The Manipulation of History in D.M. Thomas's the White Hotel

"Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different."

-T. S. Eliot (qtd. in Inventions of the March Hare xxiii)

D.M. Thomas's The White Hotel: a surprise best-seller, excellent text, and target of much criticism. Thomas came under critic fire for his alleged plagiarism of Anatoli Kuznetzov's documentary novel, Babi Yar. The charge: certain liberation with Kuznetzov's interview of Dina Pronicheva, survivor of Babi Yar, one of the many tragedies of the Nazi Machine. Thomas faces charges also of portraying atrocities, especially dealing with the Holocaust, even though he was not a survivor himself therefore making a mockery of the greatest catastrophe that human kind ever committed. But as a redeeming factor, T. S. Eliot in the quote above outlines what makes a poet mature. Thomas being a poet, falls into this framework: he has taken an event, related it and made it something different. The feelings are the same, but he fictionalized real history to make the fiction more real. Is it not the duty of the author to appeal to the reader's senses? It may not be ethical or justifiable, but if it works, it works. Thus Thomas in his post-modernist work The White Hotel, manipulates history, real and unreal, to appeal to the senses and to prove that white hotel is a unique and beautiful structure.

"Many of the most important events of the 20^th century are mentioned in [The White Hotel]: the Russian Revolution, World War II, the Holocaust" (Klonowska 89). But these events are merely side notes, mentioned only in passing and never being directly addressed. Although all of these events are occurring, Lisa never assails them. Most of the concerns throughout the text revolve around Lisa and her pains. The reader does not learn until near the apex of the novel that The White Hotel falls into the genre of Holocaust fiction. Thomas's manipulation of the history-reality outside of the novel draws the reader to examine the history of the text just read and also of the history learned through the education process. The doubling and mirroring between sections of Thomas's work demand a rereading to fully grasp what occurred between the lines for Lisa. The twisting of the plot to spring upon the reader that somewhere in the history of the text there lies a clue to Lisa's past and future is a wonderful technique and it is used frequently. The use of surprises leads to the understanding of the deliberate ignorance of the world towards the policies of Nazi Germany. In reality, Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf states his entire plan of action if and when he came to power. The book was read by those in the foreign policy offices around the world and suggested to be examined by the leaders of the great powers, but they believed that this book was only the rantings of a small and menial political figure. Ignorance was a reality during this time, and Thomas utilizes the ignorance in his fictional work to create an alternate reality to allow those who had not lived then to live it now. Thomas knew how to play the strings to make the puppet dance.

The alleged plagiarism of Kuznetzov's Babi Yar is another example of Thomas's twisting of reality. Thomas did not plagiarize Babi Yar, but fused it into his fiction. Thomas was quoted on this matter:

Plagiarism is unacknowleged borrowing and my sources were acknowledged, so that charge didn't stick. But there are still people who think it is somehow wrong that I have used an eye-witness account and fused it into my fiction. (qtd. in Klonowska 82)

He made Lisa's death and suffering real. For a non-survivor the only way possible to recreate the reality of torment in that magnitude was to apply an actual account. Therefore Lisa's story became genuine and not a fantasy produced in a creative mind. This fusing of realty and fiction creates a sense of clarity. Some one witnessed the event at Babi Yar. Some one experienced the terror. Like an actor researching his role, Thomas researched the atrocity and reproduced in such a manner to make it very real - to clarify history. History is known to be written by those who triumph, but this history is written by one who has lost. Dina Pronicheva would not have been the same person after witnessing, and participating, in the destruction at Babi Yar. Thomas wound the strings tightly and squeezed every bit of reality out of the fictitious Lisa that was possible.

In the mock Freudian case study "Frau Anna G.," Lisa is recorded as saying to Freud, "It's a mixture of the past and present, like I am" (118). But Lisa does not consider her sensitivity towards second sight. She is a product of the past and future converging on her present. Her present state-the pains, the trouble eating, the trouble breathing-is a combination of her past and future. Although the future is not written, it imposes a forced path on Lisa's life. If she were to go beyond the limitations set by her visions, then she may have lived a happy life. Freud admits to her sensitivity (196) and regrets not devoting more time to that aspect of her psyche. Her breathing difficulties could extend from her oral experiences in her past with the sailors that worked for her father. But the pains in her left breast and ovary are certainly foreknowledge. Near the end of "The Sleeping Carriage" while Lisa is lying in the ravine a broken woman, several SS men begin to search the bodies for loot. One of the Nazis catches a glimpse of Lisa's crucifix around her neck. He attempts to rip it free from her neck, but stops when he realizes that she is still alive. He then crashes his boot into her left breast and then into her pelvis. The SS man then takes the crucifix and leaves Lisa to be buried alive. When two men came to fill in the hole dug to bury the bodies, they discovered that Lisa was still alive. They pulled her out of the pit and performed intercourse with a bayonet blade. After a few laughs the one soldier thrust the blade deep and ended Lisa's life. Knowing this now, the reader must then remember all the circumstances that had arisen over the course of the entire novel and realize all of the allusions made to the end. Thomas's skillful maneuvering of history embeds in the reader a desire to read the novel again to rediscover the history.

Marsha Kinder points out that "the novel implies that Freud's work is somewhat limited" (147). This seems to be somewhat true. The letters that Thomas placed at the beginning of the text presents Freud as a jealous, self-centered elitist. This would denote that all of Freud's work is subconsciously in competition with his student Carl Jung amongst others. This would blur the notion that his case study would be an accurate analysis of Lisa's case. He may have concentrated on certain facts and theories due to his hope of publication. Therefore missing large concerns such as Lisa's sensitivity to second sight. Historically speaking, Freud's theories revolutionized the thinking process and what lies behind the reasons that certain decisions are made in life. But Jung's theories challenged Freud's and sparked a movement to create new theories, some of which have put Freud's sexually obsessed theories on the back burner, so to speak. Freud's personal relevance in history is then challenged by Thomas via creating an entire mock case study that was erroneous. Thomas made a statement looking in retrospect from 1981: whereas hailed as the founding father of a great psychoanalytical movement, Freud himself possessed some of the same problems that he discovered in his patients, making his journey not of the people but of himself. So once again Thomas has manipulated reality to aid the reader in grasping the concept that history is subjective.

Hana Wirth-Nesher argues that "Thomas is examining the claims made for psychoanalysis as one of the reigning ideologies in this century" (16). Thomas is looking at how psychoanalysis has affected the thought of people today and examining whether or not the claims are valid. Bearing in mind that almost his entire novel is based on the psyche of Lisa and how she deals with what she is, psychoanalysis must be valid. It seems to offer acceptable views of why Lisa experiences the pains that ail her through her history. Also, The White Hotel provides a "kaleidoscopic view" of Lisa's life in this century (Siegelman 69). The different colors of history are apparent in Thomas's novel. There is the history according to the Jewish population, the history according to the victors of the war, the history according to psychoanalysis, and the history according to Lisa Erdman.

The idea of personal history versus collective history is evident in The White Hotel. Thomas attempts to put into perspective the personal history of all who died.

The Soul of man is a far country, which cannot be approached or explored. Most of the dead were poor and illiterate. But every single one of them had dreamed dreams, seen visions and had amazing experiences, even the babes in arms (perhaps especially the babes in arms). Though most of them had never lived outside the Podol slum, their lives and histories were as rich and complex as Lisa Erdman-Berenstein's. If a Sigmund Freud had been listening and taking notes from the time of Adam, he would still not fully have explored even a single group, even a single person. (250)

Thomas pointedly states that if "a Sigmund Freud" (italics mine) had taken notes since the beginning of time, he would not have fully explored the soul of a single person. Thomas is trying to push the notion that although one may try, history cannot elucidate personal experience. History as a whole must remain collective, but personal history must not be forgotten or ignored.

Despite the ill feelings from many critics, The White Hotel manipulates history to achieve its ends. The means by which, in some opinions, are unethical. But Thomas evokes feelings and thinking, therefore completing his duty as author. T.S. Eliot is then right: Thomas, as a mature poet, steals and makes better thus facing the test of time and himself becoming a part of history.

Works Cited

Eliot, T. S. Inventions of the March Hare. Ed. Christopher Ricks. New York: Harcourt, 1998.

Kinder, Marsha. "The Spirit of The White Hotel." Humanities in Society 4 (Spring-Summer

1981): 143-170.

Klonowska, Barbara. "Totality and Individuality: History vs. a History in D.M. Thomas's The

White Hotel. Approaches to Fiction. Ed. Leszek S. Kolek. Lublin: Folium, 1996. 81-98.

Siegelman, Ellen Y. "The White Hotel: Visions and Revisions of the Psyche." Literature and

Psychology 33 (1987): 69-76.

Thomas, D.M. The White Hotel. New York: Penguin, 1981.

Wirth-Nesher, Hana. "The Ethics of Narration in D.M. Thomas's The White Hotel." Journal of

Narrative Technique 15 (Winter 1985): 15-28.