DOCSLIB.ORG

From Prodigy to Pathology: "Monstrosity" in the British Novel from 1850 to 1930

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
From Prodigy to Pathology: University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2013 From Prodigy to Pathology: "Monstrosity" in the British Novel from 1850 to 1930 Terri Beth Miller University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Miller, Terri Beth, "From Prodigy to Pathology: "Monstrosity" in the British Novel from 1850 to 1930. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2013. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/2462 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Terri Beth Miller entitled "From Prodigy to Pathology: "Monstrosity" in the British Novel from 1850 to 1930." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in English. Urmila Seshagiri, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Stanton B. Garner Jr., Amy Elias, Bryant Creel Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) From Prodigy to Pathology: “Monstrosity” in the British Novel from 1850 to 1930 A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Terri Beth Miller August 2013 Copyright 2013 by Terri Beth Miller. All rights reserved. ii Dedication I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my mother and travel companion, Linda Miller. Thank you for this incredible journey. iii Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude, first and foremost, to my magnificent dissertation committee, Dr. Urmila Seshagiri, Dr. Stanton B. Garner, Jr., Dr. Amy Elias, and Dr. Bryant Creel. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with each of you. Thank you for challenging me, encouraging me, and uplifting me every step of the way. There will never be time enough to articulate what your mentoring and your friendship have meant to me. I also would like to extend special thanks to my dissertation director, Dr. Urmila Seshagiri, whose brilliance is surpassed only by her kindness. You have made this process a joy. I am also thankful for the special contributions of Dr. Ben Lee, who helped to shape this project into what it is today. My sincerest gratitude goes out as well to the amazing professors, staff, and students of the University of Tennessee. I cannot adequately express my appreciation for the unflagging support and constant inspiration you have provided. I am also grateful to the faculty of the Department of English and to our incredible administrative staff, Judith Welch, Dinah Brock, Donna Bodenheimer, and Leanne Hinkle, for making our department feel like home. To my beloved students, I send my gratitude for teaching me far more than I could ever teach you. My deepest thanks go out to the many mentors who guided me so brilliantly along the first stages of this journey: Dr. Taimi Olsen, Dr. Susan North, Dr. Katie Hoffman, Ms. Elizabeth Gordon, and Ms. Mary Boyes. This would not have been possible without you. I am also more grateful than I can express for my wonderful family and friends: my father and mother, Terry and Linda Miller, for loving me through my most unlovable moments; my uncle and aunt, Phillip and Sue Oler, for being my second parents; Jay and Jeff Oler and Susan Boyd, for being the brothers and sister I never had; my uncle and aunt, Roger and Sue Miller, for filling my heart; and the memory of my grandparents, Rev. Tommy and Mabel Oler, for imbuing my earliest moments on this Earth with love and joy. I also send my gratitude and love to my dearest friends and greatest cheerleaders, Amy Greene and Linda Vines Dotson. Above all, I give thanks to the Most High, my fortress and my refuge, Jesus Christ. It is in You that I dwell, breathe, and have my being. It is from You that all blessings derive and it is to You that I give all glory. iv Abstract In this project, I explore cultural representations of aberrant embodiment, society’s monsters, to assess the sociopolitical implications of corporeal deviance. I contend that imaginative literature participates in the re/construction of monstrous bodies as an element of a larger social process of individuation and communal boundary-making, the defining of self and community through exclusionary practices embedded in the body. By situating Victorian and modernist British novels in dialog with one another, I chart a trajectory in cultural understandings of embodied deviance that moves “from prodigy to pathology.” The change occurs, I argue, because the rise of modern medical practices ultimately constitutes the “domestication” of the monster, rendering it knowable, predictable, and containable within the boundaries of the diagnostic paradigm. Whereas the monster in Victorian fiction presents an ambivalent figure, both threatening and alluring, in modernism, the monster has been rendered largely performative and instrumental, the product of its pathologization by scientific discourse. v Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………… .1 Chapter 1: Excess, Transgression, and Transformation: Metamorphic Bodies and the Monstrous City in Dickens’ Bleak House…………………………………………………………..15 Chapter 2: Unbounded Bodies/Unbridled Blood: Beasts Within and Beasts Without in Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Stoker’s Dracula……….……………………66 Chapter 3: Discursive Monsters/Monstrous Discourse: Re/Presenting the Unspeakable Body in Joyce’s Ulysses................................................................................................................124 Chapter 4: Dis/Embodying the Community: Combination, Connection, and Monstrous Singularity in Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway………………………………………………….173 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………………….218 Vita……………………………………………………………………………………………...227 vi Introduction: From Prodigy to Pathology 1 All living souls welcome whatever they are ready to cope with; all else they ignore, or pronounce to be monstrous and wrong, or deny to be possible. George Santayana I have seen no more evident monstrosity and miracle in the world than myself. Michel de Montaigne This text centers upon the study of human “monsters,” those beings who, in the radical singularity of their bodies (and, sometimes, their minds) call into question both the status of their own humanity and the limits of the human within us all. Within this context, the term “monstrous” will be used to denote those bodies which, by virtue of a perceived physical, sexual, racial, or psychological difference have been discursively, ideologically, and politically situated outside of an imagined norm that is itself highly contextual and contingent, but which derives its power and its authority through the construction of a monstrous1 other. A core premise of this analysis derives from a founding principle of feminist, post-colonial, and disability studies: that material bodies are at once the substance and the product of ideological construction, the corporeal manifestation of and rationalization for the cultural metanarratives upon which hierarchical norms, values, and power structures are based, as well as the potential and actual sites for the interrogation and contestation of these hegemonic paradigms. As both flesh and discourse, then, bodies function within the social space as the occasion for and outcome of narrative. Within this context, non-normative bodies occupy a unique position in that they at once validate and frustrate the discursive paradigms into which they come, eliciting the normativizing parables seeking to construct and contain the normative subject while also embodying the subversion of that norm, the ever-present reality of the body’s refusal to be circumscribed by natural laws and the social order ostensibly dependent upon and authorized by such laws. 1 I use this term specifically signify those bodies which are perceived to be in some way singular, non-normative, extraordinary, aberrant, or deviant in reference to paradigms of the “normal.” 2 The nexus between body and discourse lies at the heart of this study, then, insofar as the following chapters will highlight and problematize the dialectical networks connecting cultural production with empirical inquiry. Specifically, this analysis will center upon the complex, fluid, and interdependent relationships between literature and science from the high Victorian to the high modernist eras. The centrality of literature to this study derives from the premise that singular embodiments have long occupied a pivotal role in narrative but that the function of such non-normative characters had received relatively little attention prior to the advent of disability studies in the late twentieth century. As David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder note [D]isability pervades literary narrative, first, as a stock feature of characterization and, second, as an opportunistic metaphorical device…a primary impetus of the storyteller’s efforts….[and] a metaphorical signifier of social
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Abjection in Late Nineteenth Century British Literature
    ABJECTION IN LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY BRITISH LITERATURE By Robin Imholte A Project Presented to The Faculty of Humboldt State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in English: Literary and Cultural Studies Committee Membership Dr. Mary Ann Creadon, Committee Chair Dr. Michael Eldridge, Second Reader Dr. Janet Winston, Graduate Coordinator July 2017 ABSTRACT ABJECTION IN LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY BRITISH LITERATURE Robin Imholte In this project, I examine three major British works of literature produced in the last two decades of the nineteenth century: Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure. I show that these works reflect popular trends and fears that arose during this time, including notions of decadence and fears of degeneration. Using Julia Kristeva’s conception of abjection, as described in her work Powers of Horror, I argue that developments throughout the Victorian era: namely the advent of the theory of evolution, the rise and expansion of large-scale industrialization, and the moral and economic benefits and ramifications of global colonization, ultimately led to social and individual insecurities that reverberated throughout popular literature of the time. I conclude that these cultural attitudes and insecurities can be seen reflected in works of literature and in their depiction of characters and behaviors whose self-abjection are a reflection of a society with an unstable self-image. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS By its very nature, a journey through graduate school is not supposed to be easy.
    [Show full text]
  • Exile for Dreamers - Tess’S Story Kathleen Baldwin Baldwin, Page 1
    Exile for Dreamers - Tess’s Story Kathleen Baldwin Baldwin, page 1 Exile for Dreamers —A Stranje House Novel— By Kathleen Baldwin Exile for Dreamers - Tess’s Story Kathleen Baldwin Baldwin, page 2 Dedication To the men who taught me to run, swim, hunt, gallop horses, ride the rapids, ski powder, hang-glide, and rock climb - back when girls did not do that sort of thing. To Daddy, for teaching me to box at a time when it was sacrilegious to strap a pair of boxing gloves on a little girl, and to the boys whose noses I broke – I am truly sorry. And to Susan Thank you for your extraordinary skills as an editor. I’m grateful you can see when I am blind. Exile for Dreamers - Tess’s Story Kathleen Baldwin Baldwin, page 3 Chapter 1 Tess I run to escape my dreams. Dreams are my curse. Every night they haunt me, every morning I outrun them, and every evening they catch me again. One day they will devour my soul. But not today. Not this hour. I ran with Phobos and Trobos, the half wolves half dogs who guard Stranje House. We raced into the cleansing wind. What is the pace of forgetfulness? How fast must one go? “Tess! Wait!” Georgiana’s gasps cut through the peace of the predawn air and broke my rhythm. I slowed to a stop and turned. A moment later, Phobos broke stride too, and trotted back beside me. He issued a low almost imperceptible growl, impatient to return to our race. Georgie leaned forward breathing hard.
    [Show full text]
  • Why Popular Culture Matters
    THE POPULAR CULTURE STUDIES JOURNAL MIDWEST PCA/ACA VOLUME 7 | NUMBER 1 | 2019 WHY POPULAR CULTURE MATTERS EDITED BY: CARRIELYnn D. REINHARD POPULAR CULTURE STUDIES JOURNAL VOLUME 7 NUMBER 1 2019 Editor CARRIELYNN D. REINHARD Dominican University Managing Editor JULIA LARGENT McPherson College Assistant Editor GARRET L. CASTLEBERRY Mid-America Christian University Copy Editor KEVIN CALCAMP Queens University of Charlotte Reviews Editor MALYNNDA JOHNSON Indiana State University Assistant Reviews Editor CHRISTOPHER J. OLSON University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Graphics Editor ETHAN CHITTY Purdue University Please visit the PCSJ at: http://mpcaaca.org/the-popular- culture-studies-journal. Popular Culture Studies Journal is the official journal of the Midwest Popular and American Culture Association. Copyright © 2019 Midwest Popular and American Culture Association. All rights reserved. MPCA/ACA, 421 W. Huron St Unit 1304, Chicago, IL 60654 EDITORIAL BOARD CORTNEY BARKO PAUL BOOTH West Virginia University DePaul University KATIE WILSON ANTHONY ADAH University of Louisville Minnesota State University, Moorhead GARY BURNS BRIAN COGAN Northern Illinois University Molloy College ART HERBIG ANDREW F. HERRMANN Indiana University - Purdue University, Fort Wayne East Tennessee State University CARLOS D. MORRISON KIT MEDJESKY Alabama State University University of Findlay SALVADOR MURGUIA ANGELA NELSON Akita International University Bowling Green State University CARYN NEUMANN ALLISON R. LEVIN Miami University Webster University JENNIFER FARRELL Milwaukee School of Engineering ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: Why Popular Culture Matters ........................ 1 CARRIELYNN D. REINHARD Special Entry: Multimedia Presentation of “Why Popular Culture Matters” ............................................ 4 CARRIELYNN D. REINHARD Editorial: I’m So Bored with the Canon: Removing the Qualifier “Popular” from Our Cultures .......................... 6 SCOTT M.
    [Show full text]
  • Robert Donat, Film Acting and the 39 Steps (1935) Victoria Lowe, University of Manchester, UK
    'Performing Hitchcock': Robert Donat, Film Acting and The 39 Steps (1935) Victoria Lowe, University of Manchester, UK This article offers a speculative exploration of performance in a Hitchcock film by looking in detail at Robert Donat's characterisation of Richard Hannay in The 39 Steps (1935). It has been argued that Hitchcock's preference for the actor who can do nothing well leads to a de- emphasising of the acting skill of his cast whilst foregrounding the technical elements such as editing and mise-en-scène in the construction of emotional effects (Ryall, 1996:159). Hitchcock's own attitude to actors is thought to be indicated by his oft-quoted claim that "actors should be treated like cattle." [1] However, this image of Hitchcock as a director unconcerned with the work of his actors seems to be contradicted both by the range of thoughtful and complex performances to be found in his films and by the testimonies of the actors themselves with regard to working with him. [2] In this article therefore, I will attempt to unpick some of the issues regarding performance in Hitchcock films through a detailed case study of Robert Donat and his performance in The 39 Steps. Initially, I will look at the development of Donat's star persona in the early 1930s and how during the making of The 39 Steps, writing about Donat in the press began to articulate performance as opposed to star discourses. I will then look at some of Donat's published and unpublished writing to determine the screen acting methodologies he was beginning to develop at the time.
    [Show full text]
  • SL English First Semester
    1 111 PANORAMA (PART ONE) Additional English (S.L) Textbook prescribed by SRTM University, Nanded as per CBCS pattern Members of Board of Studies in English, SRTM University, Nanded Dr Mahesh M Nivargi Associate Professor, Department of English, (Chairman) Mahatma Gandhi Mahavidyalaya, Ahmedpur, Dist. Latur – 413515 Dr Ajay R Tengse Associate Professor and Head, Department of English, Yeshwant Mahavidyalaya, Nanded – 431602 Dr Rajaram C Jadhav Head, Department of English, Shivaji Mahavidyalaya, Renapur, Dist. Latur – 413527 Dr Arvind M Nawale Head, Department of English, Shivaji Mahavidyalaya, Udgir, Dist. Latur – 413517 Dr Dilip V Chavan Professor and Head, Department of English, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, SRTM University, Nanded – 431606 Dr Shailaja B Wadikar Associate Professor, Department of English, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, SRTM University, Nanded – 431606 Dr Atmaram S Gangane Associate Professor and Head, Department of English, DSM‘s College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Parbhani – 431401 Dr Manisha B Gahelot Associate Professor, Department of English, People‘s College, Nanded – 431602 Dr Prashant M Mannikar Associate Professor and Head, Department of English, Dayanand College of Arts, Latur – 413512 Dr Kishor N Ingole Assistant Professor, Department of English, Shivaji College, Hingoli – 431513 Dr Uttam B Ambhore Professor, Department of English, Dr BAM University, Aurangabad - 431004 Dr Muktja V Mathakari Principal SNDT College of Home Sciences, Pune – 411 004 Dr Manish S Wankhede Associate Professor, Department of English, Dhanwate National College, Nagpur – 440 027 Mr Sudarshan Kecheri Managing Director, Authorspress, Q-2A, HauzKhas Enclave, New Delhi – 110 016 Dr Sandhya Tiwari, Director, CELT, Palamuru University, Mahbubnagar – 509 001 PANORAMA (Part - I) Additional English (S.L) A Textbook for U.G.
    [Show full text]
  • Claire Gradidge, Thesis
    UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER Innovating from Tradition: Creating an Historical Detective Novel for a Contemporary Audience. Claire Gradidge ORCID Number: 0000-0003-3978-8707 Doctor of Philosophy December 2017 This Thesis has been completed as a requirement for a postgraduate research degree of the University of Winchester. This page is intentionally left blank. DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT STATEMENT Declaration: No portion of the work referred to in the Thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. I confirm that this Thesis is entirely my own work. Copyright: Copyright © Claire Gradidge 2017, ‘Innovating from Tradition: Creating an Historical Detective Novel for a Contemporary Audience’, University of Winchester, PhD Thesis pp 1- 335 ORCID Number: 0000-0003-3978-8707. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. Copies (by any process) either in full, or of extracts, may be made only in accordance with instructions given by the author. Details may be obtained from the RKE centre, University of Winchester. This page must form part of any such copies made. Further copies (by any process) of copies made in accordance with such instructions may not be made without the permission (in writing) of the author. No profit may be made from selling, copying or licensing the author’s work without further agreement. 1 Acknowledgements I should like to thank a number of people for their help and support during the course of my PhD studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Queer Performativity and Grieving Through Music in the Work of Rufus Wainwright
    TRUE LOVES, DARK NIGHTS: QUEER PERFORMATIVITY AND GRIEVING THROUGH MUSIC IN THE WORK OF RUFUS WAINWRIGHT Stephanie Salerno A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2016 Committee: Jeremy Wallach, Advisor Christian Coons Graduate Faculty Representative Kimberly Coates Katherine Meizel © 2016 Stephanie Salerno All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Jeremy Wallach, Advisor This dissertation studies the cultural significance of Canadian-American singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright’s (b. 1973) album All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu (Decca, 2010). Lulu was written, recorded, and toured in the years surrounding the illness and eventual death of his mother, beloved Québécoise singer/songwriter Kate McGarrigle. The album, performed as a classical song cycle, stands out amongst Wainwright’s musical catalogue as a hybrid composition that mixes classical and popular musical forms and styles. More than merely a collection of songs about death, loss, and personal suffering, Lulu is a vehicle that enabled him to grieve through music. I argue that Wainwright’s performativity, as well as the music itself, can be understood as queer, or as that which transgresses traditional or expected boundaries. In this sense, Wainwright’s artistic identity and musical trajectory resemble a rhizome, extending in multiple directions and continually expanding to create new paths and outcomes. Instances of queerness reveal themselves in the genre hybridity of the Lulu song cycle, the emotional vulnerability of Wainwright’s vocal performance, the deconstruction of gender norms in live performance, and the circulation of affect within the performance space.
    [Show full text]
  • Under Lock and Key: Securing Privacy and Property In
    UNDER LOCK AND KEY: SECURING PRIVACY AND PROPERTY IN VICTORIAN FICTION AND CULTURE By David L. Smith Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in English August, 2007 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Professor John Halperin Professor Roy Gottfried Professor Jay Clayton Professor James Epstein To my wife, Beverly, my unfailing source of love, encouragement, and inspiration and To my sons, Chris and Coleman, for patience and good humor ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee for their insights into this project and recommendations for its further development, as well as Professor Carolyn Dever, from whom the idea for this dissertation originated. I owe special gratitude to Professor John Halperin, my dissertation director and a man of sterling character, who, throughout my graduate career, has consistently modeled the kind of scholar and educator I hope to someday become. My family has played a major role in the completion of this project. I am particularly indebted to my parents, Jerry and Jerrie Smith, for their wise counsel and encouragement, and to Rosa Winfree, James and Barbara Henderson, and Kathryn Combs, for their unflagging support. Most of all, I want to thank my loving wife, Beverly, and my terrific sons, Chris and Coleman, for sacrifices and endurance beyond the call of duty. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION................................................................................................................... ii ACKOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………… iii INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………….. v CHAPTER I. A KEY OF ONE’S OWN: BRITISH PATENT LOCKMAKING AND THE “TRUE PRINCIPLES OF PERFECT SECURITY”………………………………….....
    [Show full text]
  • Showboats" Cap'n Henry's Forty Years of Trouping
    MERICA'S WEEKLY RADIO LISTENERS WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 8, 1934 TELLS WHAT`S ON THE AIR -- ANY TIME - DAY OR NIGHT Volume 9%d Number 46 in This issue: "SHOWBOATS" CAP'N HENRY'S FORTY YEARS OF TROUPING FINDING THE HUMAN SIDE OF THE NEWS- EDWIN C HILL THE BANDITS OF BURR OAK" RADIO DRAMA SEE PAGE 12 FOR THE START OF PROGRAMS Seiith fier 8) The Voice of the Listener This department Is solely for the use of the readers as a place In which to Coofus Business voice opinions and exchange views about radio. Address your letters to VOL editor, 423 Plymouth Court, Chicago, Ill. You are urged to send in your Getting on the Van Dear VOL: Los Angeles, Calif. photograph when writing but failure to include a picture will not bar your Dear VOL: Toledo, Ohio Heaps o' thanks to you, Claiborne Upchurch, letter. RADIO GUIDE assumes no responsibility for returning your photograph. I want to thank Miss Nadeau wlro brought Arthur Claire, Marie Kozma and George Avakian to the attention of myself and several friends and all other Lombardo fans for their letters. that we, too, are for Miss Van 100 per cent. Guy Lombardo does have She has the loveliest the "sweetest music this Back to Good Old Days voice on any network and side of Heaven." He is certainly deserves Dear VOL: Independence, Mo. radio's many wonders. When I was a girl my to be much better than Wayne sponsored I always have thought RADIO GUIDE a great grandmother had those meetings at her home because she King or Jan Garber.
    [Show full text]
  • British Films 1927 - 1939 Was Originally Produced in 1986 by BFI Library Services
    Contents The contents of this PDF document can be navigated quickly by using the “bookmarks” facility. Forword.............................................................................................................................................1 Part 1: Chronology ..........................................................................................................................2 Part 2: Annual “In Production” Charts ......................................................................................47 Alphabetical Title Index ...............................................................................................................96 Part 3: Statistics...........................................................................................................................110 Films Released in the UK................................................................................................111 The Distribution of British Films...................................................................................118 British Cinema Statistics ................................................................................................120 British Studios..................................................................................................................129 British Feature Production..............................................................................................133 British Film Companies and Investment .....................................................................138 Films Certified
    [Show full text]
  • LEN DEIGHTON, Berlin Game
    LEN DEIGHTON Berlin Game I 'How long have we been sitting here?' I said. I picked up the field glasses and studied the bored young American soldier in his glass-sided box. 'Nearly a quarter of a century,' said Werner Volkmann. His arms were resting on the steering wheel and his head was slumped on them. That GI wasn't even born when we first sat here waiting for the dogs to bark.' Barking dogs, in their compound behind the remains of the Hotel Adlon, were usually the first sign of something happening on the other side. The dogs sensed any unusual happenings long before the handlers came to get them. That's why we kept the windows open; that's why we were frozen nearly to death. 'That American soldier wasn't born, the spy thriller he's reading wasn't written, and we both thought the Wall would be demolished within a few days. We were stupid kids but it was better then, wasn't it, Bernie?' 'It's always better when you're young, Werner,' I said. This side of Checkpoint Charlie had not changed. There never was much there; just one small hut and some signs warning you about leaving the Western Sector. But the East German side had grown far more elaborate. Walls and fences, gates and barriers, endless white lines to mark out the traffic lanes. Most recently they'd built a huge walled compound where the tourist buses were searched and tapped, and scrutinized by gloomy men who pushed wheeled mirrors under every vehicle lest one of their fellow- countrymen was clinging there.
    [Show full text]
  • The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
    THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON STORY OF THE DOOR p.3 SEARCH FOR MR. HYDE p. 8 DR. JEKYLL WAS QUITE AT EASE p. 14 THE CAREW MURDER CASE p. 16 INCIDENT OF THE LETTER p. 19 REMARKABLE INCIDENT OF DR. LANYON p. 23 INCIDENT AT THE WINDOW p. 26 THE LAST NIGHT p. 28 DR. LANYON'S NARRATIVE p. 38 HENRY JEKYLL'S FULL STATEMENT OF THE CASE p. 43 2 STORY OF THE DOOR MR. UTTERSON the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary, and yet somehow lovable. At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste, something eminently human beaconed from his eye; something indeed which never found its way into his talk, but which spoke not only in these silent symbols of the after- dinner face, but more often and loudly in the acts of his life. He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years. But he had an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy, at the high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove. "I incline to, Cain's heresy," he used to say. "I let my brother go to the devil in his quaintly: "own way." In this character, it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of down-going men.
    [Show full text]