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Idolatry and the Victorian Novel

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Idolatry and the Victorian Novel RE-FORMING FAITH: IDOLATRY AND THE VICTORIAN NOVEL A Thesis submitted by Marie Heneghan B.A. (Hons) For the award of Doctor of Philosophy 2019 i Abstract Recently, Timothy Carens declared “the trope of idolatry has yet to receive the full discussion it deserves” (“Idolatrous Reading” 239). This project takes up this challenge, reading the traditionally perceived sin of idolatry as evidence of a post- secular re-engagement with spirituality in the Victorian novel from the mid-Victorian period (1840s) through to the fin-de-siècle (1890s). Conventionally, Victorian culture is interpreted through a modern, secular, lens that has tended to overdetermine the material (as opposed to the spiritual) focus of nineteenth-century British culture and befits the master narrative of secularisation. Compelling as a progress narrative from a world of supposed superstition and faith to one of logic and science, the master narrative of secularisation is framed as a movement away from the constrains of the past—a subtraction story. In this subtraction story, the religious and the secular are accepted as binaries, with secularism displacing religion. This study proposes an “addition story”: religion and spirituality’s reinvigoration through Victorian revivalism, which is represented in the Victorian novel through idolatrous experience. The religious revivals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Britain returned a primitive simplicity and emotive focus characteristic of the early, pre-institutionalised church to Victorian spirituality. Spirituality is centred on the individual and becomes a journey of discovery reflected in and modelled by the bildung found in the Victorian novel, rather than as ordered by the Established Church. Outside the bounds of institutional authority, idolatrous experience in the Victorian novel offers unconventional and unorthodox pathways to the transcendent through personal agency—an understanding of the heart’s own desires. In key Victorian novels, Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Brontë, Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Brontë, David Copperfield (1850) and Great Expectations (1861) by Charles Dickens, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), and Salomé (1891) by Oscar Wilde, idolatry is a familiar trope; yet, more than simple metaphor, these novels centralise experience and suffering articulated through profound expressions of emotion and intensity in order to discover a pathway to the spiritual. Idolators in these novels experience ekstatis, an ecstasy obtained in suffering, which enables them to discover their paths to the transcendent— a path that leads not always to God but rather, the individual self. The experience of the idol, thus, thrives on a paradox of interwoven immanence (the here and now) and ii transcendence (life beyond death): an immanent being offers transcendent experience in the act of idolatrous worship. This paradox reflects the post-secular condition—a rejection of binarism in favour of a more complex intermingling of the secular and the religious. Charles Taylor’s framework adopted here offers a complex reading of Victorian spirituality, one that crafts a nuanced picture of faith in the Victorian novel and the Victorian period than has previously been offered. In this framework, idolatry shifts its meaning from sin and symbolic transgression to an important feature of personal agency and spiritual self-discovery. iii Certification of Thesis This Thesis is entirely the work of Marie Heneghan except where otherwise acknowledged. The work is original and has not previously been submitted for any other award, except where acknowledged. Principal Supervisor: Dr Sharon Bickle Associate Supervisor: Associate Professor Jessica Gildersleeve Student and supervisors signatures of endorsement are held at the University. iv Statement of Contribution Article 1: Sections of Chapter Three of this thesis appeared as “The Post-Romantic Way to God: Personal Agency and Self-Worship in Wuthering Heights”, Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies, 2018, vol.22, no.1, pp.53-65, https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/AJVS/article/view/11596. The overall contribution of Marie Heneghan was 100%, and Dr Sharon Bickle’s input was supervisory. Article 2: A proportional section Chapter Five of this thesis is forthcoming in “I believe in Willie Hughes”: The Portrait of Mr W.H, Critical Insights: Oscar Wilde. Salem Press, December 2019. The overall contribution of Sharon Bickle was 50 % and Marie Heneghan contributed 50%. Article 3: A proportional section of Chapter Three in this thesis was presented at the AVSA (Australian Victorian Studies Association) annual conference from the 7-9th of July 2016 in Ballarat, Australia, titled “Idolatry in Wuthering Heights: Self-Worship and a Post-Romantic Conception of Spirituality”. The overall contribution of Marie Heneghan was 100%, and Dr Sharon Bickle’s input was supervisory. Article 4: A proportional section of Chapter Four in this thesis was also presented at the BAVS (British Association of Victorian Studies) annual conference from the 29- 31st of August, 2018 in The United Kingdom, Exeter, titled “The Art of Religious Ritual: Patterns of Blood and Language in Salomé”. The overall contribution of Marie Heneghan was 100%, and Dr Sharon Bickle’s input was supervisory. v Acknowledgements “The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest” (Blake 19). Though my thesis covers the period directly after William Blake’s death, I could not find a better quote to summarise the PhD experience. It is only because of what I have been given that I have the privilege of submitting this thesis. The privilege that comes from being able to do a PhD has not been lost on me as I’ve wrestled with these pages. I would like to acknowledge the contribution I received through the Research Training Scheme as part of my research and for providing me with the rewarding experience of contributing new research. I also thank the University of Southern Queensland for the resources I have been able to access as a HDR student, particularly in being able to travel and conduct archival work in the Brontë Parsonage Museum in the United Kingdom. Thank you also to the Brontë Parsonage Museum for the great privilege of reading from the Brontë library. The British Association of Victorian Studies also awarded me with a bursary to alleviate the costs of traveling to the United Kingdom in 2018, and I would also like to thank them for their generosity. A supervisor should always the number one person who helps the student through her journey, and my work would not be at its present standard without her patience and her many recommendations. Thank you to Dr Sharon Bickle for your invaluable assistance, and I look forward to working with you in the future. I also appreciate the feedback and discussion with Dr Jessica Gildersleeve and the time she took to read through such a large document. No one suffers as much as the partner of the PhD student, and not only has he been with me through this experience, but he has also had to complete his own thesis. Not many people have this rare opportunity, and all I can say is that his patience kept me from those moments when I wanted to stop writing and give up. Thank you to my dearest husband, Ryan. A mention must go to my mother, who was a role model for me throughout my life of the persistence it takes to achieve anything good, and for even making completing something like a PhD seem feasible. Thank you to the rest of my family for their support, for my father for sustaining me financially especially, throughout all the years of study. To my sisters, who are first and foremost my closest vi friends, thank you for keeping me sane and social. My friends have not seen as much of me as they used to: thank you for your support and love. The last thank you goes to my Father in Heaven, for the privilege He has given me to study, for the gifts He has given me, and for His love. vii Table of Contents Abstract ………………………………………………………………... i Certification of Thesis ……………………………………………….. iii Statement of Contribution …………………………………………... iv Acknowledgements …………………………………………………… v Chapter One: Introduction The Cultural Landscape of Victorian Britain and Idolatry ..................................................................... 1 Idolatry and the British Imaginary .......................................................... 2 1.1.1 Idolatry and the Victorian Novel: A Post- Secular Struggle .................... 5 1.1.2 Defining Protestant Idolatry: Desires of the Heart ................................... 7 1.1.3 The Post-Secular Condition ................................................................... 11 Background: The “Addition” Story and the Victorian Novel ............. 13 Literature Review ..................................................................................... 15 1.3.1 Victorian Religion: Inseparable from the Novel .................................... 15 1.3.2 Religious Studies of the Victorian Period .............................................. 17 Post-Secularism and The Victorian Novel ............................................. 19 Idolatry, Early Christianity and Ecstatic Suffering .............................. 21 1.5.1 Early Martyrdom: British Revivalism .................................................... 24 Methodology ............................................................................................. 25 Chapter Outline ........................................................................................ 28 Conclusion ................................................................................................
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