The Consolation of Things: Domestic Objects in H.D.’s Writing from the Second World War
Abstract
This paper analyses the spiritual consolation of domestic
objects – Christmas decorations, food, flowers – in the writing
of the American writer H.D. The paper asks how H.D.’s engagement
with crafting material things formed a spiritual response
to the time of crisis in which she wrote her mature poetry and
prose. The paper analyses the prose texts The Gift and
» Writing on the Wall« as well as the poem »Christmas 1944«
whilst also drawing upon archival research into H.D.’s letters
of the period as intertexts for the autobiographical writing.
The French theorist Hélène Cixous’s writing on the gift forms a
framework for considering gift exchange amongst H.D.’s
friends as a process of crafting community in the face of trauma.
In H.D.’s work ordinary things become extraordinary and
create pathways towards healing and consolation.
Publisher
LIR. journal
Collections
View/ Open
Date
2015Author
Anderson, Elizabeth
Keywords
Hilda Doolittle
spirituality
Cixous
gift
modernism
Publication type
article, peer reviewed scientific
Language
eng