Apparitional Economies: Spectral Imagery in the Antebellum Imaginaton

University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--English English 2014 Apparitional Economies: Spectral Imagery in the Antebellum Imaginaton Holly F. Osborn University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Osborn, Holly F., "Apparitional Economies: Spectral Imagery in the Antebellum Imaginaton" (2014). Theses and Dissertations--English. 12. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/english_etds/12 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the English at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--English by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless an embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Holly F. Osborn, Student Dr. Jeffory A. Clymer, Major Professor Dr. Andrew Doolen, Director of Graduate Studies APPARITIONAL ECONOMIES: SPECTRAL IMAGERY IN THE ANTEBELLUM IMAGINATION __________________________________________________________________ DISSERTATION __________________________________________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the deGree of Doctor of Philosophy in the ColleGe of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Holly Fulton Osborn LexinGton, Kentucky Director; Dr. Jeffory A. Clymer, Professor of EnGlish LexinGton, Kentucky 2014 Copyright © Holly Fulton Osborn 2014 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION APPARITIONAL ECONOMIES: SPECTRAL IMAGERY IN THE ANTEBELLUM IMAGINATION Apparitional Economies is invested in both a historical consideration of economic conditions throuGh the antebellum era and an examination of hoW spectral representations depict the effects of such conditions on local publics and individual persons. From this perspective, the project demonstrates hoW extensively the period’s literature is entanGled in the economic: in financial devastation, in the boundaries of seeminGly limitless proGress, and in the standards of value that order the Worth of commodities and the persons Who can trade for them. I argue that the space of the specter is a force of representation, an invisible site in Which the uncertainties of antebellum economic and social chanGe become visible. I read this spectral space in canonical works by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman and in emerGinG texts by Robert MontGomery Bird, Theophilus Fisk, Fitz James O’Brien, and EdWard Williams Clay. In Robert MontGomery Bird’s Sheppard Lee (1837), for example, the protaGonist’s spectral transmiGratory form presents a fraGile financial identity, replete With the spectral Wish of elusive opportunity and the embodied burden of present circumstance. The exchanGe and appropriation inherent in Sheppard’s inhabitation of corpses critiques the tumultuous system of antebellum currency and counterfeits and the social and leGal systems of poverty and indenture. Methodologically, Apparitional Economies moves throuGh historical events and textual representation in tWo Ways: chronologically With an attention to archival materials throuGh the antebellum era (beGinninG With the specters that emerGe With the Panic of 1837) and interpretively across the readinGs of a literary specter (as a space of lack and potential, as exchanGe, as transformation, and as the presence of absence). As a failed body and, therefore, a flaWed embodiment of economic existence, the literary specter proves a poWerful representation of antebellum social and financial uncertainties. KEYWORDS: Antebellum Literature, Jacksonian Economics, Spectral Theory, Antebellum Reform, Panic of 1837 Holly Fulton Osborn Student’s Signature April 18, 2014 Date APPARITIONAL ECONOMIES: SPECTRAL IMAGERY IN THE ANTEBELLUM IMAGINATION By Holly Fulton Osborn Jeffory Clymer, PhD ____________________________________________ Director of Dissertation AndreW Doolen, PhD ____________________________________________ Director of Graduate Studies April 18, 2014 ____________________________________________ Date ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project has benefitted from the dedication, Wisdom, and kindness of many: from mentors, colleaGues, family and friends. I am indebted to my dissertation advisor, Jeff Clymer, Who has been patient, encouraging, and always in Good humor, all While offering his strong intellectual enGaGement With this project. My research and WritinG anticipated the excellent readinG of committee members Marion Rust, Joanne Melish, outside reader Richard Smith, and American Studies affiliate Donald Pease. Don’s presence on my committee has been a particular joy; as a University of Kentucky American Studies affiliate from Dartmouth ColleGe, his brilliant and beautiful ideas continue to inspire my thinkinG and my Work. The completion of my project Was made possible in part by a Dissertation Year FelloWship aWarded by the University of Kentucky. I am Grateful to the special collections librarians at University of Pennsylvania and University of Kentucky for their assistance in my archival research. I have been immeasurably enriched by the academic Generosity and scholarly enGaGement of the Futures of American Studies Institute. ThrouGh these Weeks at Dartmouth ColleGe, I have discussed ideas With and received writing feedback from esteemed American Studies scholars such as Donald Pease, Christina Zwarg, Eric Lott, and Russ Castronovo. Fellow Futures attendees (and thinkers extraordinaire) Zach Lamm, Aline Lo, Laura FuGikaWa, Sophia Frese, Emily Churilla, Lupe Carillo, Gabriela Nunez, Munia Bhaumik, Mike Hurst, William Nessly, and Bill Ryan provided continual enGaGement and support lonG after our days in Hanover. Alan Nadel, Futures faculty member and University of Kentucky Bryan Chair, remains an exactinG mentor and a loyal friend. iii The daily work of dissertation writing would have been a bleaker task Without my online WritinG community, 250 Words. Sarah Schuetze, Colleen Booker Halverson, Kelly Centrelli, Trent Hergenrader, Nick Miller, Sarah EtlinGer, Kate Olson Neishem, Ron Felton, Leah Toth, and Chris DreW have buoyed my endeavors with equal parts laughter and accountability. Jeff Gross and Sarah Schuetze read drafts at coffee house tables. I am Grateful for their expertise, their time and attention. The support from University of Kentucky staff members Catherine BroWn Sizemore, Deborah Kirkman, Jeanette Heinrichs, Jen Walton, Diane Robertson, and Courtney AndreWs has made any perceived problem easier to solve. I am appreciative, also, of the assistance of Director of Graduate Studies, Andy Doolen. I am equally Grateful for my non-academic supports, my dear, dear friends Whose encouraGement, confidence and distractive abilities have never faltered: Emily Knox Maher, Arika Strock, Darrin and Meredith McMillen, David and Miranda Thacker, David Scott, Gina Maple, and Tiffany Utermark. My in-laWs, David and Pam Crabtree and David and Brenda Osborn Were alWays there, as Were my Wonderful, ever-hearteninG parents, Bill and Judy Fulton. The final year of my PhD Was enhanced by the proximate presence of my alWays favorite brother, Bill, my sister- in-law, Molly (whose texted “Deep ThouGhts” Got me throuGh many a day), and their children, Ella, Will, and Grady. My own children, Ethan and Sage, are the funniest, the kindest, the most lovinG; they have been the best of companions throuGhout this entire process. I adore them. And Tom, Who never Wavers, Who provides livelihood and time, Wine and music, space and constant care, Who is everythinG: I adore and I thank him most of all. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS AcknoWledGments ....................................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................. vi Chapter One/ Antebellum Structures: Haunted Sites and Spectral Spaces ........................ 1 Possibility and Fragility,

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