UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Dark Matter: British Weird Fiction and the Substance of Horror, 1880-1927 Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4ns5q1fv Author Camara, Anthony Christopher Publication Date 2013 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Dark Matter: British Weird Fiction and the Substance of Horror, 1880-1927 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy In English by Anthony Christopher Camara 2013 © Copyright by Anthony Christopher Camara 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Dark Matter: British Weird Fiction and the Substance of Horror, 1880-1927 by Anthony Christopher Camara Doctor of Philosophy in English University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor Joseph Bristow, Chair This dissertation examines the origins of British weird horror fiction, an understudied literary genre that had an extraordinary impact on later writers whose works appeared in popular magazines such as The Argosy (1882-1978) and Weird Tales (1923-1954). By far the most popular writer associated with the latter publication is H.P. Lovecraft, an American practitioner of cosmic weird horror whose astounding fictions have become emblematic of the genre in the mainstream imagination. This dissertation locates Lovecraft’s early modernist predecessors in British authors Vernon Lee (Violet Paget), Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, and William Hope Hodgson. By tracking the evolution of the genre through these authors’ works, this study addresses the following question: “How does weird horror fiction distinguish itself from prior supernatural traditions, in particular the Gothic romance and the Victorian ghost story?” The chapters answer that inquiry by demonstrating that British weird horror fiction destabilizes scientific and philosophical accounts of physical matter, as well as the materialistic theories of ii biological life and the cosmos that issue from such accounts. Accordingly, weird horror writers devise characteristic strategies to “darken” matter, injecting it with incomprehensible, vitalistic energies; hidden, metaphysical realities; and higher alien dimensions. And yet, the genre is hardly mere anti-science; British weird horror draws from mathematics, chemistry, and biology to launch its virtuoso speculations. The first chapter examines Vernon Lee’s 1880 essay on the supernatural, “Faustus and Helena,” and her short story, “Amour Dure” (1887). While Lee is not typically associated with weird horror, this chapter demonstrates how her work marks the emergence of this genre. The second chapter looks at Arthur Machen’s novella, “The Great God Pan” (1894), and his novel, The Hill of Dreams (1907), which contest T.H. Huxley’s and Ernst Haeckel’s theories of biological life. The third chapter analyzes the outdoor horror tales of Algernon Blackwood, in particular “The Willows” (1907), which exemplifies the genre’s engagement with mathematics and physics. The last chapter takes an in-depth look at some maritime short fiction by William Hope Hodgson. These works pit the creative powers of ecology against Darwinism, and therefore invite new critical approaches to weird horror that depart from familiar narratives of evolution and degeneration. iii The dissertation of Anthony Christopher Camara is approved. Helen Deutsch Lowell Gallagher Kathleen Komar Joseph Bristow, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2013 iv For Diep v Table of Contents Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………………….vii Vita……………………………………………………………………………………………….xi Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….1 I. Vernon Lee: Weird Psychological Aesthetics………………………………...........................44 II. Arthur Machen: Metaphysical Terrors……………………………………………………….71 III. Algernon Blackwood: The Cosmic Horror of Nature (and Matter) Unbound…………….110 IV. William Hope Hodgson: Vital Dark Matter……………………………………………….143 Coda: One More Night in the Witch House…………………………………………………....214 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………221 vi Acknowledgments No amount of words can adequately express the gratitude I feel toward my thesis chair, Joseph Bristow. For the past seven years, I have had the honor and privilege of seeing scholarship come alive in him. In that time, he has become a consummate role model to me in matters of professional conduct and personal ethics. There is simply no way to repay all of the time and effort that he put into teaching me how to better express myself in the written and spoken word. And I would have never improved in these areas had Joe not always encouraged me to pursue my own thoughts and interests. I believe that I pay him the ultimate compliment when I say that his tutelage was intense, meticulous, and invigorating, but when I look back on the experience, I still feel strongly that he let me find my own way for myself. He matched this generous gift of intellectual freedom with the unstinting confidence and tremendous patience that I could and would succeed. I count it among my life’s best fortunes that I was able to study with Joe. In all of the best that I will do—in whatever it is that I will choose to do—I have no doubt that his influence will shine through. I thank my family members, Christine, Tony, Evelyn, and Nicholas, for the countless ways in which they have supported me through the years, especially these last seven. I owe all of my accomplishments, however modest they may be, to my wonderful family and the lessons and love that they have shared with me through the years. I must offer special thanks to Nicholas, a fellow connoisseur of the macabre in literature. As we hiked through the mountains one rainy winter day three years ago, he advised me to play to my strengths, and suggested that I vii read H.P. Lovecraft’s Supernatural Horror in Literature. Need I say that on that day, a monster was born? I must thank the following individuals whose treasured friendships have sustained me throughout the years: Steven Kwok, Ben Bendig, Nagayasu and Ai Nakanishi, Elizabeth Lizaola, Consuelo Garcia, Chris and Amy Winchell, David Jacobs, David and Claire Yuan, Adam Small, and Dustin Gonzales. I offer my sincere thanks to my committee members, whose insights and advice have been critical in the production of this document, as well as my scholarly development. Lowell Gallagher’s influence on me extends further back than graduate school. One of Lowell’s undergraduate seminars, on Lot’s Wife, helped me to realize that I wanted to study and teach literature for the rest of my life. Since then, I have nourished my mind on the brilliant conversations that I have had with Lowell, who never ceases to amaze me with the clarity and sophistication of his thought. My gratitude goes out to Helen Deutsch, whose rich correspondence always challenged me to think in new ways. I was never as eager to write as I was after a meeting with Helen, to whom I owe many of my best insights. I also thank Eleanor Kaufman, whose detailed written feedback on my Part II examinations enabled me to conceive this dissertation. Lastly, special thanks is due to Kathleen Komar, who agreed to read my dissertation on very short notice, and whose encouraging words of support were deeply appreciated. I am also beholden to the many individuals who helped to shape me into a strong instructor. Chris Mott instilled a passion in me for teaching that I am fiercely proud of. Every quarter, he finds new ways to impress me in his relentless drive for pedagogical innovation. To become a stellar instructor, all one needs to do is watch Chris, and then try to keep up. I thank viii Kathy O’Byrne, Doug Barrera, and Beth Goodhue, of the UCLA Center for Community Learning, for broadening my teaching horizons. Thanks to the faculty members that I had the pleasure of assisting in the capacity of teaching assistant. And, of course, thanks to all of my students. I hope that our classroom enriched their minds just as much as it did mine. Thanks to the UCLA Nineteenth Century Group, in particular Jonathan Grossman and Ronjaunee Chatterjee, who encouraged me to share my work. The final chapter of this dissertation benefitted enormously from the comments of the group members: Anne Mellor, Dustin Friedman, Richard Dellamora, Ian Newman, Amy Wong, Katie Charles, Cristina Richieri Griffin, Alethia Shih, Sina Rahmani, and Lindsay Wilhelm. My apologies if I have overlooked anyone present at the meeting. Thanks to my fellow cohort members, to whom I wish the very best: Justine Pizzo, Daniel Williford, Alli Johnson, Fuson Wang, P.J. Emery, James Pulizzi, Donal Harris, Ian Newman, Jeremy Schmidt, Brendan O’Kelly, Glenn Brewer, Amanda Waldo, and Alice Henton. A special thanks to Matt Dubord, my graduate student mentor. I am deeply appreciative of the fact that my project has benefitted from the involvement of the following talented individuals: David Del Principe, William Hughes, Peter Schwenger, Steven Bruhm, Eileen Joy, and Valerie Fehlbaum. A prior version of the third chapter, titled “Nature Unbound: Cosmic Horror in Algernon Blackwood’s ‘The Willows’” appeared in Horror Studies, 4:1 (Bristol, U.K.: Intellect Ltd., 2013), 43-62. Excerpts from the second and final chapters are forthcoming in the journals Gothic Studies and O-Zone, respectively. ix Lastly, none of this would have been possible without my wife, Diep. Although she professes to despise science fiction and horror, she has nevertheless managed to enrich