ELIZABETH DALTON
413
Eros and death are inextricably connected, which is the most prob–
lematic aspect not only of sex but of life itself.
There is a whole category of pornography that deals in cruelty,
with bound and gagged male bodies, chains and handcuffs and other
appliances not unlike the needles and spikes of the Harrow. Some
devotees of this material even like fantasies set in concentration
camps. "In The Penal Colony" comes close to this kind of porno–
graphy at times; it uses some of the same symbolism and evokes
some of the same responses.
Yet it is plainly not pornography. One reason for this is the
austerity of the style . Although the story presents the details of the
torture with a kind of lingering relish, they are also described with a
precision so clinical, bathed in the harsh light of an observation so
accurate, that the prurient curiosity aroused by the fantasy is chilled
by the style . Thus the style functions not only to display the fantasy,
but also to control it.
The central character, the explorer, from whose point of view
the story is told , functions in the same way . The explorer's most
striking quality is his detachment: "He traveled only as an observer,
with no intention at all of altering other people's methods of ad–
ministering justice." He is not personally involved, at least at the
manifest level. His remoteness creates an odd perspective on the
events of the story ; it functions, like the prose style, in a kind of dou–
ble way. Because the explorer does not respond with immediate in–
dignation, the officer is permitted to go on at length about the
machine and the torture. The fantasy can be fully developed, laid
out to view. The reader's curiosity is not inhibited, in fact it is some–
how licensed by the explorer's own apparently detached and scien–
tific attitude.
Yet at the same time the explorer's coolness creates a distance
between the reader and the fantasy. The very oddness of his
response - the inappropriateness of his affect, so to speak - is
disconcerting.
It
undermines the appeal of the fantasy . The disparity
between the reserve of his manner and the monstrosity of the situa–
tion creates irony and black humor. Irony and humor are not neces–
sarily fatal to pornography , but pornography is generally intended
to produce a simple "kinetic" response, to quote Stephen Dedalus.
The irony of this story, however, creates a very complex response
that includes excitement, revulsion, indignation, and an awareness
of historical, religious, and philosophical allusions and parallels.
