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More Than Death: Fear of Illness in American Literature 1775-1876

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More Than Death: Fear of Illness in American Literature 1775-1876 University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--English English 2015 More Than Death: Fear of Illness in American Literature 1775-1876 Sarah Schuetze 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 Schuetze, Sarah, "More Than Death: Fear of Illness in American Literature 1775-1876" (2015). Theses and Dissertations--English. 18. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/english_etds/18 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. Sarah Schuetze, Student Dr. Marion Rust, Major Professor Dr. Andy Doolen, Director of Graduate Studies MORE THAN DEATH: FEAR OF ILLNESS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE 1775-1876 _________________________ DISSERTATION __________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Sarah Christine Schuetze Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Marion Rust, Professor of English Lexington, Kentucky 2015 Copyright © Sarah Christine Schuetze 2015 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION MORE THAN DEATH: FEAR OF ILLNESS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE 1775-1876 This dissertation argues that eighteenth- and nineteenth-century narratives about personal and collective experiences with disease train American readers to fear illness while warning them against the dangers of being afraid. Such narratives depict the way illness ravages the physical body, disrupts interpersonal relationships, and threatens to dismantle social or municipal organization. In other words, the story of sickness is a story of terror-inducing dis-order. I study disease with a lens informed by cultural and disability studies to show that what makes disease historically and culturally significant is its power—through the body—to dis-order relationships, society, and knowledge. Anxieties about this dis-order did not go dormant when an epidemic faded; they continued to circulate in writing, their vigor magnifying with each new outbreak. Through extensive archival research into representations of disease in ephemera, popular publications, and medical writing, my dissertation proffers a new reading of canonical works depicting sickness. Literary works gothicize disease by dramatizing its possible effects that make life unrecognizable, thus feeding fears as they portray them. My analysis shows that works like John and Abigail Adams’s letters, Abigail Abbot Bailey’s memoir, editorials from Nathaniel Parker Willis, novels like Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Harriet Wilson’s Our Nig are as invested in the fear of illness as disease narratives by Charles Brockden Brown and Edgar Allan Poe that are traditionally read as gothic. While scholars may recognize the significance of disease- induced fear in any of these individual texts, they treat each example as unique whereas I show literary authors contribute to a broader cultural anxiety spawned on the pages of popular media and spread through belles-lettres. To emphasize the relationship between the circulation of information and the circulation of disease, each chapter focuses on one disease and the written or print form that participated in sharing and shaping opinions about the disease as a terrifying event: smallpox and letters, yellow fever and pamphlets, cholera and periodicals, and tuberculosis and sentimental novels. Keywords: AMERICAN LITERATURE, FEAR OF ILLNESS, DISEASE NARRATIVE, DISEASE ARCHIVE, DISABILITY STUDIES Sarah Christine Schuetze Student’s Signature April 12, 2015 Date MORE THAN DEATH: FEAR OF ILLNESS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE 1775-1876 By Sarah Christine Schuetze Marion Rust, PhD Director of Dissertation Andy Doolen, PhD Director of Graduate Studies April 12, 2015 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation is the product of many hours, years, tears, plane tickets, research grants, and generous people who offered feedback on drafts, a place to stay, or wise advice. At the top of this list is my tireless and beloved advisor and mentor Marion Rust. Marion has given me the freedom to pursue my own hunches and curiosities to make this project my own while helping me connect the dots that I was too close to see. I continue to admire Marion for her contributions she makes to this field and also for the person she is in the field—a generous, funny, loving, brilliant, and creative woman. Thank you, Marion, for all you have done for me over the years. I also owe a sincere thank you to the other faculty members who have served on my dissertation committee: Jeff Clymer, Rynetta Davis, and Christopher Looby. Thank you for your support, ideas, patience, and encouragement. I’m fortunate to have such a group of smart and generous people on my side. Each of you is an extraordinary teacher and mentor. There are, of course, many many people who have supported me in this process in some way or another. A surely incomplete list of dear friends, colleagues, or faculty includes: Adam Lewis, Lindsay Van Tine, Sarah Chesney, Leah Toth, Samantha Seeley, Amanda Konkle, Holly Fulton Osborn, Steve Smith, Ray Ricketts and Bill Bissell, Nic and Alison Wood, Katie Lewis, Ben Reed, Whitney Martinko, Mark Mattes, Tristan Tomlinson, Dan Richter, Peter Stallybrass, Jim Green, Hester Blum, Michelle Burnham, Andy Doolen, Michelle Sizemore, B.J. Gooch, KJ Rawson and Steph Crist, Andrea and Ricardo DonAlexis. iii Of course, this project would look very different if it weren’t for the extensive archival research that informed it—research that was only possible with institutional support. I am indebted to the following institutions for research grants: the University of Kentucky, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the Reynolds Library at the University of Alabama, and the University of Virginia. A Dissertation Year Fellowship from the University of Kentucky allowed me to make significant progress on writing and revising the dissertation. Receiving the Andrew W. Mellon Material Texts Fellowship from the McNeil Center for Early American Studies transformed this project and my experience in this profession. In addition to financial support that allowed me to write and research in Philadelphia for over a year, the McNeil Center fellowship helped me foster relationships with life-long colleagues and friends. There is no way to adequately thank my wonderful husband Erik Kowalski for helping me see my way through this process. It is such an act of love and generosity to support someone as they pursue a doctorate, and Erik has never faltered. Through disappointments, crises, distance, financial woes that came with this process, you always reminded me that everything will be okay. Sometimes, that’s all I needed to hear. Thank you for always making me feel loved and helping me realize there is more to life than this project. I’m excited for us to begin the next chapter of life together. About eight months before I began my graduate work at the University of Kentucky, my mother Judy Flynn passed away. She never heard the stories about coursework, qualifying exams, research trips, life in Philadelphia, or the agony of the job market, but somehow she is foremost in my mind as I finalize this document. I wish to dedicate this project in loving memory to her. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................ vii Chapter One Introduction ....................................................................................... 1 Chapter Two Carrying Home the Enemy: Smallpox and Revolution in American Love and Letters 1775-1776 ................................................................................
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