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W A R R E N L. Y O U N G

ESCAPISM IN LITERATURE AND LIFE

Escapism is, as other coined words are, a value-leaded term -- this

means that there has been attached to the word an ethical connotation,
which, it seems, has created a social stigma association. The social
stigma appears when the word is used as a noun, or transformed into an
adjective as escapist, or when used as the verb in a context of escape from
a situation by creating one which appears to the creator, before he has
experienced it, to be better than that in which he finds himself.
The important thing here is the treatment of the noun. If we recognize
that the use of the noun in context results in its becoming a type of
complex catch-all, inclusive even of the verb, indicating a direction of
action, and, above all, containing the social stigma, then we must arrive
at the following conclusion: To speak in absolute terms, as in using the
term escapism, reveals only ignorance or mis-interpretation of reality.
In the basic complexities of this existence, absolutes tend only to obscure
situations, not to improve them, if improvement is our object. Even
those who justify absolutes as a means of understanding processes
introduce disguised variables (esp. value judgements) and then justify
their inclusion by expanding their previously self-contained and all-
inclusively functioning systems or terms.
If we accept the above point of departure, we must treat Escapism
in terms of senses of action. There seems to be two senses of Escapism
which one can work with or describe: the traditional sense and the
dynamic sense (as I call them). The traditional sense of Escapism is
the one which is most familiar to the mass culture and the ethical judge-
ment on it is made by them through the apparatus of the conventional
wisdom. This type of escapism is the attempt of the individual to escape
the drudgery of the situation he finds himself in; an attempt to provide
himself with a personal utopia. This attempt is]can be viewed in three
ways by the public
a) It can be viewed as a character weakness, when the escapist indivi-
dual realizes that the only final escape is death
b) It can be viewed as the moral triumph of "advancing" ones self
by "self-improvement" (self-delusory as it will be seen)
c) it can be viewed in the light of the intellectual triumph of the
Greeks in developing transeendental or idealist thought, which leads to
"scientific" discovery or discovery of all inclusive metaphysical systems.
When some individuals realize that death is the only final escape,
though, it seems that they begin to think about systems which transcend
death: about universals, ideals, and absolutes (in the Platonic sense).
They become a type of Platonist: pure scientists, as we find in Swift's.
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Laputa. These Platonists possess a theory about existence, but, as

Kierkegaard points out, the possession of a theory about existence may
intoxicate the possessor to such a degree that he forgets the need of
existence altogether. Furthermore, from the point of view of theoretical
knowledge existence is negligible. This is exactly what we see happening
in Laputa, but we also see that in the conventional wisdom, this is
viewed as an intellectual triumph, and at the core of the traditional
Western philosophy.
The other type of individual, the one who wishes for death, is viewed as
having a weak character, but yet he is only fleeing from the prospect of
boredom, and this flight -- which is in fact a flight from himself -- be-
comes his form of desperation and therefore of despair " . . . Despair is
the sickness unto death, the sickness in which we long to die but cannot
die; thus, it is the extreme emotion in which we seek to escape from
ourselves..."
This type of Escape, and type (b) (see above), may only be a self-justi-
fication as evidenced by the individuals protestation of an attempt to
"find-himself". But the attempt to find ones-self entails majour quali-
fications:
1) This attempt may be a form of justification for the traditional
escape and viewed as a character weakness
2) the development of self can only be realized when the individuals
truly own vocational, intellectual, and spiritual interests (those which he
alone desires to follow -- within a self-imposed rational moral frame-
work) are followed by himself to the fullest extent. The mass culture can
create a barrier to this, and thus if is only achieved by rigourons self-
introspection. It is only when this condition is followed that true self
can be found (or developed).
Of course, it is not hard to become the individual of view (b) (see
above), but, it may seem that this individual is actually becoming that
static organization man whose actions are described by Pascal:
(the organization man e s c a p e s ) . . , by means of the two sovereign
anodynes o f " h a b i t " and "diversion". Man chases a bouncing ball or
rides to hounds after a fleeing animal; or the ball and fleeing game are
pursued through the labyrinth o f social intrigue and amusement; anything,
so long as he manages to escape from himself. Or, solidly enforced in
habit the good citizen, surrounded by wife and family, secure in his job,
need not cast his eye on the quality of his days as they pass, and see
how each day entombs some hope or dream forgotten and how the next
morning wakes him to a round that becomes even narrower and more
congealed. Both habit and diversion, so long as they work, conceal from
man "his nothingness, his forlorness, his inadequacy, his impotence
and his e m p t i n e s s . " . . .
To take a case in point, let us contrast the characters of Tom and Jim
DIVERSA 379

in Tennessee Williams' play, Glass Menagerie, by looking at the escapist

types which they follow. Jim, in one sense, tries to improve himself, but
he violates any attempt to develop his self. Jim justifies his entrance into
the scientific establishment by rationalising that science is the "wave of
the future" and his own best "interests", materially, will be served by
entering into this "growth industry". This reminds one of an ad-man at
BBDF & O talking about his own "organization" in the terms of the
conforming organization man.
Tom, on the other hand, is not the escapist with the character weakness,
as the conventional wisdoms portrays him; but Jim is. Tom finds himself
by going into the real world, and not remaining in his quasi-fantastical
family situation. He complements my condition for the discovery of self
(see above) by following what his own intellectual and spiritual interests
are, and developes his self.
One may say that Jim is escaping from the potentials of the human
self, while Tom is developing them. Jim is submerging himself, Tom
is asserting himself.
The escapism of Toms mother Amanda is, rightly so, criticised by
the conventional wisdom as being a character weakness. But yet, the
sympathy of the conventional viewer is with Amanda for trying to
"improve" her children. Thus when T o m leaves, he is eriticised by the
conventional wisdom as also weak in character, and here we see the
true colours of the organization psyche, with total sympathy going to the
destructiveness of Amanda's escapist tendencies (e.g. living in past;
submerging her daughter Laura) while the self-assertion of Tom is viewed
as an evil character weakness i.e. deserting his "poor mother, and sister".
A more complex case is that of the romantic poets, and we must
differentiate between the actions of the individuals themselves, and what
their philosophy was. In self assertion, the romantic poets are without
peer; however, in their concentration upon the ideal, they never con-
templated the real. Maybe it is a well deserved rest for the individual to
take time off, and to contemplate ideal nature for a period of time, but
when contemplation is overstressed, the situation ethic has disastrous
consequences, unless all can or will to (in the Nietzsehean sense) partake
in the utopia of one roans' creation 9Prolonged contemplation leads only
to thinking about the irrationality and helplessness of man in the human
situation, present even in Pascal:
9 "The natural misfortune of our mortal and feeble condition is
so wretched that when we consider it closely, nothing can console u s " . . . ,
and leads to the consideration of the inevitability of death. This leads
to a special type of despair, of which Kierkegaard never contemplated.
It is the despair of alienation (and meaninglessness of the individual)
in the modern world, the nuclear sword of total destruction above all
our heads. One has either two choices -- becoming the organization man,
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which is, in fact,: an,adulteration o f the dynamic sense of escapism, or

following the truly dynamic sense of escapism.
This dynamic sense, consists of a concentration on our daily affairs,
a concentration with a sense o f altruistic humanism, but an altruism
consisting of social consciousness, an effort at the betterment of the
entire human situation. It is a course of action, not of hope, action for
the betterment of man in his world, and maintaining the balance between
man and his world. This dynamic sense is an attempt to relieve ourselves
of thinking about the inevitability of death (a Christian-Platonist heritage
resulting in a fear of death -- which is non-existent in the Judaic tradi-
tion); a n attempt to break with the path escapism would follow if the
trend to relieve one-self of the burden of thinking about death progresses
i.e. returning to the static, traditional sense of an attempt to transcend
death by establishing universal metaphysical systems (e.g. Christianity,
Platonism). (The Christian concept being that this life is unreal; one
should plan for the next life while living this one, without planning for
this life for its sake alone; o n e should be conscious in his planning to
consider the influences of his actions in this life on his next life, while
"planning" or "living" with the subconscious fears and anxiety of the
next life influencing this one.)
This is the vicious cycle of Escapism; the dynamic being adulterated
in two ways: turning into the organizational escape, or into the trans-
cendental escape. A break is needed at the point where the desire to
not think about death is manifest. This break is best put forth by Spinoza:
9 " T h e free man never thinks of death, but only of l i f e " . . .
This is the final existential philosophy -- a philosophy of life, not of
the Platonist -- permeated philosophy of alienation and despair (non-
Kierkegaardian) of Sartre or Camus, a philosophy of dynamic escape,
not o f destructive escape: F o r if man desires to escape the organisation
or the absolute, his only course is to develop his self - in this life.

TAM/~.S B~CSY

MAX BLUESTONE: FROM STORY TO STAGE

Mr Max Bluestone has undertaken to examine twenty Elizabethan

dramas to. discover how contemporary authors adapted the events
described in prose to become the plots Of dramas. The titles of his three
main chapters: "Adaptation and the means of imitation", "Adaptation
and t h e imitation of changer', "Adaptation and moral substance"; are
already an indication that this !is not, str!ctly speaking, a "philological"