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Losses transformed: A vision in the works and world of Wright Morris
Abstract
Wright Morris's fiction, photographs, critical essays, and memoirs all share the common concern of transforming real losses from life's raw material into meaningful gains. This study traces the stages of memory at work. The metaphor of the journey always contains memory and imagination as guides. They also allow Morris to retrieve and construct a sense of self from human loss. Words and visual images assist as tools in conveying experiences. Acting as a catalyst, memory sparks emotions. These emotions tip off memory which in turn creates stories. Through imaginative recall, these stories lead to an understanding of one's place in the universe. Transformation occurs when a person gains a self-conscious awareness in resolving previous ambiguities. By use of memory, Morris's novels retrace a journey. This journey of reconnection to the personal past, understanding it, and transforming one's own self serves as the emotional and intellectual frame on which Morris constructs his many fictions. The focus of each of the six novels of this study corresponds to one of the five stages in Morris's journey. The Home Place represents stage one: nostalgia, a longing for a reimagined, uncomplicated childhood. The World in the Attic represents stage two: nausea, a prolonged adolescent rebellion. The Works of Love evokes stage three: pathos, as a young man comes to terms with the irredeemable losses of his father. Ceremony in Lone Tree depicts stage four: confrontation and the decision to move on to accept adult responsibility. Fire Sermon and A Life bring the journey to a triumphant awareness at stage five: transformation and redemption. In these novels, Morris's characters discover human connections. This process of self discovery reinforces the human ability, through memory, to understand ourselves and our journey. These novels celebrate the human capacity for survival.
Subject Area
Literature|American literature
Recommended Citation
McCaffrey, Jerrine Ann Moyer, "Losses transformed: A vision in the works and world of Wright Morris" (1996). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9628243.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9628243