Change

Certainly Chekhov had the same attitude toward mutability that led Cary to exclaim in a letter, "Change itself is my country" (Joyce Cary:  The Comedy of Freedom, p. 1).  That is the attitude that made Chekhov insist that The Cherry Orchard should be treated as "light comedy," much to the annoyance of his producers at the Moscow Art Theater, who wanted to produce it as "a serious drama of Russian life" (Plays, p. 29).  The Cherry Orchard is about a group of people caught at a time of dramatic change in their lives.  Some welcome it, some resist it, and some do both at once.  They respond to the change ineptly, making themselves look as foolish as they really are; but most of them manage to adjust to the change reasonably well and at the end are ready to get on with the business of living the rest of their lives.  The play is "serious" only to people who wish to deplore the fact that cherry orchards do not last forever, who wish to complain that it is not fair, not just.  But Chekhov, like Cary and James and all other comic artists, knew perfectly well that the truly horrible fate for any human being would be to live in a world that did not change.  A cherry orchard is a very small price to pay for release from the trap of what you are into the freedom of what you might become, even if it turns out, as it usually does, that what you become is not very different from what you were.  (Galligan, Comic Vision in Literature, pp. 178-9)

Decency

Orwell's emphasis on the reciprocal relation between politics (taking that term as broadly as possible) and language is crucial to nearly all of his work, not just one essay.  It leads to or is the product of -- there is no determining which is cause and which is effect -- his highest value, decency.  In a world in which injustice is inevitable and in which, therefore, revolution is certain to be futile, producing only "a temporary relief, such as a sick man gets by turning over in bed" (vol. 4, p. 36), decency in all dealings with others is the highest form of political action; it is also a moral obligation and a psychic necessity.  As an idea it may seem thin and simple, especially to people with any degree of intellectual sophistication, but as a guide to action it is powerful and demanding, the Protestant equivalent of Silone's Catholic ideal of a sacramental sense of communion in daily life.  As a theme for art it is durable and effective.  One could take as an epigraph for Orwell's work, perhaps especially for the four volumes of The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters, a sentence that he wrote in a book review in 1936:  "The fact to which we have to cling, as to a life-belt, is that is possible to be a normal decent person and yet be fully alive" (vol. 1, p. 256).  The extraordinary achievement of the essays is that it is impossible to read them without believing that the "fact" is indeed a fact." 
(Comic Vision, Ch. 6, "Comedy and Injustice," pp. 173-4)

Freedom

The comic vision forces those who are faithful to it to acknowledge that they themselves are part of what they laugh at....  The writer of this book is a fool in various ways, but so, of course, is his reader.  That is an example of what the comic vision does for us; it relieves us of the need to pretend to be more than we are and thereby frees us to make the most of what we are and have.  In the words of the comic master of Walden Pond, "any truth is better than make-believe." 

(from Preface of Galligan, The Comic Vision in Literature)

Introducing "Galligan's Comic Vision"

This blog honors the life and writing of Edward L. Galligan, who died on March 29, 2011 at the age of 85.  In particular, the goal is to explore the many aspects of his study (and living out) of the comic vision of reality in literature and in life.

I took Dr. Galligan’s American Literature class in the fall of 1963 and always remembered him as one of the best teachers at Western Michigan University.   I continued my literature studies in Ann Arbor, and then in New York City, where I settled.  I did not see Dr. Galligan again until 45 years later, when my friend and sister-in-law, Anna Ill, encouraged me, during a summer visit in Kalamazoo, to look him up.  I had recently retired and was ready to resume my education on another level. 

Note:  With my European background, it took time for me to diminish the formal distance between teacher and student, to something like friend or colleague.  I still feel more comfortable referring to “Dr. Galligan,” and am trying to get used to simply “Ed Galligan” -- or “Galligan,” which has a nice lilt to it.

Dr. Galligan lent me copies of two of his books:  The Comic Vision in Literature and The Truth of Uncertainty:  Beyond Ideology in Science and Literature.   Back in New York, I read them with delight, returned the borrowed copies and cleaned out Amazon’s store of inexpensive used copies in order to share them with friends.    We continued corresponding by email about these two books and the literature discussed in them, about further essays that Galligan emailed to me, and about books we were currently reading.   I embarked on reading or re-reading many of the books discussed in Galligan’s criticism, most notably the works of Henry Adams and the novels of Mary Lee Settle.  Such books impressed upon me anew how arduous has been America’s journey toward greater freedom.

From the perspective of a first-generation immigrant in love with American democracy, what strikes me most about Galligan’s writing is its essentially American quality – its unpretentious, freedom-loving, truth-telling realism.   What delights me is seeing how much I can now identify with the comic vision of reality.  I have grown past my earlier stages of romanticism into something much richer.

It seems to me that Galligan’s language is distinctly American English, each well-formed, energetic sentence graceful and to-the-point, and eminently suitable for exposition of the comic vision.  However, such writing bears quite intensive thought and re-reading.   And who takes time for that these days?  It is easier to dip into books and articles fresh off the press that promise up-to-date advances in knowledge.  And so The Comic Vision in Literature is out of print.  Yet I believe it should be enjoyed and studied like a classic, both for its form and its content.

I cannot easily summarize all I have gained from the articulation of complex realities in Galligan’s writings, but I want to mention one thing here, namely, the comic vision’s hostility to all types of ideology.  Ideology is a product of what Galligan (building on William Lynch’s theory of comedy) calls the “univocal mind.”  To put it simply, says Galligan, “the univocal mind is so pleased with its ability to abstract generalizations from the welter of experience that it cannot bear to think of things as anything but examples of the generalizations which it has mastered.”

It is this kind of univocal thinking which is distorting governments and preventing democratic dialogue not only in America but in many other countries.   I believe all of us could benefit from turning our gaze slightly away from current events and looking at the long and complex development of human consciousness and imagination that is expressed in history and in literature.   An effective and enjoyable way to do this is to read the literary criticism of Edward L. Galligan.  Those of you who also saw Galligan live out his ideas can add to our understanding through real-life stories.

I had thought of doing a blog such as this soon after reading The Comic Vision, but got cold feet.  I had even asked Dr. Galligan for permission:

I have the idea of creating a blog where I could discuss with many friends your books and others.   In fact, in such a blog I'd like to promote your books; would that be OK with you?   I'd also like to promote the idea that first-rate books (like yours) that ought to be classics of humane thought should not be overwhelmed by the deluges of publishing and the notion that the newest books are more up to date and probably include the best of the past, which they don't. 

I want to use your books as a focus because they and their language seem so healthy and so full of truth, and they resonate so much with me at this point in my life.  In particular, I want to focus on the Comic Vision, which is spacious and inclusive enough to make room for almost everything else that is useful and delightful.  As evidence how much our society needs renewals of the comic vision one need only think of the current town hall meetings on health care reform!

And he agreed:

Fine.  This sounds like a delightful--and perfectly Quixotic--scheme to me. … Your high praise for those books of mine has left me giddy with delight. I certainly don't want to argue that you are valuing them too highly, but I think I should have the decency to warn you that in high-toned literary circles you are not likely to run into many people who would agree with you. Of course, high-toned people are not likely to admire comedy. …

You have my enthusiastic permission to do whatever you wish with any thing I've ever written, but it would be nice if you also got permission (which may or may not be necessary) from the University of Georgia Press, publisher of The Comic Vision.  I have always been very fond of the wood-prints they used to dress it up; you might want to make some use of them. And if you get to drawing on The Truth of Uncertainty you should check in with the University of Missouri Press, another good publisher that was willing to take a chance on my work.

The great thing about coming to terms with the comic vision is that you will be a very long time in getting to the bottom of it. I'm still trying.

Good luck.

Ed