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The Aesthetics of Redemption in Fin De Siècle Literature and the Arts

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The Aesthetics of Redemption in Fin De Siècle Literature and the Arts The Aesthetics of Redemption in fin de siècle Literature and the Arts by Katherine Lynn Fry A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Comparative Literature University of Toronto © Copyright by Katherine Lynn Fry 2017 The Aesthetics of Redemption in fin de siècle Literature and the Arts Katherine Lynn Fry Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Comparative Literature University of Toronto 2017 Abstract This dissertation explores a cluster of texts in fin de siècle aestheticism from a Nietzschean perspective, questioning whether their claims about art and life are, at bottom, world-affirming or world-denying. I argue that the aesthetic worldviews of Friedrich Nietzsche, Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde manifest a struggle against Christian (especially Protestant) values, a struggle that, however, periodically and sometimes fatally capitulates to the otherworldliness it seeks to overcome. Chapter 1 delineates the theoretical framework for my investigation. Drawing on the work of Nietzsche and Max Weber, I begin by examining the diverse strains of otherworldliness, some more implicit than others, that run through the aesthetic theories of Arthur Schopenhauer, Richard Wagner, Joris-Karl Huysmans, and Charles Baudelaire. In Chapter 2, I consider the evolution of Nietzsche’s own aesthetic philosophy from his youthful embrace of the Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwerk to his mature view that the Dionysian artist exemplifies the individual who has vanquished all decadent urges to be redeemed from worldly suffering, and is thus able to affirm life through his work. Chapter 3 demonstrates how Pater’s contemplative aestheticism, which originally sets out to counteract the antipathy to the ‘here and now’ associated with ascetic Protestantism, ends up reproducing the hierarchy between the ii temporal world and a more desirable ‘otherworld.’ In the fourth and final chapter, I suggest that Wilde overcomes the otherworldliness of Paterian aestheticism but only by advancing a secularized version of aesthetic incarnation. This dissertation argues that aestheticism is neither an inevitable offshoot of secularization nor a particular phase of Christian theology, but rather a struggle to work through the complex moral and philosophical dilemmas that arise from the rigorous commitment to valuing life on its own terms. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people came together to make this project possible, and I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has helped and supported me in one way or another over the past five years. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support I received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Northrop Frye Centre, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, and the University of Toronto. Rebecca Comay, my dissertation advisor, has been vital to this project from its inception to its completion. Her extraordinary breadth of knowledge and expression has been both a resource and an inspiration, and I am extremely grateful to have had this opportunity to work with and learn from her. My committee members, Mark Knight and John Zilcosky, have also contributed in countless ways to this project. In particular, I would like to thank Professor Zilcosky for his sincere and incisive engagement with the ideas I explore in my work, and Professor Knight for so generously sharing his expertise in the field of religion and literature. I would also like to thank Jill Ross, Ann Komaromi and Veronika Ambros for their guidance and support during my time at the Centre for Comparative Literature. I am grateful to Aphrodite Gardner and Bao Nguyen as well for their kindness and assistance. I would never have embarked on this project if not for the formative influence of Samir Gandesha and R. Darren Gobert. It was in Professor Gandesha’s classroom, over 10 years ago, that the theories of Nietzsche and Weber first exerted their pull over me, and I am indebted to Professor Gobert, who has been a friend and mentor, for steering me in the direction of Comparative Literature, a field in which I find myself perfectly at home. On a personal level, I’d like to thank my family—my parents Mary Beth and David, siblings Lisa and Michael, and niece and nephew Olivia and Arion—for their constant love and support. And, although she’ll never read this, I’d also like to acknowledge the emotional support I’ve received from my oversized lapdog Grushenka, who kept me company during countless hours of reading and writing (and who forced me to venture outside at least three times a day). Finally, to my husband Laury, my ideal reader, gracias por ayudarme sacar el ‘fua’ al final de un proceso largo y sumamente difícil. Without your unwavering encouragement and confidence in me, this project would have taken many more years to complete. I dedicate this dissertation to you. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................................ IV TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................. V LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ VII INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1. AESTHETIC REJECTIONS OF THE WORLD AND THEIR DIRECTIONS ..... 20 RELIGIOUS AND AESTHETIC ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE WORLD .................................................... 23 NIETZSCHE’S ANTIPODES ................................................................................................................... 33 AESTHETIC ASCETICISM: OVERCOMING THE CREATURELY ........................................................... 42 AESTHETIC MYSTICISM: CHANNELLING THE DIVINE ...................................................................... 51 THE POET LOSES HIS HALO ................................................................................................................ 59 CHAPTER 2. THE APOLLONIAN MECHANISM OF REDEMPTION IN NIETZSCHE’S PHILOSOPHY OF THE ARTIST .................................................................................................. 69 REDEMPTION THROUGH ILLUSION: THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY .......................................................... 73 “WHAT IS LEFT OF ART”: ART AFTER METAPHYSICS ...................................................................... 85 ART AS TONIC ...................................................................................................................................... 89 THE TRANSFORMATION OF APOLLO ................................................................................................ 106 CHAPTER 3. THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS: WALTER PATER’S CONTEMPLATIVE AESTHETICISM ........................................................................................ 116 THE SPIRIT OF THE RENAISSANCE AND CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY ............................................... 120 MARIUS THE IMMACULATE PERCEIVER .......................................................................................... 135 THE ASCETICISM OF STYLE .............................................................................................................. 153 CHAPTER 4. THE HUMAN AND THE DIVINE IN OSCAR WILDE’S AESTHETICISM ...... 169 WILDE’S GARDEN OF AESTHETIC DELIGHTS .................................................................................. 172 INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL TRANSCENDENCE IN THE SOUL OF MAN AND THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY ................................................................................................................................................... 181 “THE OTHER HALF OF THE GARDEN” ............................................................................................. 200 CODA ............................................................................................................................................. 220 v BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................... 227 vi LIST OF FIGURES Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights………………………………………….118 vii INTRODUCTION What becomes of the form, purpose, and function of art after the “death of God”? The urge to answer this (sweeping and unsolvable) question is what gave rise to the following study. It drew me to a phenomenon that is broadly known as ‘aestheticism,’ a nebulous nineteenth-century movement (or constellation of movements) committed to the pursuit of beauty in both art and life. ‘Aestheticism,’ often employed as a synonym for l’art pour l’art or ‘art for art’s sake,’ is also commonly referred to as a “religion of art” (as in the title of Leon Chai’s book, Aestheticism: The Religion of Art in Post-Romantic Literature) or, following Walter Benjamin, a “theology of art” (“Work of Art in Age of Mechanical Reproduction” 224). Despite its frequent usage, however, the term ‘religion of art’ mystifies far more than it explains: if aestheticism constitutes a religion of art, in what way (if any) does it manifest a break from received modes of religious belief and practice? Does aestheticism proceed from or refute the “death of God”? And if it does take God’s death for granted, how does (or can) it avoid reproducing the theism it supposedly supersedes? Beginning around 1800 with the German Romantics, the ‘religion of art’ (or
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