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Jane Austen and the Nervous Temperament Jane Austen and the Nervous Temperament Annette Upfal A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of New South Wales School of the Arts and Media Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences July 2014 PLEASE TYPE THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Upfal First name: Annette Other name/s: Yvonne Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: PhD School: School of the Arts and Media Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Title: Jane Austen and the Nervous Temperament. Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) Austen's novels provide a focus on illness, in particular on the fashionable "nervous disorders" of this period. This thesis will offer a new interpretation, arguing that Austen's interest in nervous disorders reflects her engagement with the issue of gender, as demonstrated in my analysis of the three novels: Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Persuasion. Austen challenges contemporary medical conceptions of the mind, brain and nervous system as gendered; the assumptions that the male is aligned with reason, intellectual prowess and strength, and the female with emotion, irrationality and weakness -specifically manifested in a susceptibility to the nervous disorder of hysteria, suffered almost exclusively by women and famously characterised by Michel Foucault the "hysterization of women's bodies". Austen, in Persuasion, challenges both female hysteria and male melancholia, connected to intense thought and inspiration through higher powers of intellect or genius, and typically found in literary men. My analysis is in the context of Thomas Trotter's A View of the Nervous Temperament (1807). Austen's challenge to male superior intellect is implicit in each novel, and particularly relevant to a female writer, who, like her character Anne Elliot, is aware of her own high intellect or "seniority of mind", and also acknowledged "a real judgement of her own powers". Austen's initial mockery of her mother's illness is reflected in the summary dismissal of Mrs Bennet's nervous disorder in Pride and Prejudice. However, evidence presented here demonstrates that Austen has depicted a character whose illness may in fact be reai, and could now be interpreted as a mental disorder. Austen's changing attitude to nervous illness is revealed in her letters from 1813 and in her later novels. Whilst there is no evidence that Austen had read Trotter's work, aspects of his findings on nervous illness are explored in Emma and in her new emphasis in Persuasion on unconscious mental processes, and reveals her increasingly complex awareness and sophisticated representation of the interactions between mind and body in illness. Thus this thesis offers a re-examination of Austen's response to 'nervous disorders' within the context of medical and biographical history and cognitive science, and demonstrates, through an analysis of her writing, her challenging contribution to gender discourses of the period, and to fictional representations of consciousness. Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all property rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstracts International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). f-./4~ }1·-'7-2--D[JL ..........vi . .. ~: .. ~;.~t ... ························ ·················· ....7- .......................... T···· Signature/ Witness Date The University recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. Requests for restriction for a period of up to 2 years must be made in writing. Requests for a longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances and require the approval of the Dean of Graduate Research. FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: THIS SHEET IS TO BE GLUED TO THE INSIDE FRONT COVER OF THE THESIS COPYRIGHT STATEMENT 'I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or tts agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise Universtty Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation.' Signed ............. ~.A:(I.~ ................................. .. Date ............... ~ ... :. / .~.: ... ?-:. ~-~· '1 ...... ......................... .. AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT 'I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format.' (]}/ /~ 1 Signed .................... ~~;.:/.~ ................................... .. Date ORIGINALITY STATEMENT 'I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.' j , fi. /} I') 4 _.- ' • (/._..-( Signed ... ,,, ).;,.,,,,,,,, ....."0f. ................... ................ I /-L - 7 , (.7._ o il.-~- Date .... ...... J.. .. 0 ••••• ••••• 0 •••• · ' · ..... 0 0 ••••••••••••••••••••• ••••• i Acknowledgements I am grateful to my Principal Advisor, Christine Alexander, for her ongoing commitment and positive support of this project, and for her penetrating editorial comments on my work that have both challenged and enhanced my development of this thesis. I am also grateful to my Associate Advisor, Chris Danta, who encouraged me to broaden the scope of this project on the nervous temperament. I wish to thank Liz Rouse of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians for her kind assistance with my research at the History of Medicine Library, Sydney. I also wish to thank the staff of the Wellcome Library, History of Medicine Collection, London, the British Library, the Hampshire Record Office, Winchester, and the Jane Austen’s House Museum, Chawton, in providing access to rare texts and manuscripts held in their collections. I am grateful to both my immediate and wider family for the encouragement they have given me throughout this process. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements i List of Illustrations iii Introduction: Jane Austen and the Nervous Temperament 1 Ch.1. Mrs Austen’s Disorder and Biographical Mythmaking 38 Ch. 2. “First Impressions” / Pride and Prejudice : Illness and the 81 Problem of Mrs. Bennet’s “Poor Nerves ” Ch. 3. Emma: A View of the Nervous Temperament : Health and 116 Gender Ch. 4. Persuasion (1): Anne Elliot’s Nervous Disorder and the 151 Question of Melancholy and Female Intellect Ch. 5. Persuasion (2): The Brain and Mind, and Unconscious 187 Mental Processes in Nervous Illness Conclusion: A Coda on Jane Austen and the Nervous 208 Temperament Works Cited and Consulted 227 iii List of Illustrations 1. The title page of the first edition of A View of the Nervous Temperament , 1807 iv 2. A Christopher Ganer Square Pianoforte, 1782. 73 iv VIEW or "rJJJ: NERVOUS TEMPERAMENT; A PRACTICAL ENQ.UIRY INTO THl! INCREASING PREVALENCE, PREVENTION, AND TREAT· MENT OF THOSE DISEASU C<UIMONt\" CALL£0 NERI"'OUS 1JILIOUS,STOMACH AND LJY£R COM,_· 1 PLAINTS; INDiGESTION; LOW SPIRITS; GOUT, ~c. Bv. THOMAS TROTT.ER, M.D. LAT~ PliVSICJAN •t() ll'TS MAJESTY'$ fLt:t1.' I.,!NJ)'ta 'flllt CO~· MAll f) (IP ADMIRAL t;,U.l. HOW£, J::, o.; AND TO Tll£ SQUA­ l)'ROl-1& (;OP.Uf.\SOED BY .t\DMIIL/tl. LQRO B'Rl"'D1'01.T1 K. B• .AU)'fl&AJ. &All. L :.rr VJ}<C£NT 1 t;;., B. Al:\lD TU& UO'NO\Ilt'"' ABL£ ADMIRAl. (;C)kt\WALLISj ~ ~tE:MJif.B. (It 'l'll2 11.4)'{ AL .M£DIC AJ. SOC) F. TV Qf' 'IU)IN Rll kt'H' ; .\X UONOII.. .UtY >.lr;)t8£t: Ol' '1'1!£ ftO<YAL PUV$1CAL SO.. c,:l-e"l'Y OP £0Jl'J8t11l0ll, OF 'fliP. ).1 i:OlCAt. SCJC1f."1'\" Or ,uU:M.Ot.t.N"; AN'J) P:OJ:)l£U,\" l'liY SlClA~ TO Tilt 11.0\' AL HOSI'JTAI, A'l' IJA$ LAII, &e. &e. Boundless intemperance In Noaturc is. a tynnny ~ it hath. ~ecn Th~: untim~:.ly empt.ylng of the h~ppy tbrQne, An.d fall of m:my kin~. SuAnsruR. J>J;U.'TtD DV eDW. WALKta, );£WCASTLt:, FOR i.tONOMAK, HURST, RRES, A~D O&MF., LONDON.. 1807. Fig. 1. The title page of the first edition of A View of the Nervous Temperament, 1807 (Francis A.
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