong odours lingering around the home of the old witch. "he +odorous dar& synthesis

carries a sinister element that raises alarm in the reader in regard to the 'ld >adge. "he first

encounter with Anne carries more proleptic elements: 5Cet, an eternity of nothing after, he

wo&e warm. "he birdsong was deafening. 3esmelt grass and lea%esand his mother(s

comfortingand comforta)le smell, thefaint milkandsalt and*estand ne! )read odour of a

!oman(s )ossom5-G;0. Despite natural scents warmly embracing ?!, the +deafening

ad)ective refers the repression of the senses, while the third sentence overfills the spectator

with mesmeriing scents. "he sinister nature of their first meeting is enforced by the

following future reference:

53e did not thin&, he would not have believed, not then, that that was she who

would watch over him when he slept finally . . . busying herself with the ma&ing

of sic& mans broth, a coc& in an earthen pip&in with roots, herbs, whole mace,

aniseeds, scraped and sliced li7uorice, rosewater, white wines, dates5-GF0


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"he other Anne young ?! desires to marry evo&es !ha&espeareEs love of sweet smells of

different flowers. According to aroline !purgeon, !ha&espeare applies the sweetness of the

violet, the eglantine -sweet briar0 and the damas& rose regularly in his writings as a contrast

the horror of bad smells. 5Anne awaited him, Anne to drive out any lingering vestiges of that

other Anne, for this Anne, seventeen summers, was springs distillation . . .her eyes were

blac&, but they were trustful . . . 5-G/0 shows how the flowery fragrances of spring are

associated with the unspoiled youth and decent women, and symbolies how an innocent soul

may purify a corrupted one: 5!he was untouched of man and would so remain till the clean

sheets of the lavender(smelling bridal bed . . .were these, and the sweet breath of innocence,

too muchH5-G90 3owever, when sweet smelling flowers turn the reverse the sense of

repulsion is more e2plicit in !ha&espeare: +8ilies that fester smell far worse than

weeds.5-!onnet 9;0.# AnneEs utterance of 5"his flower li&e I not, it has a smell of

graves.5-G90 evo&es !ha&espeareEs love of rose as its nice smell remains even after death.

AnneEs remar& is not welcomed by ?! as she is too young and pure to lament on death6 in

the eyes of ?! her and beauty in itself resists the rottenness which permeates the world.

It seems as though Burgess, )ust li&e other inheritors of the nlightenment classify the

sense of smell to the feminine realm. Delicate smells intermingle with strong smells in the

first chapter that are manifestations of nave lust and desire towardsJfor the female body. As

the story proceeds these friendly scents associated with women become contaminated with

nauseating sweetness, which foregrounds the physical and spiritual corruption of not only the

individuals, but of the entire society. 3ere the bodily is also condemned to the realm of the

female. urthermore, the moral decay is intertwined with the female body(and the sic&ly(

sweet scent of women (, at times as if they were in cause and effect relationship. "he scene

with the prostitute in Bristol immediately activates our sense of smell: 5!miling, she

2 aroline !purgeon.Shakesear+e imagery and !hat it tells us,ambridge: ambridge

Kniversity


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bec&oned him to follow her in. 3e entered dar&ness thatsmelled of muskand dust, the tang of

s!eating oters, and, somehow, the ancient stale reekof egg after egg crac&ed in waste, the

musty hold-smell of seamen(s garments,seamen(s semen sattered, a ghost of procession of

dead sailors lusting till the crac& of doom-;0. "he olfactory images create a detestable

odour, which se2ually arouses the protagonist. !imilarly to ?interson, Burgess associates

se2ual desires with foul smells. *eturning spicy and fouls smells will represent animalistic,

se2ual, morally degrading desires, whereas delightful scents epitomie decency and purity in

BurgessE novel.

"he most conspicuous olfactory images are ascribed to ?!Es lover called atimah.

3er 5browngold rivercolourriverripple s&in with its smell of the sun5-1LG0 and the cloud of

spicy scent that embalms her surroundings is a recurring image that generates divergent

reactions from ?!. As their love affair continues, atimahs scent is complemented with

growing number of repulsive smells such as 5her breath was sour today5 -1LG0 or 53er smell,

ran& and sweet, repels my senses and drives me to madness5-1LG0. "he latter e2ample echoes

the sense of madness ascribed to foul smells in the nlightenment age. "heir se2ual

intercourse is transformed by the diabolic images into an ecstasy of the senses and the

irreversible damnation of their souls:

+"he transports I now enter are a burning hell of pleasure. If before we have

soared and flown, now we burrow, eyes and nose holes and snoring mouths filled

with earth and worms and scurrying atomies, all of which are transformed to a

heavy though melting )elly of poundered red flesh mi2ed with wine. ?e dig with

pioneering wings down towards the fire that is the whole earthEs centre, nub,

coynt, meaning. -1L0


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"he female(with her tempting at the same time revolting scent and her mesmeriing body(

condemns the soul of men to damnation. 3enrys proleptic reference to the eventual, shared

disease of the three main characters:+let us call her part of our sic&ness identifies women as

mens source of decay. 3owever, as we reach the end of the novel the cause of mans

downfall is placed elsewhere as the sinful body is slowly cleansed and elevated to represent

beauty associated with truth. "he protagonists changing perception of the truth leads to the

purification of the body.

As a young artist, ?! regards art as a tool of enlightenment and not as a form of

entertainment. In regard to !enecaEs writings-H0 he states: 5@ow, that was plays that wereread before the patricians, and good plays, not li&e the stin& and ordure that passes for plays

in our shameful time5-LL0. 3is ars poetica is, as only art is capable of placing a mirror in front

of humanity, art should reflect the true nature of man and not blur the moral decay man is

relishing in. 'nly the 5smell of truth5 -9$0 ma&es a good play. At this stage women are

considered to be obstacles to artistic creativity: 5women were a deflection6 he must push on to

his goal5-1$10. In addition to being temptresses of men, women stand between the artist and

his creation. 3owever, the role of art is challenged as ?! draws a parallel between reality

and the stage. >aster Muedgeley is the first to comment on this similarity: 58ife . . . is in a

sense all lies...It is all acting5-LF0. +"he whole world, no, all the world acts a play, is astage-#1L0 conveys the falsehood of the world and initiates the reevaluation of the theatre

and underlines its reprehensible feature. ?ith the actor companions of ?! stressing the need

for change regarding their plays due to the changing demands of the audience, the truth value

of art is again undermined as the theatre has to satisfy the present and temporary wishes of the

spectators. ?! laments in regard 3enry: +@othing stayed stillN'nly between man and man

was there hope of maintaining O beyond pure animal need that misted the eyes with blood O a

love nourished by will and brain and a conscious art of forbearance -1F90, however 3enrys

continuous betrayal as a friend and a lover

caused bythe

After atimah meets 3enry, ?! realies that +!he is ready to be ta&en. "a&e too, I say, what

I have writ for her, by her unread. Add them to the odorous fellowship of that spicy chest.

"a&e this sonnet also, of the perils of lust. . .-1L/0(3ere art is associated with lust that has

been degraded by this timedue to its connection to the sinful desires provo&ed by women.


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?! ventually ?s realie

The foul smell of passion-associated with women

Fatimah

5It is the glorification of the flesh, the word made flesh. . . In a fever I ta&e to my play(ma&ing

and theatre business. I write my few lines of.ichardin despair of the power of words. I force

myself to a mood of hatred of her and of what we do together, ma&ing myself believe that I

am brought low and must come to ruin5-1L#0 ma&e myself believe is

+it was the woman-19#0(Annet blamPla a tQtnte& miatt

+"he Mueen is a rotting heap of old filth- 19/0.

onclusion

inally the body is freed(seens as purveyor of the truth(not words or plays as they are mere

products of a world indebted to decay.

Burgess


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atimah

+the room had a spicy smell, sun(warmed, a poc&et Indies. -#1;0

+RA comfort,E he said. R"here is this world of men, and sometimes it smells heavily of the

sweat of menEs contention. It is good to be here.E-#1;0

male domain gets the unpleasant smell

fetid sweetness(-#1F0( medicine

+tightly clasped, they billowed down together through miles of aromatic air to come to rest on

swansdown. And the glory and, as it were, grace were proclaimed in the ease of renewal, sothat the night was a counterpart triumph to the day-#1/(#190

+3is youth, sought afresh with her before but pushed out by guilt, now &new its flower6 his

dream of plunging into the Indies was fulfilled, his appetites for strange fruits fed without

disgust or guilt or the gnaw of responsibility. -#190

a&&or a guilt)t simboliPlta eddig a smell(vagyis a &ellemetlen sago& aguilt)t tS&rQt&(

nem a foul maid(csa) sa)PtossPgai(de Tgy lette& preentPlva

+8ondon, the defiled city, became a sweet bower for their loveEs wandering, even in the

August heat.-#190

+but on the narrow bed, right history was enacted and true reality revealed: it was holy, a sort

of nobleness. "he struggles of invasions were towards the setting up an honest short peace,

not a cynical eternal one6 the engaing armies carried the same banner-##$0

serelmS& legitimitPsa

Bodily decay of the artist:

5"hou art as wise as thou art beautiful. "he mirror shows the teeth and beard fast graying, a

wormy s&in. 'ld dad5-1;/0

wisdom and truth associated with beauty

artistsU( +according to the scandal(tattlers we are all atheists and drun&ards and wenchers and

we throw our money away on evil living-1F#0

+we forget how money is made. 'nly land is truly gentlemanly, land and property-1FL0


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+?! felt himself ageing, dissatisfied, life nagging li&e bro&en teeth, the gaps in his life

presented to a probing tongue. !weet(tongued, honey(tongued -1/10.

playsJwords are all lies(no truth value of art Oprolepsis to his final revelation(only the body

can be truthful

with age ?! acc. to 3enry( +Cou are become altogether too moral-19L0

+R"hereEs a devil in all of us,E said ?!. R?e are full of self(contradiction. It is best to purge

this devil on the stageE. -19F0

+"he Mueen is a rotting heap of old filth- 19/0.

3arry on hearing ?! cuc&olded + ?! had never li&ed his laugh O high(pitched and maniacal6

he had never li&ed the way the smooth face collapsed with laughter into an ugliness the more

frightening because of the miracle of beauty is displaced: it was as if that beauty was nothing

to do with either truth or goodness.-#$$0( tovPbb gondolva art as superficial

redemption(

+he welcomed pain..he draw down on himself the right pain, achieve the right releasing

agony-#$G0(mg nem a betegsgtVl(e is false tehPt mg e&&or

+love too& new forms . . . li&e compassion -#$0

epilogue

+8etEs swell a space on the irony of poetEs desperately wringing out the last of his sweetnesswhile corrosives closed in-##L0

valWdi betegsg

+All this could be borne by myself, but I wept at the in)ustice done to my poor body-##0

+>ore, my eyes cleared and I could see the world in very sharp colours: its paint seemed

hardly dry.-##F0

+ I was creating man afresh, planting him in a garden with clean white body and the innocent

eyes of a deer. But he would not stay there: he must needs leap out to his plotting and blood(

letting and sniggering nastiness. will was &notted within him but it was will towards

something that I, as od, coulds not have made. "herefore there was an opposite to od. "his

I could see but I still could not feel it. "he time was not yet -##/0

+castigate the filthy world which I had rendered more filthyNI was drawn to searching out

my fellows in disease-##/0

same uttered by his daughter:


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+"hen I reeled with my discovery of what I should have long &nown O that the fistulas and

imposthumes, bent bones, swellings, corrupt sores, fetor were of no different order from the

venality and treachery and in)ustice and cold laughing murder of the ourt. And yet none of

these leprous and stin&ing wretches had willed their rottenness. "he foul wrong lay then

beyond a manEs own purposing6 there was somewhere, outside timeEs very beginning, an

infinite well of putridity from which body and mind ali&e were driven, by some force unseen

and uncontrollable, to drin&. -##/0( the rottness of man&ind lies outside his being

+?as there not somewhere a clean worldH . . .i turned to the tales of ree& and "ro)an and

e2pected to find again what I had &nown as a boy O war all smiling postures of the dance, a

game of buffeting with reed spears. But, of course, they were li&e ourselves. "hey were

braggarts, cowards, traducers, whores - ##/0.

+Die in dust and live in filth-##90

+we are all diseased . . . In my delirium the ity was mine own body O fighting bro&e out inulcers on the left thigh, both armpits, in the spongy and corrupt groin -##90

+"he image of the falling city, pre(figured in the prodigies of a night, was drawn from my

own body O the bloody holes, the burning hand. -#G$0

+!he released unbelievable effluvia. It seemed not possible. "he hoplessness of manEs

condition was revealed in odours that came direct, in a &ind of innocenct den freshness,

from that prime and original well. "he rest of my life, such as it might be, must be spent in

ma&ing those effluvia real to all -#G$0. purifies smell of its previous sinful character,

moreover these lines elevate the body to being the sole purveyorJvehicle of truth.

+or the first time it was made clear to me that language was no vehicle of soothing prettiness

to warm cold castles that waited for spring, no ornament for ladies or great lords, chiming,

beguiling, but a potency of sharp &nives and brutal hammers -#G$0.

+I understand what she herself was O no angel of evil but an uncovenanted power. But, so

desperate was the enemy, she had been drawn by an irresistible force to become, if not herself

evil, yet contracted to be the articulatri2 of evil -#G10.

+!he did not much leave my chamber as disintegrate into particles which settled themselves,

as in a permanent home, into my orifices of my body-#G10. hallucination utPn

+he thought that the great white body of the world was set upon by an illness from beyond,

gratuitous and incurable. And that even the name 8ove was, far from being the best

invocation against it, often the very con)uration that summoned the mining and ulcerating

hordes. ?e are, he seemed to say, poisoned at source -#G#0.

+we both e2emplified the rottenness of the world-#GG0.

+Cou can never win, for love is both an image of eternal order and at the same time the rebel

and destructive spirochaete. 8et us have no nonsensical tal& about merging and melting


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souls . . . "here is the flesh and the flesh ma&es all. 8iterature is an epiphenomenon of the

action of the flesh -#G;0 .

8oveJJwomen are elevation of the soul and the body, however decay and the fall is inevitable

Body associated with the female(purveyor of sin and moral decay at first

rottenness of the world is not realied at first, but only women are seen as the poison of manEs

being

man(made wrong is fundamental part of the world, but something lies outside of man that

ensures and predetermines manEs decay and eventualJinevitable downfall.

rP)Qn, h a test tud cas& igaPn truthful lenni, megprWbPl)a megtXstXtani a vPgy testt, egyben a

nVi testet is ePltal, de &PrhoPsra van itlve mind a test mind a ember lel&e(a test itt epitome

of the not only the rottenness of the world but of moral decay.

a serelm nem tud)a megtistXtani a testSn&et

%oycenPl )W((((5"odays synthetic scents . . . are evocative of things which are not there, of

presences which are absent . . . "hese artificial odours are a sign without a referent, smo&e

without fire, pure olfactory image5-lassen #$L0.

Morals

elVsQr a sXnhP van Tgy bePllXtva,h &pes rPvilPgXtani a embi mralo&re

falsehood of life and the roles people decide to play

moral decay manifests itself in the foul smells of the surrounding:


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According to Danuta )ellestad particular postmodernte2ts, for instance %eanette ?intersons

/ritten On the Body, re(code the conventional olfactory landscapes: foul smells,which have

been constructed during the nlightenment as the sense of unreason, madness,savagery, and

animality, are reconstructed as the sense of love and relationship,while fragrant scents

become mar&ers of falsehood and death. ?interson e2pose the conventionality od

representing women in terms of nice smells both by e2plicitreferences to the scentss se2ual

powers and by ma&ing unpleasant odors carry the same power ofse2ual attraction as scents.

lassen writes 5"odays synthetic scents . . . are evocative of things which are not there,of

presences which are absent . . . "hese artificial odours are a sign without areferent, smo&e

without fire, pure olfactory image5-#$L0.

a&Pr mehet a vgre is."he growing visibility of smell manifests the growing criti7ue of its

nlightenment coding, therefoe smell can be regarded as the sense of postmodernism. !mell

possesses a great subversive potential in its ability to violate boundaries, assault rationality,

and evo&e powerful emotions of disgust and attractions.

smell assaults hierarchies based on race, ethnicity, gender, and se2ual orientation. It changes the

emotional economy, reorganies the social and moral world, and violates detachment.

!mell

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/v/vroon-smell.html

Plato regarded the human senses of sight and hearing as more important than

smell, for vision and hearing bring us into contact with the world of human


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creation, with the beauty of geometry, music and art. mell, the philosophers of

the !iddle "ges thought, was a vulgar sense contributing nothing to the intellect.

#ut it contributed elsewhere. $isease was thought to be caused by malodorous

air %this is how malaria got its name& that could be e'punged by fumigation with

fragrant smoke or by imbibing aromatic wines.

!ha&espeare

http://books.google.hu/books(

id)su*+*"hn0printsec)frontcover0hl)hu0source)gbsgesummaryr0c

ad)3v)onepage04)smell0f)false

5e e'presses the height of disgust and horror through the medium of revolting

smells, and that to his imagination sin and evil deeds always smell foully.

hakespeare seems more sensitive to the horror of bad smells than to the allure

of fragrant ones: naturally he loves 6the sweet smell of different flowers6 and also

the sweet scents of spring, which he connects with sparkling youth who 6smelss

"pril and !ay6. %+&

site.iuga7a.edu.ps/ahabeeb/files/212/2/"n8ntroductionto9iteratureriticis

mandheory.pdf
http://books.google.hu/books?id=suW8WAhVnNQC&printsec=frontcover&hl=hu&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=smell&f=falsehttp://books.google.hu/books?id=suW8WAhVnNQC&printsec=frontcover&hl=hu&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=smell&f=falsehttp://books.google.hu/books?id=suW8WAhVnNQC&printsec=frontcover&hl=hu&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=smell&f=falsehttp://books.google.hu/books?id=suW8WAhVnNQC&printsec=frontcover&hl=hu&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=smell&f=falsehttp://books.google.hu/books?id=suW8WAhVnNQC&printsec=frontcover&hl=hu&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=smell&f=falsehttp://books.google.hu/books?id=suW8WAhVnNQC&printsec=frontcover&hl=hu&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=smell&f=false


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ake 9ady !acbeth6s words

of murderous guilt as overheard by the $octor and ;entlewoman. %8t is, of

course, an illustration of the disturbing power of this tragedy that hakespeare

is able to make us sympathi7e or identify with a psychopathic murderer.& 9ady

!acbeth says: 6 %, i, ?@2&.

%oyce

http://www.bu.edu/writingprogram/Aournal/past-issues/issue-B/king/

8n chapter 8, for e'ample, Coyce e'erts a hefty measure of control over tephen6s

susceptible, and relatively binary, mode of thinking. "s a young boy far from

home in the dark corridors of longowes, tephen6s frame of mind is simple and

understandable: he dislikes school and wants to go back home to his mother.

Dittingly, tephen6s reaction to the various scents of longowes is repeatedly

negative: he fears the bath and the Esmell of the towels, like medicineF %8.??1@2&,

wrinkles his nose at the Estinking stuff to drink GHI in the infirmaryF %8.J+K@K&,

and dislikes the Eweak sour smellF of burning charcoal in the sacristy %8.11KL&.

!ost telling is his unpleasant bout of nausea on the day of his first communionM

he feels a tinge of guilt that Ethe faint smell Gof wineI off the rector6s breath had

made him feel a sick feelingF because he has been told that Ethe day of your first

communion was the happiest day of your lifeF %8.1L2@L&. !uch of this negativity
http://www.bu.edu/writingprogram/journal/past-issues/issue-3/king/http://www.bu.edu/writingprogram/journal/past-issues/issue-3/king/


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can be attributed to childish tendencies both to think in black and white and to

over-e'aggerate e'periencesM however, the 4uestion becomes why these

particular smells fall decisively on the negative side of this binary. ;ranted, it

makes sense that a child would have an adverse reaction to medicinal towels and

a most likely unsanitary bath, but the smells of charcoal and wine by themselves

are not necessarily regarded as unpleasant. 8n fact, the word EwineF triggers a

pleasant linguistic association in tephen6s mind %8.1BKK@1L1&. 8t is a

subconscious aversion to the winy residue from the rector6s breath and the

atmosphere of the church that offends tephen6s nostrils.

5ere, there is a marked transition from the rigidity of tephen6s previous

olfactory perceptionsNa rigidity that ascribes only negative reactions to church

smells and positive reactions to those evocative of the homeNto the realistic

ambiguity of his perceptions in chapter 88. 5e has less of a sense of EgoodF and

EbadF smells, and some of tephen6s perceptions regarding smell are even

contrary to what one might e'pect. Dor e'ample, as tephen approaches 5eron

and *allis smoking before the *hitsuntide play, he Ebecame aware of a faint

aromatic odourF %Coyce 88.?L1&. ontrasting his childhood tendency to

characteri7e smells into defined categories, tephen does not react particularly

strongly to the scent. he clear departure from tephen6s black-and-white

reaction to smells in chapter 8 is worth noticing, if only by virtue of its

contrariness to what we have come to e'pect. ertainly, it marks a transition

toward tephen6s maturity, for in the adult world not every smell must be Audged

as pleasant or unpleasant. *hen observed from the point of view of Coyce6s

control over tephen, however, it takes on added significance as a greater

allowance of freedom on Coyce6s part.


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8t is important to note the phrasing here: rather than there merely being an odor,

he Ebecame awareF of it. *hen contrasted with phrases in chapter 8 such as

Ethere wasa cold night smell in the chapelF %8.B+1&, the diction gives tephen a

sense of self-awareness and a feeling of autonomy over his own conscious

processes. Ehere wasF causes one to think of a smell merely beingthere, placed

there as if by some outside force that gives tephen no choice but to inhale it. 8n

chapter 88, on the other hand, tephen is the acting force that becomes aware of

this smell, and he is aware that he becomes aware of it. 8n short, tephen is

afforded control over his consciousness because Coyce has no need to steer him

in any given direction. Coyce allows tephen to grow as a character through

adolescence, without any supernatural-seeming interventions beyond the reality

Coyce has created for tephen.

8f only things remained that simple. Coyce, as the creator of a literary

masterpiece, would not instate such a dynamic of control and freedom without

baffling his readers through such developments as figurative smells. ake, for

e'ample, the scene in 88.B in which tephen tears away from the obAect of his

passion, Omma. "s he reali7es he has lost the chance to kiss her, Epride and

hope and desire like crushed herbs in the heart sent up vapours of maddening

incense before the eyes of his mindF %88.KB@KB2&. 5ere, tephen does not

literally smell anythingM even figuratively an odor is not e'plicitly mentioned, only

the fact that his eyes burned. et it is strange that the narrator describes these

abstract emotions as Ecrushed herbsF and Emaddening incense,F both of which

emit powerful, into'icating aromas. 8t can also be argued that so far, none of the

smells in tephen6s world have actually been described as entering his nostrilsN


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whether it be the Ethere wasF of chapter 8 or tephen6s EGbecomingI aware ofF

smells in chapter 88, the fact that the narrator doesn6t mention tephen6s intake

of the smells does not discount their presence. he problem becomes what to

make of this strange metaphor that is not even entirely consistentNfirst the

Emaddening incenseF goes up before the Eeyes of his mindF %88.KB2& and then

again before his actual Eanguished eyesF a few lines later %88.KB?&. Dor now, we

will leave this dilemmaM in chapter , several instances in the te't will shed light

on the meaning of this mi'ed metaphor of a Esmell.F

A final significant moment in the realm of !tephenEs freer subconscious is his perception of

what many of us would find to be a repulsive odor. ventually, !tephenEs freny of emotion

7uiets, and +a power, a&in to that which had often made anger or resentment fall from him,

brought his steps to rest -II.9G/O90. onsidering this from a control standpoint, we might be

tempted to as&: what is this awesome power that can subdue his overwhelming array of

emotions so rapidlyH 'nce again, the phrasing is significant. "he teller has not only implied

that there is an outside +power in play, giving !tephen no control over his actions, but he has

also connected previous occurrences of this mysterious force to this present moment,

evidencing his retrospective ac&nowledgment that this power is not uni7ue to this moment,

but something that has long played a part in !tephenEs life. ould it be a +divine intervention

on %oyceEs part, guiding !tephen to this alleyway for a specific purposeH A further

e2amination of the succeeding passage ma&es this interpretation plausible.

After !tephen +breatheYsZ slowly the ran& heavy air in the lane, he finds a strange sort of

comfort in its fetid fumes: +["hat is horse piss and rotted straw, he thought. It is a good

odour to breathe. It will calm my heart -II.9;GO;0. ?ith this unorthodo2 reaction to what

many would consider a revolting smell, !tephen embraces the stenches of reality as opposed


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to the stifling, musty corridors of the church. ?hile it may not be of great significance to

!tephen now, later he will realie that he is called to be an artist immersed in the odors of the

world rather than cloistering himself away in the confessional. "he narrator, however, is well

aware of the importance of this moment, as evidenced by the narrative shift that ta&es place.

%ohn


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tephen purposely blurs the line between real olfaction and imagined olfaction.

Coyce, by including this segment in the first place, reminds his readers once

again of the contrived reality of the entire novelNfor, whether literal or

figurative, both are ultimately artificial because they are created by Coyce. #oth

are shown to have e4ual power over tephen, and both are able to affect his

mind as well as his body.

his chain of events culminates in chapter 8 with tephen6s epiphany. Dor the

final time, we see Coyce intervene beyond the demands of his authorial presence

with a supernatural smell. he catalyst is the director of #elvedere6s invitation for

tephen to Aoin the priesthood, which then prompts an intensive consideration of

the calling that would irreversibly alter his future. uddenly, his an'ieties come

rushing forward, and he reali7es that Eit was a grave and ordered and

passionless life that awaited himF %Coyce 8.L+@1&. #ut it is not even his

potentially mirthless life that repels tephen from accepting the call to the

priesthoodM rather, it is the Etroubling odour of the long corridors of longowesF

that returns to him and fills him with dread and unrest %Coyce 8.L+L&. he effect

is immediate and terrifying. "ssaulted with Ea feverish 4uickening of his pulsesF

and Ea din of meaningless wordsH his lungs dilated and sank as if he were

inhaling a warm moist unsustaining air which hung in the bath in longowesF

%Coyce 8.L+R@K2&. 8t is well known that smell is able to evoke strong and often

emotionally charged memories without any conscious decision on our part. *hy,

however, does the smell arise in the first place, and why are its effects so

debilitating( his turning point in tephen6s life is facilitated once again by Coyce,

who reaches out to save tephen by awakening Esome instinct, stronger than

education or pietyF that makes him reali7e Ethe chill and order of the

GpriesthoodI repelled himF %8.LKB@R&. his instinct, stemming deep from within


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tephen6s subconscious, has slowly been gaining strength because of key events

in the te'tNhis childhood at longowes, his religious e'perience in chapter 888,

and, most importantly, the real and figurative smells that have implanted

themselves in tephen6s memoryNand was cultivated by Coyce himself, who has

not pared his fingernails, but has gotten his hands dirty with his subtle

interventions in tephen6s life. he result of these interventions is tephen6s

reAection of church doctrine and acceptance of the call to be an artist. ow that

this has been accomplished, Coyce sets his character free in the world and

observes the fruit of his creation in action.

Ovidencing this new freedom is a fundamental change in the nature of tephen6s

olfaction. 8n chapter , tephen finally e'periences smell as it e'ists in reality:

random, unstructured, with links to the subconscious that are not immediately

obvious. mells often trigger linguistic associations that lead to wordplay, and

certain scents even precipitate tephen6s creative process. onetheless, as Coyce

looses tephen6s subconscious, so must he set his own subconscious free in

order to create linguistic associations that are neither forced nor contrived, but

natural. Dor this reason, chapter is as much about Coyce as it is about tephenM

more specifically, we learn what is at stake for Coyce in creating a character who

seemingly possesses a subconscious mind of his own.

*hat, then, do we make of this EincenseF that bears much similarity to the

metaphor of the Ecrushed herbsF and Emaddening incenseF in chapter 88( #oth

describe this metaphorical incense as rising or wafting up, either Ebefore the

eyes of his mindF %88.KB2& or Ethrough the mould from many heartsF %.BJL&. #oth

descriptions are also inconsistent: in the former instance, the incense is said first


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to go up before the Eeyes of his mindF and later before his actual eyes, whereas

the latter describes the odor first as EmoralF %.BJB& and then as EmortalF

%.BJJ&. 8t should be noted that the EincenseF of tephen6s ;reen is an actual

smell, as opposed to the precarious metaphor of the crushed herbs and incense

in chapter 88. he similarities between the two lend support to the idea that in the

universe of Portrait, literal and figurative smells have the same properties.

5owever, their differences say more about the progression of tephen6s artistry.

he first EincenseF makes for a clunky metaphor, whereas the second is more

sophisticated, albeit e4ually enigmatic. he improved fluidity of the second

allusion shows tephen6s enhanced aptitude for aesthetic and linguistic

sensibilities.

!oist, rainy earth is imbued with an odor that is EmoralF as well as Emortal,F a

toying with syllables that allows Coyce to continue with his metaphor based on a

free association with the EGmoralI incenseF that wafts Ethrough the mould of

many GmortalI hearts.F he pattern is thus established of art through association,

in which loose subconscious connections create an ambient aesthetic. ow that

we have an inkling of Coyce6s artistic process, we reali7e that it is in large part

incompatible with tephen6s aesthetic theoryNfor Coyce does not create art

through the Eluminous silent stasisF %.1L1& of aesthetic apprehension, but by

playing around with words and sounds, which is, in large part, a fluid process of

trial and error rather than a sudden, overwhelming moment of insight.

vilg brzolsa-filth

N! mint enne! a filthen! a amnifestation"ei

a the initial stage of the artist-childhood smellsartist


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ahogyan lt"a aplays# truth# beauty

gazdag !$vn lenni ma"d r"%n&h nem "obba! a gazdago!


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'ist of wor!s cited:

Adams, *obert >artin.After0oyce,@ew Cor&: '2ford Kniversity

Documents

Smells of the Wicked