Modernist Lionhunting: An Exploration of Patronage in the Cultural Imaginary
Modernist Lionhunting: An Exploration of Patronage in the Cultural Imaginary

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to discuss modernist literary patronage in order to comment on the myths of modernism in a twofold manner. Firstly, the form patronstake in the cultural imaginary of modernist writers directly influences the final versions of their works. Thinly veiled versions of patrons appear time and again in various modernist novels, contributing to the way patrons are perceived in real-lifeas well as in academic discourse. By being reduced to lionhunters or two-dimensional characters in romans à clef, patrons are mythologised, which allows writersto navigate the difficult power dynamics and expectations of literary patronagemore easily. Secondly, studying the way patrons are written and talked about allows us to critically engage another, bigger myth of modernism: that of the authorand their creative dominance. By looking at Lady Ottoline Morrell, a modernistpatron, and her beneficiaries, D. H. Lawrence and Aldous Huxley among others,this paper provides a novel perspective on modernist works and their conception.

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