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Traumatized Voices: the Transformation of Personal Trauma Into Public Writing During the Romantic Era

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Traumatized Voices: the Transformation of Personal Trauma Into Public Writing During the Romantic Era University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English English, Department of Summer 5-21-2012 Traumatized Voices: The Transformation of Personal Trauma into Public Writing During the Romantic Era Karalyne S. Lowery University of Nebraska Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/englishdiss Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Lowery, Karalyne S., "Traumatized Voices: The Transformation of Personal Trauma into Public Writing During the Romantic Era" (2012). Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English. 63. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/englishdiss/63 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Traumatized Voices: The Transformation of Personal Trauma into Public Writing During the Romantic Era by Karalyne S. Lowery A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Major: English (Nineteenth Century Studies) Under the Supervision of Professor Stephen C. Behrendt Lincoln, Nebraska 21 May, 2012 Traumatized Voices: The Transformation of Personal Trauma into Public Writing During the Romantic Era Karalyne S. Lowery, Ph.D. University of Nebraska 2012 Advisor: Stephen C. Behrendt Beginning as early as the 1790s and continuing throughout the nineteenth century, it is possible to trace in British literature a distinctive line of fascination among authors with what we now understand to be trauma and its profound effects on the lives and behaviors of it victims/survivors. With today’s neurological proof of the changes that take place in the brains of traumatized individuals, it stands to reason that these changes have taken place in every century, not just the century in which we have had the technology to view it or the vocabulary to describe it. This means that psychological trauma is biologically and psychologically universal. Using Judith Herman’s Trauma and Recovery and empathetic readings, this study examines the personal traumas of several authors as related in their private writings and traces the transformation of that private trauma into the authors’ published works. The study examines traumatic grief, the results of an unsuccessful grieving process, and the possible traumatic captivity of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and how they manifest in “Rime of the Ancient Mariner;” traumatic loss combined with the dissociation cultivated by William Godwin as an abused child is discussed in conjunction with the writing of Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman; Mary Shelley’s many traumatic interpersonal relationships and the unique view they provided into the victimology of Frankenstein; and the role of empathy in creating healing relationships and in recovering from traumas in the lives of Charles and Mary Lamb along with the difference between sympathy and empathy in authors. Coleridge’s “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison” is used as the example for sympathetic writing and Charles Lamb’s “Christ’s Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago” is used as the example of empathetic writing. As a whole, this study proposes that empathetic readings when combined with a trauma theory lens provide new insights into Romantic works. i Acknowledgements I would like to thank Stephen C. Behrendt, Laura M. White, Peter Capuano, Wendy J. Katz, and Robert Stock for their support and encouragement and for working within the very tight timelines this project required despite their own heavy workloads. In addition, I want to recognize the 18th- & 19th-Century British Literature Circle who were extremely helpful in allowing me to explore my topic and by providing feedback. I would also like to thank Beverly Rilett who was an incredible proofreader and Colonel Kathleen Harrington whose trust and sponsorship through the United States Air Force Academy made this entire process possible. The views expressed in this study are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. ii Table of Contents Abbreviated Titles………………………………………………………………………..iii Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter One Coleridge’s Overarching Childhood Trauma: Loss, Captivity, and the Nightmares They Produced…………………………………....20 Chapter Two Writing Through Grief Publicly and Privately: William Godwin’s Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman as Scriptotherapy………………………………....97 Chapter Three Victimizers and Victimization in Frankenstein: Mary Shelley’s Transformation of Personal Trauma into Eternally Relevant Public Drama………………………………………………….168 Chapter Four Fractured Brilliance: Charles and Mary Lamb and the Importance of Empathy………………………………………………………...241 In Conclusion: What Does Trauma Theory Add to Readings?.......................................322 Notes……………………………………………………………………………………324 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………….326 iii List of Abbreviated Titles Autobiography: Godwin, William. "Autobiographical Fragments." Collected Novels and Memoirs of William Godwin. Eds. Mark Philip, Pamela Clemit, and Maurice Hindle. The Pickering Masters ed. 1 Vol. London: William Pickering, 1992. 41-51. Print. CL: Collected Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Volumes I-VI. Ed. Earl Leslie Griggs. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956. Print. CN: The Notebooks of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Volumes 1-6. Ed. Kathleen Coburn. New York: Bollingen; Patheon, 1961. Print. Diary: "The Diary of William Godwin." William Godwin's Diary. 2010.Web. <http://godwindiary.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/nav/Diary.html>. DSM IV-TR: American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. American Psychiatric Association, 2000. Print. Fragment: Godwin, William. "Autobiographical Fragment Complete 1756- 1769." Lord Abinger's Shelley-Godwin Collection in Bodleian Library. Eds. Lewis Patton, et al. Reel 1, 1788. Microfilm. G&M: Wardle, Ralph M., ed. Godwin & Mary: Letters of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1977. Print. GL: Godwin, William, and Pamela Clemit. The Letters of William Godwin. Vol. 1, 1778-1797. Oxford (GB); New York; Auckland [etc.]: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print. Journal: Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. The Journals of Mary Shelley, 1814-1844. Eds. Paula R. Feldman and Diana Scott-Kilvert. Volumes 1 and 2. Oxford; New York: Clarendon; Oxford UP, 1987. Print. LCL: The Letters of Charles and Mary Anne Lamb. Volumes I-III. Ed. Edwin W. Mars, Jr. Ithica; London: Cornell UP, 1976. Print. Length: Godwin, William. "Analysis of Own Character Begun Sep 26, 1798." Collected Novels and Memoirs of William Godwin. Eds. Mark Philip, Pamela Clemit, and Maurice Hindle. The Pickering Masters ed. 1 Vol. London: William Pickering, 1992. 41-51. Print. iv Letters: Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Edited Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Ed. Betty T. Bennett. 1 Vol. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1995. Print. Memoirs: Godwin, William. Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Pamela Clemit & Gina Luria Walker eds. Toronto: Broadview, 2001. Print. PBS Letters: Shelley, Percy Bysshe. Letters. Ed. Frederick L. Jones. 1 Vol. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964. Print. Works: The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb: Volume I. Miscellaneous Prose. Ed. E.V. Lucas. London: Methune & Co., 1903. Print. 1 Introduction By the end of the eighteenth century, medical science was emerging from a comparatively primitive and often superstitious view of both the human body and the human mind and was beginning to embrace a more sophisticated understanding that was rooted in eighteenth-century investigations not only of anatomy, physiology, and medicine but also of psychology and human behavior. Early Romantic writers like William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Blake, William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, Anna Barbauld, and Charlotte Smith were among the first to incorporate into their works the new insights into human behavior that were emerging from the studies of scientists like David Hartley, Humphrey Davy, David Hume, and F.J. Gall. Richard Holmes, in The Age of Wonder, shows how involved authors like Wordsworth, Coleridge, and even Lord Byron were with prominent scientists Joseph Banks, William Hershel, and Humphrey Davy. Beginning as early as the 1790s and continuing throughout the nineteenth century, it is possible to trace in British literature a distinctive line of fascination among authors with what we now understand to be trauma and its profound effects on the lives and behaviors of it victims/survivors. The Implications of Individual Trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Most literary scholars consider trauma studies relatively recent; however, Charles R. Figley, one of the leading researchers in the early days of traumatic stress studies, 2 traced the first mention of trauma and its connections to “hysterical reactions” to ancient Egypt. These physicians reported their findings in 1900 B.C.E. in Kunyus Papyrus, which is one of the earliest medical textbooks (xvii). Figley, who helped found The Journal of
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