Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English Winter 12-2-2013 Sublime Subjects and Ticklish Objects in Early Modern English Utopias Stephen Mills Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss Recommended Citation Mills, Stephen, "Sublime Subjects and Ticklish Objects in Early Modern English Utopias." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2013. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/116 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SUBLIME SUBJECTS AND TICKLISH OBJECTS IN EARLY MODERN ENGLISH UTOPIAS by STEPHEN DANIEL MILLS Under the Direction of Dr. Calvin Thomas and Dr. Paul J. Voss ABSTRACT Critical theory has historically situated the beginning of the “modern” era of subjectivity near the end of the seventeenth century. Michel Foucault himself once said in an interview that modernity began with the writings of the late seventeenth-century philosopher Benedict Spinoza. But an examination of early modern English utopian literature demonstrates that a modern notion of subjectivity can be found in texts that pre-date Spinoza. In this dissertation, I examine four utopian texts—Thomas More’s Utopia , Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis , Margaret Cavendish’s Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World , and Henry Neville’s Isle of Pines — through the paradigm of Jacques Lacan’s tripartite model of subjectivity—the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real. To mediate between Lacan’s psychoanalytic model and the historical aspects of these texts, such as their relationship with print culture and their engagement with po- litical developments in seventeenth-century England, I employ the theories of the Marxist- Lacanian philosopher, Slavoj Žižek, to show that “early modern” subjectivity is in in fact no dif- ferent from critical theory’s “modern” subject, despite pre-dating the supposed inception of such subjectivity. In addition, I engage with other prominent theorists, including Fredric Jameson, Jacques Derrida, and Donna Haraway, to come to an understanding about the ways in which crit- ical theory can be useful to understand not only early modern literature, but also the contempo- rary, “real” world and the subjectivity we all seek to attain. INDEX WORDS: Utopia , Thomas More, New Atlantis , Francis Bacon, Blazing World , Margaret Cavendish, Isle of Pines , Henry Neville, Slavoj Žižek, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Fredric Jameson SUBLIME SUBJECTS AND TICKLISH OBJECTS IN EARLY MODERN ENGLISH UTOPIAS by STEPHEN DANIEL MILLS A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2013 Copyright by Stephen Daniel Mills 2013 SUBLIME SUBJECTS AND TICKLISH OBJECTS IN EARLY MODERN ENGLISH UTOPIAS by STEPHEN DANIEL MILLS Committee Chairs: Calvin Thomas Paul J. Voss Reader: Paul Schmidt Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University December 2013 iv DEDICATION Dedicated to Zora Edna Mills, my reason for being. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to extend thanks to the Georgia State University department of English for shaping and molding me into a scholar who could complete this dissertation. The department chairs during my time at Georgia State--Matthew Roudané and Randy Malamud--fostered an ex- emplary environment for undergraduate and graduate learning. I have also benefitted from the pedagogical training I received at Georgia State Universi- ty. The Directors of First Year Writing during my time as a Graduate Teaching Assistant-- Lynée Gaillet, Marti Singer, and Baotong Gu--provided extensive support in indoctrinating me and other graduate students into college-level teaching. I would also like to thank Elizabeth Lopez, taught me how to teach business writing. Because of these faculty members I quickly learned how to teach and that teaching is my calling. Some individual faculty members also deserve thanks, including Scott Lightsey, who made me love Chaucer even more, Reiner Somlinski, who made me love Edward Taylor, and Beth Burmester, who got me to read innumerable classical texts on rhetoric. Their guidance has stayed with me since I took their classes. Thanks to Murray Brown taught me the finer arts of organizing a conference. And finally, I thank Tom McHaney, who brought me into the graduate program. I would also like to thank the four Renaissance literature faculty members at Georgia State, each of whom taught me a great deal about Renaissance literature, writing, and how to ex- ist in the academic profession. Wayne Erickson led me through the winding roads of Edmund Spenser’s The Shephearde’s Calendar and The Faerie Queene . Stephen Dobranski provided an excellent introduction to Milton, seventeenth century literature, and textual scholarship. And vi finally, Jim Hirsh provided me a new perspective on Shakespeare with his uncanny ability to make the seemingly simple much more complex and to make the complex seem much more sim- ple. And finally I would like to thank my dissertation committee, all of whom provided de- tailed yet succinct feedback during my writing of this dissertation. Ian Almond introduced me to the Frankfurt School. Paul Schmidt taught the first class I took as a graduate student, and did not call me out even though I was late to the first day of class. My director, Calvin Thomas, intro- duced me to critical theory and was immensely helpful in making sure my use of theory made sense. And finally, I want to thank Paul Voss, the professor who originally gave me the crazy idea of going to graduate school. Graduate school has been an invaluable, life-affirming, and life-changing experience that was made easier through Paul Voss’s mentorship, guidance, and support. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v LIST OF FIGURES x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCING UTOPIA 1 THE SYMBOLIC ORDER: FRANCIS BACON’S NEW ATLANTIS 2 THE IMAGINARY ORDER: MARGARET CAVENDISH’S A DE- SCRIPTION OF A NEW WORLD, CALLED THE BLAZING WORLD 4 THE REAL: HENRY NEVILLE’S THE ISLE OF PINES 8 UTOPIAN STUDIES THAT ILLUSTRATE LACAN’S SYMBOLIC 10 ORDER UTOPIAN STUDIES THAT ILLUSTRATE LACAN’S IMAGINARY 13 ORDER UTOPIAN STUDIES THAT ILLUSTRATE LACAN’S REAL 20 CHAPTER 2: “IF ONLY THIS WERE SOME DAY POSSIBLE”: THE EXE- CRATION, CONSECRATION, AND CATECHIZATION OF HUMANIST OPTIMISM IN THOMAS MORE'S UTOPIA 24 MORE’S UTOPIA : THE TEXT AND ITS CRITICAL HERITAGE 26 THE SYMBOLIC ORDER IN UTOPIA : PATRIARCHALISM, FAMI- LY, AND THE NAME OF THE FATHER 34 THE SYMBOLIC ORDER IN UTOPIA : OBLIGATORY TEMPER- ANCE AND THE FORECLOSURE OF DESIRE 41 THE IMAGINARY ORDER IN UTOPIA : RELIGION AND THE viii FELLING OF TRADITION 44 THE IMAGINARY ORDER IN UTOPIA : ALIENATION 48 THE IMAGINARY ORDER IN UTOPIA : SCIENCE 51 THE IMAGINARY ORDER IN UTOPIA : PRIVILEGED SUBJECTS 52 THE IMAGINARY ORDER IN UTOPIA : MONEY AND PRIVATE PROPERTY 53 THE IMAGINARY ORDER IN UTOPIA : MACHIAVELLI 54 THE IMAGINARY ORDER IN UTOPIA : MADE-UP WAR 56 THE IMAGINARY ORDER IN UTOPIA : MADE UP LANGUAGE 57 THE REAL IN UTOPIA : MORE-THE-CHARACTER, MORE-THE- AUTHOR, AND MORE-THE-NEITHER 59 THE AFTERLIFE OF MORE’S UTOPIA : SIXTEENTH CENTURY AND BEYOND 62 CHAPTER 3: POWER IS KNOWLEDGE: FRANCIS BACON’S NEW ATLANTIS AND SUBJECTIVITY 65 PATRIARCHY IN BACON’S NEW ATLANTIS 66 RELIGION IN BACON’S NEW ATLANTIS 74 THE HOUSE OF SALOMON 78 TECHNOLOGY IN BACON’S NEW ATLANTIS 82 AUTHORITARIANISM IN BACON’S NEW ATLANTIS 89 CONCLUSION 92 CHAPTER 4: MARGARET CAVENDISH AND THE CREATION, PUB- LISHING, AND EMPOWERING OF SUBJECTIVITY IN THE BLAZING ix WORLD 94 BIOGRAPHY OF CAVENDISH 95 ANALYSIS OF CAVENDISH’S WORKS 96 THE BLAZING WORLD IN DIGEST 99 GENDER 102 ISOLATION AND ALIENATION 105 FOUCAULT’S ART OF GOVERNMENT 108 AUTHORITARIANISM 111 INTERROGATION OF SCIENTISTS 117 SUBJECTIVITY THROUH BADIOU 118 POST-HUMANISM: “IN ANIMALS, KNOWLEDGE IS A COAPTATION, AN IMAGINARY COAPTATION” 121 CONCLUSION 126 CHAPTER 5: HENRY NEVILLE'S ISLE OF PINES AND THE FOUR WIVES OF THE (REAL) APOCALYPSE 128 NEVILLE’S ISLE OF PINES: TEXTS, PARATEXTS, AND PRESEN- TATION 130 PATRIARCHY AND RACE IN THE ISLE OF PINES 136 RELIGION IN THE ISLE OF PINES 143 TECHNOLOGY IN THE ISLE OF PINES 148 ISOLATION IN THE ISLE OF PINES 150 CONCLUSION 163 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS 165 x WORKS CITED 169 xi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 - Utopian alphabet and verses from the 1516 Louvain edition of 58 Utopia Figure 2.2 - Utopian alphabet and verses from the 1518 Basel edition of Utopia 58 Figure 5.1 - Isle of Pines Frontispiece 132 Figure 5.2 - Isle of Pines Frontispiece Top Left Detail 133 Figure 5.3 - Isle of Pines Frontispiece Top Right Detail 133 Figure 5.4 - Isle of Pines Frontispiece Bottom Left Detail 134 Figure 5.5 - Isle of Pines Frontispiece Bottom Right Detail 135 Figure 5.6 - Isle of Pines Frontispiece Bottom Left Detail 145 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCING UTOPIA It is true that this isolated “being”—foreign to what is not it—is the form in which existence and truth at first appeared to you. It is to this irreducible difference—which you are—that you must relate the sense of each object. Yet the unity which you are flees from you and escapes: this uni- ty would only be a dreamless slumber if chance disposed of it according to your most anxious will. Georges Bataille - Inner Experience Utopia is a state of mind. It is not a socially-constructed psychological state or an ideol- ogy, but merely an attitude, a specific state of consciousness. Achieving utopia may not happen, but if an individual’s utopia appears, it arrives at the very moment of individuation.