Miller, Susan (2013) Shelley’s early fiction in relation to his poetics and his politics: an assessment. Not waiting to see the event of his victory. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4130/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] SHELLEY’S EARLY FICTION IN RELATION TO HIS POETICS AND HIS POLITICS: AN ASSESSMENT Not waiting to see the event of his victory Susan Miller PhD University of Glasgow Department of English Literature September 2012 (c) Susan Miller, 23 September 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Preface & Acknowledgements iii Dedication, A Note on the Text & Abbreviations iv Abstract v Introduction 1-5 Chapter 1 - Zastrozzi and St. Irvyne 6-50 Plates 51-54 Lyric Interlude I ‘A Translation of The Marseillaise Hymn’ 55-57 ‘Dares the Llama’ 58-60 Chapter 2 - Laon and Cythna 61-118 Lyric Interlude II ‘Arethusa’ 119-121 Chapter 3– The Cenci 122-144 Lyric Interlude III ‘Orpheus’ 145-149 Chapter 4 – Prometheus Unbound 150-177 Lyric Interlude IV ‘The Sensitive Plant’ & Adonais 178-182 Conclusion 183-186 Bibliography 187-205 iii Preface & Acknowledgements In terms of the winds of change which are blowing around the world, from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street to the crisis of the Euro and Greek sovereignty, to the electoral reforms with Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, not to mention the terrific natural and nuclear disaster of March 11, 2011 in Northern Japan and the successful landing of the Rover, Curiosity, on Mars on August 5, 2012, Percy Bysshe Shelley is relevant. All of these events can be better understood by reading Shelley, and yet he is a man who remains deeply enigmatic. Many studies of Shelley’s poetry and prose, even in the present era, begin with a statement which stresses the way in which he is undervalued. It would seem that the time is ripe for a deeper appreciation of this Poet, and the author of this study yearns to be a part of that and to make a contribution to it. This is the first ever major study of Zastrozzi and St. Irvyne as they relate to Percy Bysshe Shelley’s later writings. The doctoral thesis has come to fruition in its current form thanks to the excellence, patience and dedicated guidance of my co-supervisors, Richard Cronin and Nigel Leask. In addition to Professors Cronin and Leask, I have John Coyle, the head of the English Literature Department, Alex Benchimol, the postgraduate convenor during the first three years of my studies, Christine Ferguson, the subsequent postgraduate convenor, and the Dean of Graduate Studies of the College of Arts, Deirdre Heddon, to thank for the fact that I have been able to proceed as far as I have. It is to them that I owe the deepest debt of gratitude. Their forward-thinking approach and spirit of generosity are as beacons in the storm. It is hoped that the following document will lend credence to their having faith in me. I received a Scotland-USA scholarship for £2,000 in 2008, the first year of my postgraduate studies, and the only external funding ever awarded to me. I am thrilled to have their support! I would also like to extend a warm thank you to all of the administrators who have helped me with paperwork, in particular Richard Codd and Valerie Stringfellow, and all of the staff and guards who were on duty in the library most days of the year from the wee hours of the morning. Last but not least, I do not know how to express my gratitude to Michael O’Neill, Cian Duffy, and Vassiliki Kolocotroni, nor can I describe the effect that discussing my research with them has had upon me. I hope that both the spirit and the letter of their suggestions are evident in the following pages. iv Dedication This doctoral thesis is dedicated to the people of Japan, especially those of Northern Japan; to all those at Nippon Sport Science University who have helped me achieve this goal, in particular my librarians, Teruko Morita, Naomi Naito, Daisuke Takeuchi, Miyuki Nakashima and Yoshiya Narushige among others; and to the Poet himself, for reasons which Harriet Shelley expresses so well, setting the tone beautifully: Mr. Shelley continues perfectly well, and his Poem of ‘Queen Mab’ is begun *apparently, to be printed+, tho’ it must not be published under pain of death, because it is too much against every existing establishment. It is to be privately distributed to his friends, and some copies sent over to America. Do you [know] any one that would wish for so dangerous a gift? If you do, tell me of them, and they shall not be forgotten. Adieu!1 Zastrozzi and St. Irvyne were published two hundred years ago. It is with a great sense of delight and honor that I present this thesis to commemorate those important milestones. Much of it was written in Tokyo in the wake of the nuclear and natural disaster, and in answer to a question that he left up to posterity to decide, it can be stated unequivocally from personal experience that Percy Bysshe Shelley is a Poet in the sense that he himself defined it, and a very very great one. A Note on the Text This work was prepared using American spelling following the Chicago Manual of Style, sixteenth edition (2010). In citing items in the notes, short titles have generally been used. Although all scholarly editions of the novels were consulted, quotes are from Zastrozzi and St. Irvyne, Oxford University Press, 1986; those of the Marquis de Sade are from The Complete Marquis de Sade, edited by Paul J. Gillette, Holloway House Publishing Co., 1966. Both are cited parenthetically in the body of the thesis immediately following the quote. The major editions of Shelley’s poems and prose were perused, with quotations coming from various ones. For the poems (and this applies to other poets as well), each source is indicated via a footnote the first time a work is introduced, with all subsequent quotes cited via line numbers directly in the text. Prose quotations retain footnotes throughout. Letters are from the Oxford edition of 1964, edited by Frederick L. Jones. Abbreviations Harvard University Press = HUP Cambridge University Press = CUP Johns Hopkins University Press = JHUP Clarendon Press = CP Norton Critical Editions = NCE Oxford University Press = OUP 1 Harriet Shelley to Catherine Nugent, Cooke’s Hotel, Albemarle street, London, 21 May 1813, in The Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley, ed. Frederick L. Jones, 2 vols, (Oxford: CP, 1964), 1:367-368n3. v Abstract This thesis positions itself between two general approaches to Shelley, that of appreciating his poetics, on the one hand, and that of valuing his philosophical vision, on the other. Duffy has noted that “Shelley’s epistemological and political maturity is no longer in any serious doubt”, and he goes on to demonstrate that Shelley’s radical tendencies remained undiminished throughout his lifetime.2 My findings support Duffy’s contention, and broaden it to include not only Shelley’s writings but the actions of his life. At the same time, O’Neill has highlighted the importance of exploring Shelley’s poetry for “its imaginative effect as much as its ideological or philosophical coherence”, and that approach will be utilized here as well.3 My hypothesis is that Shelley’s early fiction, in particular his two early novels, Zastrozzi and St. Irvyne, possess value and deserve attention, and can shed light on his poetics as well as his politics. Moreover, conducting my research has revealed issues of sexism, gender, class and feminism, all of which will be explored. The thesis consists of four main chapters, and four lyric interludes. Chapter one deals with the novels themselves, including their association with the Gothic genre, and offers specific details concerning the delineation and focus of the thesis. Chapter two examines the novels in light of Laon and Cythna or The Revolt of Islam, raising issues of domestic happiness and familial relationships. This lengthy poem, which is frequently neglected in close readings of Shelley, occupies a starring role here. Chapter three continues the examination of the novels as pertains The Cenci, in addition to grappling with matters raised in chapters one and two in a more general context. Finally, chapter four scrutinizes Prometheus Unbound in terms of the Gothic or Romance novels and suggests a new possible interpretation. Interspersed between and complementary to the main chapters is a series of chronologically arranged lyric interludes. This organizational structure, similar to Molière’s use of interludes in The Hypochondriac (Le Malade imaginaire),4 was adopted because these poems are shorter and can stand apart from one another, and it was deemed more appropriate to incorporate them with flexibility into the main argument, like a moon orbiting its planet, rather than grouping them together as a single unit. 2 Cian Duffy, Shelley and the Revolutionary Sublime (Cambridge: CUP, 2005), 1, 202nn2-3. 3 Michael O’Neill, “A Critical Study of the Relationship between Style and Vision in Shelley’s Poetry” (PhD diss., Oxford University, Exeter College, 1980), v.