Dandyism and the Haunting of Contemporary Masculinity
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"THE IDEA OF BEAUTY IN THEIR PERSONS:" DANDYISM AND THE HAUNTING OF CONTEMPORARY MASCULINITY Darin Kerr A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2015 Committee: Jonathan Chambers, Advisor Juan Bes Graduate Faculty Representative Cynthia Baron Lesa Lockford © 2015 Darin Kerr All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Jonathan Chambers, Advisor In this dissertation, I argue for the dandy as a spectral force haunting contemporary masculinity. Using the framework of Derridean hauntology, I posit that certain contemporary performances of masculinity engage with discourses of dandyism, and that such performances open up a space for the potential expression of a masculine identity founded on an alterity to hegemonic gender norms. The basis for this alterity derives from the philosophical underpinnings of dandyism as articulated by its most prominent nineteenth century theorizers. As a result, I divide my study into two halves: the first focuses on a close reading of texts by Balzac, d’Aurevilly, and Baudelaire; the second centers on three case studies illustrating the spectral nature of dandiacal performance in relationship to contemporary masculinity. Chapter One establishes the framework for my argument, articulating the way in which both nineteenth century French philosophical dandyism and Derrida’s concept of hauntology, particularly his “three things of the thing” (mourning, language, and work), serves to structure the rest of the study. Chapters, Two, Three, and Four, which constitute Part I, provide close readings of texts by Balzac, d’Aurevilly, and Baudelaire, respectively. Chapters Five, Six, and Seven form Part II, and consist of individual case studies examining the spectral traces of dandyism in performances of masculinity by three contemporary celebrities. Chapter Five takes as its subject the self-proclaimed dandy Sebastian Horsley. I position him as the object of a performative act of mourning, one which identifies and locates the spectrality within the dandy’s performance. In Chapter Six, I explore the commodification of the dandy’s identity in the person of David Beckham, deploying Werner Hamacher’s arguments about commodity-language as a iv means of exploring the dandiacal performance’s relationship to contemporary consumer culture. André Benjamin, more popularly known as André 3000 of the hip-hop duo OutKast, serves as subject for Chapter Seven’s case study. I foreground Benjamin’s performance as an expression of the dandiacal imagination serving as a kind of transformative “labor.” Ultimately, I argue that such performances result in the potential for a masculinity less constrained by the conventions of hegemonic gender norms. v For my mother, Sandra Jean Botz Kerr vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Rightly or not, I feel as though this dissertation is the product of many minds, not just mine, and all have and deserve my sincerest gratitude for their contributions to this study. I have no doubt, however, that I will forget someone. Such oversights, and any errors or infelicities in the manuscript, are my own. My heartfelt thanks to my advisor, Jonathan Chambers. The process was not a short one, but his calm assurance that the work would get done remained a beacon for me throughout. I appreciate his wit, his erudition, his patience, his generosity, and his own sartorial splendor. Throughout my graduate career, he has served as an outstanding example of teacher, scholar, and artist. I hope for future opportunities to collaborate with him. I wish to also thank Lesa Lockford. Like Jonathan, Lesa continually pushed for my scholarly and artistic best, and I was rewarded not only with the knowledge that with hard work I could meet her high standards, but with the added benefit of her warm friendship. Thanks also to Cynthia Baron, who in my experience has consistently modeled intellectual rigor and the excitement to be found in the pursuit of excellent ideas. In the parallel universe in which I’m a film scholar, I hope that she will have agreed to chair that parallel me’s dissertation. A thank you to Juan Bes, for agreeing to serve on my committee at the last minute. Such kindnesses are deeply felt. I would be remiss in not also thanking Scott Magelssen and Ron Shields, who both unflaggingly supported my intellectual curiosity during my graduate studies. Many conversations with them have directly contributed to this dissertation in ways large and small. Similarly, I feel a debt to Christian Coons for a particular conversation early in the life of this project that focused my thinking on my subject. vii Special thanks go out to the members of the Communication and Theatre Department at Bluffton University, who supported me during my semester there. Likewise, I owe a debt to my colleagues in the University of North Dakota Department of Theatre Arts for their support during my two years with them. Finally, I have been blessed with gracious, supportive, engaged colleagues in the Integrated Studies Program at the University of North Dakota. Their generosity of spirit as I finished this dissertation is profoundly appreciated. My time at Bowling Green State University was made immeasurably better by the relationships I established while there. I thank the members of my cohort, Rob Connick, Stephen Harrick, and JL Murdoch, for their camaraderie. Thanks also to Vanessa Baker, Mark and Hope Bernard, David Faraci, Matthew Gretzinger, Patrick and Alyssa Konesko, Nicole Mancino, Lance Mekeel, Tim Schaffer, and JP Staszel, all of whom were and are exceptionally generous in their friendship. My profoundest love and eternal friendship to Elizabeth Guthrie, Mike Mullins, Heidi Nees, Angenette and Daniel Spalink, John O’Connor, Ben Powell, and Brianne Waychoff. There is no way to adequately express how much you are in my heart. And thanks to Jim and Heather Williams for pointing me down this particular path. Finally, thanks to my parents, Ralph and Sandra Kerr, for kindling in me a love of learning. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1 PART I. APPLYING FOUNDATION .................................................................................. 41 CHAPTER II. BALZAC. ..................................................................................................... 42 CHAPTER III. D’AUREVILLY ........................................................................................ ... 72 CHAPTER IV. BAUDELAIRE. .......................................................................................... 104 PART II. MAKING UP ......................................................................................................... 121 CHAPTER V. DANDIES IN THE UNDERWORLD ......................................................... 122 CHAPTER VI. DANDIES AT PLAY ON THE FIELD OF SPORT .................................. 151 CHAPTER VII. DANDIES IN THE STUDIO .................................................................... 167 CHAPTER VIII. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................ 185 WORKS CITED ........ ........................................................................................................... 195 1 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION In her introduction to Dandies: Fashion and Finesse in Art and Culture, Susan Fillin-Yeh poses the same question I ponder as I pen this introduction: “Why study dandies?” Her answer (or part of it, at any rate): “Certainly because new ones continue to flourish” (3). I find this response reassuring, not least because it suggests she feels, as I do, that the dandy (or dandyism) stubbornly persists in some fashion,1 even while some would (mis)construe him solely as an archaic figure, outmoded and thoroughly obsolete. Indeed, for many, the dandy likely conjures images of the Regency period, all starched neckcloths and Brummellian elegance. Or perhaps he brings to mind the philosophical individualism of the Baudelairean dandy, individualism neither anarchic nor limitless, but strictly bounded, circumscribed within and by culture. Mention of the dandy might also conceivably evoke the Wildean variety, trailing behind him the strikingly pungent green carnation whiff of fin-de-siècle ennui and decadence. Whatever the particular associations, however, the dandy as a representative masculine “type” (if such a thing can be claimed), largely retains an association with the past, an association often reinforced by the occasionally eccentric particularities of his style(s) of dress. This “pastness,” however, has hardly prevented critics and theorists from making use of this complex figure. Narratives of eighteenth and nineteenth century gender roles often make mention of the dandy, as he provides the historian an opportunity to address, in a manner either direct or glancing, a host of issues ranging from literary representation to social class to the ongoing (re)definition of modernism and postmodernism. Unsurprisingly, then, the dandy has engendered a wide range of critical responses. Some applaud his purported opposition to conventional morality through sartorial means, while others critique that same mode of presentation for what they see as his capitulation 1 Pun intended. 2 to the machinery of consumer capitalism. Less frequently, however, do historians and theorists look beyond the circumstances in which the dandy first made a name for himself.