Century Gothic Novel and Imaginative Apologetics
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LANGUAGE OF THE SACRED: THE NINETEENTH- CENTURY GOTHIC NOVEL AND IMAGINATIVE APOLOGETICS. Jonathan Greenaway A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Manchester Metropolitan University for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English Faculty of Arts and Humanities September 2017 [1] Abstract: Language of the Sacred: The Gothic Nineteenth Century Novel and Imaginative Apologetics This thesis offers imaginative apologetic readings of some of the key Gothic novels from the nineteenth century. It begins with a discussion of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) then moves on to Hogg’s The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, (1824) Jane Eyre, (1847) and Wuthering Heights (1847) before concluding with Dracula, (1899) The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll, and Mr Hyde (1886). The thesis argues that utilising theological readings of the Gothic is both necessary and productive, bringing to the fore aspects of the Gothic text that have, thus far, been marginalised or neglected by Gothic studies. Furthermore, this combination of the Gothic with imaginative theology establishes new ways in which Gothic literature may influence the wider field of theology, by bringing Gothic literature into the work of Imaginative Apologetics. The thesis argues that the Gothic nineteenth century novel, whilst rooted in particular social and historical circumstances, possesses substantial theological content. Throughout the readings provided, theological revelation is revealed in striking new ways as the Gothic novel shows itself to be not only influenced by theology, but also theologically influential, speaking of God whilst removed from the strictures of orthodoxy and religious institutions. Taking seriously the idea that a generous God is at work in all places, the thesis argues that especially in the midst of Gothic horror, violence and the supernatural, God continues to speak and reveal Himself in strange and unexpected ways. [2] Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction: Gothic and Religion, and Theology ................................................................................... 4 The Absence of the Theological in Gothic Criticism............................................................................ 7 Reading the Gothic with Theology – The Importance of Imaginative Apologetics .......................... 18 Outline of the Argument: Chapter by Chapter ................................................................................. 25 Chapter One: Monstrosity and the Problem of Evil: A Theologico-Literary Understanding of Personhood in Frankenstein and Paradise Lost. ................................................................................... 35 Chapter Two: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” – Gothic Revelation and Monstrous Theology in the Gothic Calvinist Legacy ............................................................................................................... 77 Revelation and Knowing ................................................................................................................... 81 Revelation and Nature ...................................................................................................................... 94 Towards A Gothic Imaginative Theology ........................................................................................ 105 Chapter Three Gothic Writing and Political Theology — Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre as Theological Texts ................................................................................................................................. 110 Wuthering Heights, Religious Tensions, Theology and Grace ........................................................ 112 Jane Eyre as Social Theology ........................................................................................................... 138 Chapter Four: The limitations of materialism: Fin-de-siècle Gothic, Sin and Subjectivity and the Insufficiency of Degeneration. ............................................................................................................ 157 Jekyll and Hyde – The Law and the Divided Self: Fractured Subjectivity and Theology ................. 164 Oscar Wilde, Decadence, Sin and The Picture of Dorian Gray ........................................................ 183 Dracula, Iconography, Sacramentality and Purification ................................................................. 198 Conclusion: Through the Gothic Castle, Back to Theology ................................................................. 219 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 225 [3] Acknowledgements Thanks to all my fellow PhD students for their support, suggestions, ideas and solidarity, particularly Steph, Spencer, Cat, Holly, Hanan, Polly, Caroline, Andreea, Aly, Rachid, Martin, and Leda. Thanks to all involved in the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies – especially Sorcha, Xavi and Elle - for their encouragement, collegiality and friendship throughout the process of writing the thesis. Thanks to Prof Jerold Hogle, Dr Matthew Reznicek, Dr Stephen Curtis and Dr John Sears who all took the time to read drafts at various stages and provided helpful comments and suggestions. Thanks to the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts, at St Andrews University and the University of Durham for inviting me to give papers that allowed me to refine and rehearse ideas. Thanks to all the academics whose writing has influenced my own thought, but particularly to the two theologians who started me down this road, Dr Alison Milbank and Prof David Brown. Heartfelt thanks to my supervisory team. To Prof Dale Townshend for insisting upon attention to detail, for an infectious passion for research and a love of aesthetically pleasing writing. To Dr Simon Marsden for gentle correction and the challenge to always think more carefully and theologically, and to Dr Linnie Blake for constantly demanding excellence in argumentation as well as serving as a friend, comrade, mentor and role model in so many ways. Thanks to all who have contributed and supported @thelitcritguy through patreon, or simply enjoyed #TheoryTime – this would not have happened without you. Specific thanks to Alexandra Booer and Dr Kate Maxwell, without their regular and sustained financial support, completing this PhD would have been impossible. Thanks to my family – Anne, Stephen, Peter and Elizabeth – for their unfailing support and generosity, and for their faith that what I was doing was worthwhile. Above all others, thanks to my wife, Emma. She has been a constant support, an encouragement, my closest advisor and provider and the one who believed in this project even when I did not. I am eternally grateful to her in so many ways – whatever insights may be here are just as much her thoughts as mine. [4] Introduction: Gothic and Religion, and Theology The cause and effect of the horror experience in English culture is a form of theological uncertainty, an anxiety which is recognizable at many different levels of consciousness.1 This thesis offers a theological reading of some of the key examples of Gothic writing from the nineteenth century, arguing that such an exercise is both overdue and essential for both the fields of Gothic literary studies and theology more broadly. To begin with, before turning to the primary texts, this introduction will provide some wider context of nineteenth century Gothic writing, as well as the ways in which contemporary Gothic criticism has either marginalised or neglected the theological aspect of the texts in question. From there, the introduction moves on to the theological methodology used and the outline of the argument as whole. Throughout the thesis, the Gothic novel is articulated as a form that expresses and challenges theological truths, and, furthermore, it is argued that reading the Gothic in conjunction with imaginative approaches to theology reveals new readings of the texts, contributing to both Gothic studies, and theology more widely. To pre-empt an immediate objection, it should be stated clearly from the start that the aim here is not to argue that the Gothic novel is some sort of Bible in disguise, neither does this thesis aim to retrospectively baptise the Gothic novels of the nineteenth century. The purpose of the thesis is to avoid the kind of hermeneutic reductionism that would seek to add the Gothic novel to the body of Christian writing or reduce theological complexity down to a set pattern of religious tropes. It is not that the Gothic is “really” or “underneath it all” a religious or even Christian body of work. A more nuanced position requires an awareness that the relationship between Gothic literature and theology has been fraught at 1 Victor Sage, Horror Fiction in the Protestant Tradition (London: Macmillan Press, 1988), p. xvii. [5] best and, at worst, often hostile. Rather than resort to an all-too-common kind of disciplinary one-upmanship, that subsumed Gothic literature into theology without question,2 what is required is a both a degree of theological humility and a willingness to take the suppositions and commitments of theology seriously. Following Milbank, Imfeld and Hampson, who build on the work of Luke Bretherton in