delicious_progress

8/7/2019 Delicious_Progress

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"TheDeliciousProgress'': WhitenessAsAnAtavismInConradAiken's

"SilentSnow,SecretSnow"

Thewor ld waswarmandwhite when I washorn: Beyondthe

windowpanethewor ld waswhite, A g lar ing whiteness in a leaded

frame,Yet warmas in thehearth andheart of l ight , A lthoughthe

whiteness wasalmost andwasbone In midnight 's st i l l paralys is ,

nevertheless a. 'Thewor ld waswarmandhopewas inf in ite , a l l th ings

wouldcome, fu l f i l led, a l l th ings wouldbeknownAl l th ings wouldbe

enjoyed, fu l f i l led, andcometobemyown.

DelmoreSchwartz

TheGermanphi losopher Heidegger , th inkingof the

immensehumanendeavor in whichweconstruct andmaintain a

consistent wor ld of ex ist ing, revealedth ings out of thepure

potent ial of Being, onceremarkedthat theact of waking from

s leepmust sure lyconst i tute thes ing le greatest miracle of human

l i fe ; for with in a fract ionofa secondafter our being"deadto the

wor ld," that wor ld reassembles i tse l f beforeour eyes andsenses

in i ts fami l iar formandretains i ts customaryregular i ty. Inspired

byanunderstandingof thephenomenological import of

awakenings imi lar to Heidegger ’s , theFrenchcr i t ic GeorgesPoulet (Mi l ler , 1983)has

sought to explore thewor ld 's l i terature in searchofpassagesdescr ib ing moments of

awakening, hopingto gain therebyanunderstandingof the"inter ior d istance"of

thosewr iters whocreatedsuchpassages.

ConradAiken's famousshort story"S i lent Snow,Secret

Snow" is , of course, sucha talc of awakening. Eventhestory's

autobiographical source, A ikenhas explained, lay in h is own

memories of ch i ldhoodexper iences of awakening (Mart in ,

1962). The"Snow"of thestory’s t i t le , theal l ‐encompass ing

whiteness intowhichPaul Haslemandescendscomplete lyat

thec lose, f i rst presents i tse l f to h im in al ) i ts "beauty . . .

beyondspeech . . . beyondthought" (221)onemorning just after

awakeningwhenhereal izes with in h is owntacit awareness of



The Col lected Works of David Lavery 2

his wor ld that theapproachingstepsof themai lmancannot beheardas far awayas

normal ly. Hecannot beheard, Paul begins to th ink, becausesnowhas fal len, without

h is real iz ing i t , dur ing then ight , therebymuff l ing themai lman's footstepsunt i l he is

a lready)c loseby. But leavingh is bedto lookout h is window,Paul f inds that nosnow

hasactual ly fal len. Thestepsof themai lmanare obscuredrather , as Paul soon

recognizes, by the"del ic ious progress"of a ir inner snowfal l that marks Paul 's

submergence intoschizophrenic withdrawal fromthe fami l iar , publ ic wor ld of school ,

neighborhood,andparents bywhichhe feels h imself bes ieged.

"This is your house,"A ikenexplains in oneofh is poems; "Onones idethere is

darkness, onones idethere is l ight ," andhe is c lear ly th inkingof thehumanskul l . In

"S i lent Snow,Secret Snow,"Paul Haslemanmovesbackand forth betweenthesetwo

realms, but h is movement is no"del ic ious progress." For al thoughPaul f inds h is

secret whiteness akindofmiraculousg i ft , i t i s in real i ty a regress—thepenetrat ion

andpermeat ionof that l ight which l ies ordinar i ly without theskul l into the inner

darkness of h is consciousness unt i l i t engulfs i t , Thesnow, thewhiteness of Paul 's

madness is , in fact , anatavism.

The f i rst t imewesee l ight , theFrenchphi losopher

Condi l lac oncenoted, "weare i t rather thansee i t" (Zuckerkandl ,

1956, 342). Theresults of the f i rst successfu l cataract operat ion

performed in th is centuryconfirmCondi l lac 's observat ion. Men

andwomen,b l inds inceb ir th, after their operat ions wereable to

lookout uponthewor ld for the f i rst t ime,andalthoughthey

werepr imar i ly adults , with years of nonvisual exper iencealready

behindthem, fewwereable to recognize anything fami l iar ; most

wereunable to d ist inguishobjects , or evento seespaceat al l . Somebel ieveda

houseami le awayto bec loseby. l ike achi ld whoreaches for themoonhetakes to

bewith in h is reach. Oneg ir l could seeonly"a lot of d i fferent kinds of br ightness,"

most wereunable to seeanythingbut a"confus ionof formsandcolors ." A young

manc laimedthat hewitnessedonlyan"extensive f ie ld of l ight , in whicheverything

appeareddul l , confused, and in mot ion."Mar ius vonSenden(1932), whocol lected

theaccounts of thesecases of newvis ion in h is book SpaceandS ight , observedthat

thepercept ionsof these individuals werenot , however , real ly atypical , strangeas

theymayseem, for eachwent throughonly"theexper iencethat weal l gothrough

and forget , themoment weare born.




In "S i lent Snow,Secret Snow,"Paul returns to that "extensive f ie ld of l ight"

intowhichheandal l seers havebeenborn in order to escapethedouble b indofh is

environingwor ld. His regress ion is—as is typical in schizophrenia‐aretreat alongthe

l ine of development that brought h imtoh is current impasse, but Paul , unl ike most ,

goesal l thewayback, ent ire lydeconstruct ing h is exper ience.

Schizophrenia, R. D∙ Laing (1967)has explained, is "aspecial

strategythat aperson invents in order to l ive in anunl ivable

s i tuat ion" (126). I t i s a responseto being"checkmated"by the

c ircumstancesof one's l i fe that inaugurates akindof journey"back

throughone's personal l i fe , in andbackandthroughandbeyond

intotheexper ienceofa l l mankind, of thepr imal man,of Adamand

perhapseven further intothebeings of animals , vegetables and

minerals" (Laing, 1967, 126). A l l thoseembarkingonsuchavoyageare boundto feel

immenseconfus ion, but i t i s essent ial for themtoremember, Laing notes, "that they

havebeentherebefore. ' ' Paul , too, has "beentherebefore."He is a "newer

becomingaseed" (A iken, 19~0, 235), regress ing intoanatavist ic state.

In i t ia l ly , Paul 's percept ion is acute; he is h ighlyobservant andshows f ine

visual d iscr iminat ion. Henot ices, for example, theminute features of smal l freckles

ontheneckof theg ir l whos i ts in front of h im in school evenafter the f i rst

ons laught of thesnow,andeven later , onh is walkhomefromschool , he sees

everything in great detai l , fromthetextureof thegardenwal l he passes, to the

shapesof smal l twigs , to thetracks of a dogst i l l v is ib le in as idewalk. But he

witnesses theseth ings, these"i temsofmereexternal i ty," with indi fferenceanda

"merely to lerant eye" (p223, 225). For thewhiteness of thecomingsnowcal ls h im

away fromtheseth ings; i t i s a temptat ion imposs ib le to res ist , I t teases "at the

corners of h is eyes" (at theper ipheryof h is v is ion, wherememoryandrat ional i ty—

thepowers that dai ly resurrect the fami l iar wor ld of objects fromobl iv ion—cannot

makethemselves as readi ly avai lable as in focal percept ion)andmakeseventhe

sunl ight "snow‐laden" (226).

Paul 's mother , i ronical ly enough, wonders i f Paul 's increas ing absent‐

mindedness is dueto eyestrain and, in asense, i t i s . But Paul 's preference for

whiteness doesnot necessar i ly stemfromweakness. Paul del ights in thesnow's

comingprecise lybecauseof i ts capacity for "h id ingtheugly" (220)andbecause in i t

he f inds beautyandmystery far surpass ing the"arranged l ight"of h is home

environment. In h is TheWorld ThroughBluntedS ight , theophthalmologist Patr ick




Trevor‐Roper (1970) te l ls thestoryof a mannamedS idneyBradford, who,after

gain ing h is s ight for the f i rst t imeat theageof52, becamedespondent over the

ugl iness of thewor ld (thes ight of f laking paint could sendh im intodeep

depress ions) andd ied in misery. Andman)∙ of thecataract pat ients vonSenden

studied foundordinaryv is ions imi lar ly depress ing. Oneeventhreatenedto tear out

h is eyes i f ' l ie wasn't sent backto theasylum. Most fe l t deeply"therapid and

complete loss of that str ik ing andwonderful serenitywhich is character ist ic onlyof

thosewhohavenever yet seen."Paul Hasleman,however , has "seen"al l h is l i fe , and

thedarkness that heseeks, when i t f inal ly overwhelmsh im,comes in " longwhite

waves" (A iken, 196P, 234). In h is Pol i t ics of Exper ience, R. D. Laing (1967)has noted

that today

immediate exper ienceof, in contrast to bel ief or fai th in , a sp ir i tual realmof

demons, sp ir i ts , Powers, Dominions, Pr incipal i t ies , SeraphimandCherubim,

theL ight , i s evenmoreremote. As domains of exper iencebecomemoreal ien

to us, weneedgreater andgreater open‐mindedness evento conceiveof their

ex istence.

Paul knowsthat noone in h is immediate wor ld possesses suchopen‐mindedness and

that only l ie canappreciate thedel icacyof h is secret . Heth inks i t outrageousto

evenshare i t with thoseuncomprehendingand immune‐to‐mysteryadults who

surroundhim,checkmat ingh is wonder. But what Paul sees, i t should be

remembered, al though i t seems l ike madness to themodernmind, wasonceasought

after v is ion; a largepercentageof thewor ld 's famedmyst ics has, at onet imeor

another , exper iencedav is ionofwhiteness as a revelat ionof

God’s g lory.

In the lore of Hasid ic Judaism, for example, Mart in

Buber (1947) te l ls us , canbe foundment ionofa phenomenon

knownas the"f i rst l ight"which is thetruesourceofa l l

wisdom;

Beforethesoul enters theair of th is wor ld, i t i s

conductedthroughal l thewor lds. Last of a l l , i t i s

shownthe f i rst l ight whichonce—whenthewor ld wascreated‐ i l luminatedal l

th ings, andwhichGodremovedwhenmankindgrewcorrupt . Why is thesoul




shownth is l ight?Sothat , fromthat hour on, i t mayyearnto attain the l ight ,

andapproach i t rungbyrung in i ts l i fe onearth. Andthosewhoreach i t , the

zaddikim, into themthe l ight enters , andout of them it sh ines intothewor ld

again. That is thereasonwhy i t wash idden. (38)

Paul Hasleman is best understood, i i seemstome,as a fai led zaddikim : the"f i rst

l ight"doesnot somuchenter h imas heenters i t , andhedoesnot attain i t "rungby

rung"but only throughabackward leapwhichstands in re lat ionto i t as a kindof

b lackhole; the l ight remains with in h imanddoesnot sh ineout again intotheouter

wor ld to becomeacommonpossess ion, But h is death is , in a

sense, heroic. he seeks i t ; he even feels everystepof i ts

"del ic ious progress"andconsciouslyprefers i t to thedeath‐

in‐ l i fe hesees aroundhim. And in anage in which—as Ivan

I l l ich predicts in Medica l Nemesi s—obituar ies wi l l soonbe

wr it ten in thepass ive voice, to dothat is a kindofheroism.

References

Aiken, C. (1960) TheCol lectedShortStor iesof ConradAiken. Pr inceton: Pr inceton

Univers i tyPress .

Buber , M. (1947) TheTenRungs: Hasid ic Sayings. NewYork: SchockenBooks: 38.

Laing, R. D. (1967) ThePol i t ics of Experience . NewYork; Bal lant ineBooks: 126.

Mart in , J . ( 1962) ConradAiken; AL i fe of His Art . Pr inceton: Pr inceton

Univers i tyPress: 83.

Mi l ler , J . Hi l l i s (1963)“TheL i teraryCr i t ic ismofGeorgesPoulet .” ModernLanguage

Notes : 77: 477.

Trevor‐Roper , (1970) TheWorld ThroughBluntedS ight . Indianapol is : Bobbs‐Merr i l l :

162.

VonSenden,M. (1932) SpaceandS ight . Or ig inal ly publ ished, 1932. NewYork: The

FreePress , 1960.

Zukerkandl V. (1956) SoundandSymbol : MusicandtheExternal World . Trans. W.

Trask. Pr inceton: Pr incetonUnivers i tyPress .

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