UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations 1-1-1999 The art of truth: The architecture of 19th -century American allegory Gary Brian Bennett University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/rtds Repository Citation Bennett, Gary Brian, "The art of truth: The architecture of 19th -century American allegory" (1999). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 3092. http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/4a8r-dftp This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. 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THE ART OF TRUTH: THE ARCHITECTURE O F 19 TH-CENTURY AMERICAN ALLEGORY b y Gary Brian Bennett Bachelor of Arts California State University, Fullerton 1989 Master of Arts California State University, Fullerton 1992 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillm ent of the requirements fo r th e Doctor of Philosophy Degree Department of English College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas M ay 2000 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number 9973960 UMI* UMI Microform9973960 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and teaming Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Dissertation Approvaol UNIV The Graduate College Universityo f Nevada, Las \^igas March 24 ^01 ^0 The Dissertation prepared by Gary Brian Bennett Entitled The Art of Truth: The Architecture of igth-Cencury American Alleggory is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Examination Committee Oetr Dean o f the Craduale College ( Enn^tumQ m ^j^ee Member ^ Examination Committee Member Graduati^negt Faculty Repramatioe I PK/imrsz/i-oû U Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT The Art of Truth: The Architecture O f 19***-Century American Allegory by Gary Brian Bennett Dr. Robert Dodge, Examination Committee Chair Professor of English University of Nevada, Las Vegas The current study, in its broadest scope, explores the nature of literary art prim arily as a moral experience. Specifically, it addresses ironic allegory—a genre of fiction bom during the American Renaissance of the m id-nineteenth century. As an amalgam of two other oblique genres, Gothic fiction and Puritan allegory, ironic allegory was originally the product of Nathaniel Hawthorne's moral imagination and tragic sensibility; consequently, its prim ary themes are the properties of time, the problems of tragedy, the process of transformation, and the preeminence of truth. Focusing exclusively on the architectural metaphors in Cooper’s Templeton trilogy, Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables, and Melville's Pierre, the current study discusses the capacity of the edifice to m ystify us w ith protection, possession, permanence, and ultim ately pride. It also highlights key moments of irony, when detachment firom an edifice leads to a dem ystifying Fall. i i i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. It is the aim of the current study to promote a greater understanding, and thus appreciation, of America’s great ironic allegorists by clearing up the confusion and cultural bias underlying the symbol/allegory debate among literary critics. Far from a static, dogmatic mode of expression, ironic allegory is in fact a dynamic, poetic literary genre that bridges the gap between romanticism and modernism. As the art of truth, it unflinchingly explores the doubleness of human experience; it celebrates art founded in m orality, and beauty edified by truth. IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................... ü i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................... v i PROLOGUE...........................................................................................................1 CHAPTER I FOUNDATION: THE ELEMENTS OF ALLEGORY................... 12 CHAPTER II CONSTRUCTION: CIVILIZATION BUILDING ........................6 7 CHAPTER III DECONSTRUCTION: THE STRUCTURE OF IRONY..........164 EPILO G U E........................................................................................................2 4 0 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................... 25 2 VITA ............................................................................................................. 25 9 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To the Houses of Bennett, M iller, Crady, and Mendoza . and to our Great Architect VI Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PROLOGUE I wonder. whether the world is anchored anywhere; if she is, she swings with an uncommon long cable, though. M e lv ille Literary criticism of the art of fiction inevitably entails an exploration into the heart of humankind, for in reading the story of all- inclusive hum anity, we struggle to understand the context of our own experiences. Are there, we wonder, absolute standards of truth by which to measure ourselves, or was Protagoras correct when he concluded that man him self is the measure of all? In our search for ultim ate significance, we soon discover that complete knowledge eludes us. What trips us up, time and again, is the medium of thought itself: language. At this point the line between philosophy and fiction blurs; ontology gives way to epistemology and then, finally, to analytical linguistics as we realize that we can know nothing except through language, which is characteristically metaphorical. Thus absolute tru th tantalizes us, lurking ju st beyond our grasp behind the “pasteboard mask” of symbolic expression. To our chagrin, the path to meaning circles from the literal text to its philosophical context and then back again. When the art of fiction is understood in this way, as both the text and the context of human experience, we call it allegory. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 Central to our discussion here are three basic assumptions: that language is fallen, that ambiguity is a prim ary source of artistic beauty, and that failure often leads to moral growth. To confirm that language is fallen, we need look no further than the word allegory itself. As John W hitman points out, the Greek term allegoria has two components: alios, meaning “other," and agoreuein, originally meaning “to speak in the assembly (agora).” By combining these components, we end up w ith a composite definition of allegory as “speaking other.” Indeed, the common notion of allegory, sim ilar to that of irony, is that it “turns its head in one direction, but turns its eyes in another. In the traditional formula, it says