DOCSLIB.ORG

The Wanderer's Guilt-Burden

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Wanderer's Guilt-Burden University of Wollongong Thesis Collections University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Year The Wanderer’s Guilt-Burden John Lees University of Wollongong Lees, John, The Wanderer’s Guilt-Burden, PhD thesis, School of English Literatures, Philos- ophy and Languages, University of Wollongong, 2004. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/344 This paper is posted at Research Online. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/344 The Wanderer’s Guilt-Burden A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY from UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG by John Lees, BA Hons SCHOOL OF ENGLISH LITERATURES, PHILOSOPHY AND LANGUAGES 2004 Certification I, John Lees, declare that this thesis, submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy, in the School of English Literatures, Philosophy and Languages, University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. The document has not been submitted for qualifications at any other academic institution. John Lees 11 December 2004 Table of Contents Abstract i Acknowledgements ii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Godwin’s St Leon : The Supernatural Wanderer 25 Chapter 2 Shelley as St Leon: A Real-Life Wanderer 53 Chapter 3 Wordsworth’s “Poet-Wanderer” 76 Chapter 4 Byron and Childe Harold : Mortal Wanderers Over Eternity 108 Chapter 5 The Vampyre’s Empty Soul 159 Chapter 6 Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer 193 Conclusion 233 List of Works Cited 246 i Abstract This thesis examines the development of the male Wanderer figure by prominent writers of the Romantic Period - in prose, poetry, and in their self-portrayals. The major texts which it examines are: Godwin’s St Leon (1799); Wordsworth’s The Prelude (1805) and The Excursion (1814); Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812-1818); Polidori’s The Vampyre (1819); and Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer (1820). By focussing on the Wanderer’s guilt-burden - an essential element in these constructions - it shows to what extent the Wanderer reflected the social conscience of his time. To that end, the thesis argues that the guilt borne by the Wanderer of the Romantic Period was primarily a guilt-burden of privilege. The burden of a social conscience is what made the Wanderer pertinent to an age with egalitarian aspirations. It was this guilt-burden which lent the figure its vitality and significance. In that sense, the Wanderer of the Romantic Period should not be considered merely as a type or version of the Wandering Jew; rather, the figure was primarily a secular construction which, if anything, replaced the religious guilt of the older myth with the increasing social concerns of that revolutionary age. ii Acknowledgements The pleasant, accommodating manner of all the staff in the English Department of the University of Wollongong has been a considerable blessing; I could not have asked for a more supportive environment. Dr. Anne Collett’s appreciative knowledge of the Romantics - graciously conveyed - has been a valuable resource; her insightful conversation has often kept me inspired. Most of all, I would here like to acknowledge the kindly support of Dr. Anne Lear, whose wisdom, humour and dedication to scholarship and teaching have provided me - for quite some time now - with much needed encouragement. Thanks to the University of Wollongong for awarding me a scholarship, without which I could not have begun my candidature. My beloved parents, Walter and Irene, have patiently borne with me through these years, providing all manner of undeserved assistance for which I will always be grateful. 1 Introduction The male Wanderer is a recurring image in the English fiction of the Romantic Period. For just over two decades writers of the time successfully incorporated this compelling figure into their work. The public’s enthusiastic response to the Wanderer is demonstrated by the prolonged popularity of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, a major work of Byron’s which, as it was written and published in three instalments (1812, 1816 and 1818), consolidated an image of the author himself as an “immortal” Wanderer. And there were real immortal Wanderers too - at least in fiction. At a time when the aristocratic vampire first wanders into literature, the supernatural creations of William Godwin and Charles Maturin leave an equally impressive mark. Endowed with preternatural powers, these privileged beings are formidable in their lone, suffering stature, forever set apart from the rest of humanity. So persuasive was the figure of the Wanderer that the most popular and influential poets of the age, Wordsworth and Byron, chose to adopt this persona when presenting a self-image; they were also compelled, at one time or another, along with Shelley, to actually envisage themselves in a Wanderer’s role. But beyond the inherently Romantic appeal of the Wanderer’s defiant despair and isolated individuality, there was, it would seem, a more significant element in the on-going construction of the figure during this period - the possession of a guilt-burden. Why though should this particular characteristic of the Wanderer hold such an appeal to writers and readers of the so-called Romantic era? This thesis attempts to account for the persuasive power of the Wanderer’s guilt-burden, finding its source in the emerging social conscience of the time. The discussion begins by showing how the notion of a guilt- burden played an important role in the egalitarian social philosophy of the 1790s. It then examines the different ways in which writers of the ensuing period incorporated this guilt-burden into their portrayals of the Wanderer. William Godwin’s novel, St Leon (1799), sets an important precedent in this regard, as Godwin himself was a prime conveyer of the egalitarian ideas which his novel sought to impart. With the character of St. Leon, an immortal aristocrat, Godwin established a 2 supernatural portrayal of the Wanderer that was to remain influential. Some twenty years later, the idea of a supernatural Wanderer with an immortal guilt-burden reached its most developed form in Charles Maturin’s novel, Melmoth the Wanderer (1820). As the thesis concludes with Maturin’s text, it will be seen to what extent the enlightenment strategies of earlier egalitarian thinkers continued to influence the development of the Wanderer figure. Before that, however, Chapter 2 considers the very immediate impact that Godwin’s ideas have upon the young Percy Shelley, showing how this revolutionary aristocrat’s self-conscious reading of St Leon leads him on a real-life Wanderer’s quest to Ireland in 1812. There Shelley was able, albeit for a short while, to fulfil the Wanderer’s role which, after reading Godwin’s philosophy and fiction, he envisaged for himself. With an eye to the self-image of the Wanderer which so possessed him, the discussion evaluates Shelley’s mission in light of what Godwin had perhaps intended for the figure. The first part of Chapter 3 examines the genesis of Wordsworth’s Poet-Wanderer. With comparative reference to the poetry of Coleridge as well, it traces what can be called a Poet’s “nagging sense of privilege,” showing how that may become a guilt-burden of sorts. In Wordsworth’s case, he is able to transform this burden into worthy labour for the Poet, creating in due course the Poet-Wanderer - a figure that reconciles the privileged role of the Poet with a wider social conscience. It was in the unpublished text of The Prelude (1805) that Wordsworth first envisaged himself in this role. However, it was not until in The Excursion (1814), published some ten years later, that Wordsworth revealed himself to the public as the Wanderer figure to which he aspired. The ambitious scope of this text allowed him to perform the type of work for which The Prelude had provided a prospectus. The second part of Chapter 3 considers whether or not Wordsworth achieved his conscientious aims; for the social role which the Poet-Wanderer performs in The Excursion is markedly different from that which was earlier conceived for him. A short poem by Robert Southey, “The Complaints of the Poor” (1798), which employs a Poet-Wanderer figure in a similar strategy, allows us to see how Wordsworth may have strayed somewhat from what he earlier deemed in The Prelude to be his solemn social duty. 3 It was Byron’s Childe Harold, though, who managed to possess the public imagination as the foremost Wanderer of the period. From the outset of his writing career, Byron recognized the Wanderer’s guilt- burden as an appealing trait which would continue to fascinate an eager audience. But the guilt which Byron’s Wanderer bore had little or no associative link to the social conscience which gave the trope its life. Nevertheless, because the appeal of the Wanderer’s guilt-burden had already been established, it could be left to Byron to develop and manipulate its aesthetic rather than its social significance. Guilt, for Byron, played a central role in the development of a “dark-in-soul” image. Chapter 4 evaluates this on-going construction through the course of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812 - 1818). That two of the most significant poets of the age, Byron and Wordsworth, chose to image themselves through the Wanderer, attests to the enormous appeal of this trope to the period’s sensibility. The Wanderer’s guilt-burden was, however, becoming increasingly emptied of its weight, until Polidori’s The Vampyre (1819) removed it altogether. This short story is remarkable for its comment upon Byron’s fashionable guilt: an empty guilt which Polidori’s immortal Wanderer cynically employs. Chapter 5 explores The Vampyre’s sophisticated mis- placement of the Wanderer’s burden, a treatment which had left the figure looking somewhat shallow.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Chicago Symphony Orchestra
    Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra 2015-2016 Mellon Grand Classics Season April 1, 2 and 3, 2016 MANFRED MARIA HONECK, CONDUCTOR EMANUEL AX, PIANO / , BOY SOLOIST / , SOPRANO / , BASS THE ALL UNIVERSITY CHOIR CHRISTINE HESTWOOD AND ROBERT PAGE, DIRECTORS / CHILDREN’S CHORUS / , DIRECTOR JOHANNES BRAHMS Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 83 I. Allegro non troppo II. Allegro appassionato III. Andante IV. Allegretto grazioso Mr. Ax Intermission CARL ORFF “Fortuna imperatrix mundi” from Carmina Burana for Chorus and Orchestra LEONARD BERNSTEIN Chichester Psalms for Chorus, Boy Soloist and Orchestra I. Psalm 108, vs. 2 (Maestoso ma energico) — Psalm 100 (Allegro molto) II. Psalm 23 (Andante con moto, ma tranquillo) — Psalm 2, vs. 1-4 (Allegro feroce) — Meno come prima III. Prelude (Sostenuto molto) — Psalm 131 (Peacefully flowing) — Psalm 133, vs. 1 (Lento possibile) boy soloist GIUSEPPE VERDI Overture to La forza del destino GIUSEPPE VERDI “Te Deum” (No. 4) from Quattro Pezzi Sacri April 1-3, 2016, page 2 for Chorus and Orchestra soprano soloist ARRIGO BOITO Prologue to Mefistofele for Bass Solo, Chorus, Children’s Chorus and Orchestra bass soloist April 1-3, 2016, page 1 PROGRAM NOTES BY DR. RICHARD E. RODDA JOHANNES BRAHMS Born 7 May 1833 in Hamburg, Germany; died 3 April 1897 in Vienna, Austria Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 83 (1878, 1881) PREMIERE OF WORK: Budapest, 9 November 1881; Redoutensaal; Orchestra of the National Theater; Alexander Erkel, conductor; Johannes Brahms, soloist PSO PREMIERE: 15 January 1909; Carnegie Music Hall; Emil Paur, conductor and soloist APPROXIMATE DURATION: 50 minutes INSTRUMENTATION: woodwinds in pairs plus piccolo, four horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings In April 1878, Brahms journeyed to Goethe’s “land where the lemon trees bloom” with two friends, the Viennese surgeon Theodor Billroth and the composer Carl Goldmark.
    [Show full text]
  • Proquest Dissertations
    INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, som e thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. Bell & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Artxsr, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 UMI* NOTE TO USERS Page(s) missing in number only; text follows. Page(s) were microfilmed as received. 131,172 This reproduction is the best copy available UMI FRANK WEDEKIND’S FANTASY WORLD: A THEATER OF SEXUALITY DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University Bv Stephanie E.
    [Show full text]
  • Gothic Riffs Anon., the Secret Tribunal
    Gothic Riffs Anon., The Secret Tribunal. courtesy of the sadleir-Black collection, University of Virginia Library Gothic Riffs Secularizing the Uncanny in the European Imaginary, 1780–1820 ) Diane Long hoeveler The OhiO STaTe UniverSiT y Press Columbus Copyright © 2010 by The Ohio State University. all rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data hoeveler, Diane Long. Gothic riffs : secularizing the uncanny in the european imaginary, 1780–1820 / Diane Long hoeveler. p. cm. includes bibliographical references and index. iSBn-13: 978-0-8142-1131-1 (cloth : alk. paper) iSBn-10: 0-8142-1131-3 (cloth : alk. paper) iSBn-13: 978-0-8142-9230-3 (cd-rom) 1. Gothic revival (Literature)—influence. 2. Gothic revival (Literature)—history and criticism. 3. Gothic fiction (Literary genre)—history and criticism. i. Title. Pn3435.h59 2010 809'.9164—dc22 2009050593 This book is available in the following editions: Cloth (iSBn 978-0-8142-1131-1) CD-rOM (iSBn 978-0-8142-9230-3) Cover design by Jennifer Shoffey Forsythe. Type set in adobe Minion Pro. Printed by Thomson-Shore, inc. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the american national Standard for information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSi Z39.48-1992. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is for David: January 29, 2010 Riff: A simple musical phrase repeated over and over, often with a strong or syncopated rhythm, and frequently used as background to a solo improvisa- tion. —OED - c o n t e n t s - List of figures xi Preface and Acknowledgments xiii introduction Gothic Riffs: songs in the Key of secularization 1 chapter 1 Gothic Mediations: shakespeare, the sentimental, and the secularization of Virtue 35 chapter 2 Rescue operas” and Providential Deism 74 chapter 3 Ghostly Visitants: the Gothic Drama and the coexistence of immanence and transcendence 103 chapter 4 Entr’acte.
    [Show full text]
  • Haunted Narratives: the Afterlife of Gothic Aesthetics in Contemporary Transatlantic Women’S Fiction
    HAUNTED NARRATIVES: THE AFTERLIFE OF GOTHIC AESTHETICS IN CONTEMPORARY TRANSATLANTIC WOMEN’S FICTION Jameela F. Dallis A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English and Comparative Literature. Chapel Hill 2015 Approved by: Minrose Gwin Shayne A. Legassie James Coleman María DeGuzmán Ruth Salvaggio © 2016 Jameela F. Dallis ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Jameela F. Dallis: Haunted Narratives: The Afterlife of Gothic Aesthetics in Contemporary Transatlantic Women’s Fiction (Under the direction of Minrose Gwin and Shayne A. Legassie) My dissertation examines the afterlife of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Gothic aesthetics in twentieth and twenty-first century texts by women. Through close readings and attention to aesthetics and conventions that govern the Gothic, I excavate connections across nation, race, and historical period to engage critically with Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, 1959; Angela Carter’s “The Lady of the House of Love,” 1979; Shani Mootoo’s Cereus Blooms at Night, 1996; and Toni Morrison’s Love, 2003. These authors consciously employ such aesthetics to highlight and critique the power of patriarchy and imperialism, the continued exclusion of others and othered ways of knowing, loving, and being, and the consequences of oppressing, ignoring, or rebuking these peoples, realities, and systems of meaning. Such injustices bear evidence to the effects of transatlantic commerce fueled by the slave trade and the appropriation and conquering of lands and peoples that still exert a powerful oppressive force over contemporary era peoples, especially women and social minorities.
    [Show full text]
  • The Intellectual Functions of Gothic Fiction
    University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 1977 FEARFUL QUESTIONS, FEARFUL ANSWERS: THE INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS OF GOTHIC FICTION PAUL LEWIS Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation LEWIS, PAUL, "FEARFUL QUESTIONS, FEARFUL ANSWERS: THE INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS OF GOTHIC FICTION" (1977). Doctoral Dissertations. 1160. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1160 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the original submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or patterns which may appear on this reproduction. 1.The sign or “target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting thru an image and duplicating adjacent pages to insure you complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a large round black mark, it is an indication that the photographer suspected that the copy may have moved during exposure and thus cause a blurred image.
    [Show full text]
  • ICLA 2016 – Abstracts Group Session Panels Content Computational Comparative Literature
    ICLA 2016 – Abstracts Group Session Panels, July 17th, 2016 ICLA 2016 – Abstracts Group Session Panels Content Computational Comparative Literature. Corpus-based Methodologies ................................................. 5 16082 - Assia Djebar et la transgression des limites linguistiques, littéraires et culturelles .................. 7 16284 - Pictures for Everybody! Postcards and Literature/ Bilder für alle! Postkarten und Literatur . 11 16309 - Talking About Literature, Scientifically..................................................................................... 14 16377 - Sprache & Rache ...................................................................................................................... 16 16416 - Translational Literature - Theory, History, Perspectives .......................................................... 18 16445 - Langage scientifique, langage littéraire : quelles médiations ? ............................................... 24 16447 - PANEL Digital Humanities in Comparative Literature, World Literature(s), and Comparative Cultural Studies ..................................................................................................................................... 26 16460 - Kolonialismus, Globalisierung(en) und (Neue) Weltliteratur ................................................... 31 16499 - Science et littérature : une question de langage? ................................................................... 40 16603 - Rhizomorphe Identität? Motivgeschichte und kulturelles Gedächtnis im
    [Show full text]
  • Manfred Lord Byron (1788–1824)
    Manfred Lord Byron (1788–1824) Dramatis Personæ MANFRED CHAMOIS HUNTER ABBOT OF ST. MAURICE MANUEL HERMAN WITCH OF THE ALPS ARIMANES NEMESIS THE DESTINIES SPIRITS, ETC. The scene of the Drama is amongst the Higher Alps—partly in the Castle of Manfred, and partly in the Mountains. ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’ Act I Scene I MANFRED alone.—Scene, a Gothic Gallery. Time, Midnight. Manfred THE LAMP must be replenish’d, but even then It will not burn so long as I must watch. My slumbers—if I slumber—are not sleep, But a continuance of enduring thought, 5 Which then I can resist not: in my heart There is a vigil, and these eyes but close To look within; and yet I live, and bear The aspect and the form of breathing men. But grief should be the instructor of the wise; 10 Sorrow is knowledge: they who know the most Must mourn the deepest o’er the fatal truth, The Tree of Knowledge is not that of Life. Philosophy and science, and the springs Of wonder, and the wisdom of the world, 15 I have essay’d, and in my mind there is A power to make these subject to itself— But they avail not: I have done men good, And I have met with good even among men— But this avail’d not: I have had my foes, 20 And none have baffled, many fallen before me— But this avail’d not:—Good, or evil, life, Powers, passions, all I see in other beings, Have been to me as rain unto the sands, Since that all—nameless hour.
    [Show full text]
  • "With His Blood He Wrote"
    :LWK+LV%ORRG+H:URWH )XQFWLRQVRIWKH3DFW0RWLILQ)DXVWLDQ/LWHUDWXUH 2OH-RKDQ+ROJHUQHV Thesis for the degree of philosophiae doctor (PhD) at the University of Bergen 'DWHRIGHIHQFH0D\ © Copyright Ole Johan Holgernes The material in this publication is protected by copyright law. Year: 2017 Title: “With his Blood he Wrote”. Functions of the Pact Motif in Faustian Literature. Author: Ole Johan Holgernes Print: AiT Bjerch AS / University of Bergen 3 Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following for their respective roles in the creation of this doctoral dissertation: Professor Anders Kristian Strand, my supervisor, who has guided this study from its initial stages to final product with a combination of encouraging friendliness, uncompromising severity and dedicated thoroughness. Professor Emeritus Frank Baron from the University of Kansas, who encouraged me and engaged in inspiring discussion regarding his own extensive Faustbook research. Eve Rosenhaft and Helga Muellneritsch from the University of Liverpool, who have provided erudite insights on recent theories of materiality of writing, sign and indexicality. Doctor Julian Reidy from the Mann archives in Zürich, with apologies for my criticism of some of his work, for sharing his insights into the overall structure of Thomas Mann’s Doktor Faustus, and for providing me with some sources that have been valuable to my work. Professor Erik Bjerck Hagen for help with updated Ibsen research, and for organizing the research group “History, Reception, Rhetoric”, which has provided a platform for presentations of works in progress. Professor Lars Sætre for his role in organizing the research school TBLR, for arranging a master class during the final phase of my work, and for friendly words of encouragement.
    [Show full text]
  • Romanticism and the Temporality of Wander Neil Finlayson A
    Romanticism and the Temporality of Wander Neil Finlayson A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in English York University Toronto, Ontario May 2019 ÓNeil Finlayson, 2019 ii Abstract This dissertation contextualizes and accounts for the proliferation of representations of wander that permeate British Romanticism. The prominence of wander in this writing is an articulation of the embodiment of a new temporal mode, namely the quantified temporality of modernity. The study begins by identifying two main versions of Romantic wander: one that is free and naturalized, and one that is monotonous and dispossessing. The duality of wander maps onto two distinct aspects of clock time; a temporality that becomes increasingly entrenched, socially, culturally, and economically, over the course of the eighteenth-century. Through reading four explicit representations of Romantic wander, the dissertation argues that clock time’s open permissiveness is performed in Romanticism as a rhetoric of free wander, while clock time’s structured monotony is demonstrated by the experience of displaced and alienated wander. William Wordsworth’s The Excursion (1814) rhetorically positions free wander as an antidote to the industrialization and solipsism of modernity that is encroaching upon the poem’s pastoral space; however, the rhetoric of wander in the text becomes ideological, in its naturalization of an economical temporal expenditure. Frances Burney’s The Wanderer (1814) demonstrates how the rhetoric of free wander is a privileged fiction, and shows how wander, when experienced by a nameless, connectionless young woman, is not only alienating, but dangerous.
    [Show full text]
  • Beyond Monk Lewis
    Beyond ‘Monk’ Lewis Samuel James Simpson MA By Research University of York English and Related Literature January 2017 Abstract “What do you think of my having written in the space of ten weeks a Romance of between three and four hundred pages Octavo?”, asks Matthew Gregory Lewis to his mother.1 Contrary to the evidence—previous letters to his mother suggest the romance was a more thoughtful and time-consuming piece—Lewis was the first to feed a myth that would follow him for the rest of his life and beyond, implying he hurriedly cobbled together The Monk (1796) and that it was the product of an impulsive, immature and crude mind to be known soon after as, ‘Monk’ Lewis. The novel would stigmatise his name: he was famously criticised by Coleridge for his blasphemy, Thomas J Mathias described The Monk as a disease, calling for its censure, and The Monthly Review, for example, insisted the novel was “unfit for general circulation”.2 All these readings distract us from the intellectual and philosophic exploration of The Monk and, as Rachael Pearson observes, “overshadow…the rest of his writing career”.3 This thesis is concerned with looking beyond this idea of ‘Monk’ Lewis in three different ways which will comprise the three chapters of this thesis. The first chapter engages with The Monk’s more intellectual, philosophic borrowings of French Libertinism and how it relates to the 1790s period in which he was writing. The second chapter looks at Lewis’s dramas after The Monk and how Lewis antagonised the feared proximities of foreign influence and traditional British theatre.
    [Show full text]
  • The Devil-Compact in Legend and Literature
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.ukbrought to you by CORE provided by OpenSIUC THE DEVIL-COMPACT IN LEGEND AND LITERATURE BY MAXIMILIAN RUDWIN THE Faust legend occupied the mind of Gerard de Nerval during a long period of his literary activity. In Germany he explored all popular traditions in regard to Faust, even down to the puppet- The Faust legend occupied the mind of Gerard de Nerval during a long period of his literary activity. In Germany he explored all popular traditions in regard to Faust, even dow^n to the puppet- plays. The oldest Faust-book of 1587, which he read in connection with his translation of the First Part of Goethe's Faust, is printed at the end of his translation of the Second Part of this poem (1840). Gerard de Nerval cherished for many years the project of a French adaptation of the Faust legend. He left behind a manu- script fragment of a Faust play, containing the first act and the beginning of the second act. The manuscript is interrupted at the point where Mephistopheles counsels Faust to forget Margaret for the beautiful courtesans of antiquity, Helena,^" Cleopatra^^ and Aspasia.^^ Gerard de Nerval abandoned the project of finishing this play of Faust when a copy of Klinger's work already mentioned finally fell into his hands. This philosophical novel was well known to the French public. It was translated into French six years after its first publication and again in 1808 and 1823. Among the drama- tizations of this novel in France may be mentioned les Aventiires de Faust et sa descente aux enfers by de Saur and de Saint-Genies, which was produced for the first time in 1825, and M.
    [Show full text]
  • Freedom from Violence and Lies Essays on Russian Poetry and Music by Simon Karlinsky
    Freedom From Violence and lies essays on russian Poetry and music by simon Karlinsky simon Karlinsky, early 1970s Photograph by Joseph Zimbrolt Ars Rossica Series Editor — David M. Bethea (University of Wisconsin-Madison) Freedom From Violence and lies essays on russian Poetry and music by simon Karlinsky edited by robert P. Hughes, Thomas a. Koster, richard Taruskin Boston 2013 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: A catalog record for this book as available from the Library of Congress. Copyright © 2013 Academic Studies Press All rights reserved ISBN 978-1-61811-158-6 On the cover: Heinrich Campendonk (1889–1957), Bayerische Landschaft mit Fuhrwerk (ca. 1918). Oil on panel. In Simon Karlinsky’s collection, 1946–2009. © 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn Published by Academic Studies Press in 2013. 28 Montfern Avenue Brighton, MA 02135, USA [email protected] www.academicstudiespress.com Effective December 12th, 2017, this book will be subject to a CC-BY-NC license. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Other than as provided by these licenses, no part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or displayed by any electronic or mechanical means without permission from the publisher or as permitted by law. The open access publication of this volume is made possible by: This open access publication is part of a project supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book initiative, which includes the open access release of several Academic Studies Press volumes. To view more titles available as free ebooks and to learn more about this project, please visit borderlinesfoundation.org/open.
    [Show full text]