The Uncanny in Henry James's
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Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Lingue e Letterature Europee, Americane e Postcoloniali Tesi di Laurea The Uncanny in Henry James’s “Adina”, The Last of the Valerii” and “The Madonna of the Future” Relatrice Ch.ma Prof.ssa Michela Vanon Alliata Correlatore Ch.mo Prof. Simone Francescato Laureando Gaetano Di Stefano Matricola 874131 Anno Accademico 2019 / 2020 A mia sorella, per il suo continuo supporto Ai miei genitori, senza i quali questa tesi non avrebbe preso vita INDEX INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 6 THE UNCANNY ................................................................................................... 9 A GENERAL INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 9 FORMS OF THE UNCANNY ........................................................................ 15 READING “THE UNCANNY” ...................................................................... 27 THE DANGEROUS LUXURY OF ITALY ........................................................ 30 SCATTERED IMPRESSIONS ........................................................................ 30 ITALIAN HOURS ........................................................................................... 40 ROME: THE OMINOUS TORPOR ................................................................ 44 FLORENCE: THE HAPPY HARMONY ....................................................... 50 THE JAMESIAN ITALY ................................................................................ 53 ADINA ................................................................................................................. 60 THE RULING TOPAZ .................................................................................... 60 SOLVED PUZZLES? ...................................................................................... 71 THE LAST OF THE VALERII ........................................................................... 81 “HIS JUNO’S THE REALITY; I’M THE FICTION!” ................................... 81 HENRY’S HIDDEN AND UPSETTING ANXIETIES ................................. 96 THE MADONNA OF THE FUTURE ............................................................... 108 UNATTAINABILITY AND FATALISM IN JAMES’S ITALY ................. 108 THE ROLE OF ART: CHANGES AND LOSSES ....................................... 118 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................ 127 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................. 128 5 INTRODUCTION How does Henry James express his fascination for Italy in his early stories? What strategies does he use? What are the literary topoi that recur? What effect do they have on the reader? In the following dissertation, I have tried to answer these questions by focusing on James’s early short stories: "Adina" (1874), "The Last of the Valerii" (1874), and "The Madonna of the Future" (1873). The first two are set in Rome, and the latter in Florence, two cities that James loved immensely. At first glance, they seem tales with an Italian setting and some flat characters. Indeed, they are James’s initial attempts to incorporate Italy in his works, a country that he was starting to discover. As a matter of fact, James in these three stories explores his relationship with Italy that I would define uncanny. More precisely, the uncanny arises from the objects that recur in these stories. These artifacts own a force that direct the plot and rule the characters who become their victims. It is as if the artifacts were animated, endowed with power, and the characters act like mannequins under their influence. From this, in my opinion, this upsetting feeling derives and takes form. Ernst Jentsch was the first to introduce in psychology the concept of the uncanny defined as the intellectual uncertainty whether an obviously animated object is really alive or not; or, on the contrary, if an inanimate object could somehow be endowed with autonomous life. Clearly in these tales the objects are not alive in the true sense of the word but, metaphorically, they are. In addition, as Freud stated, the uncanny comes “when primitive beliefs which have been surmounted seem once more to be confirmed1”. This is what happens in these stories: the past comes back at a wrong time through these artifacts that come to light again. The past seems so near yet so distant; therefore, the result can only be a strange and mysterious sequence of events, with different endings for each tale. In the stories these objects are the topaz of the emperor Tiberius, a sculpture of Juno, and a painting by Raphael. All have in common the overwhelming power they carry: the power of, respectively, Roman, Greek and Renaissance art that, and James knew it well, can bring fatal outcomes if faced. 1 Freud Sigmund, “The Uncanny”, first published in Imago, Bd. V., 1919; reprinted in Sammlung, Fünfte Folge, translated by Strachey Alix, 1925, p. 17. 6 The first chapter is an introduction on the concept of the uncanny. In the second chapter, the relationship between James and Italy is analysed, an ambiguous relationship made up of hate and love. For James, Italy is a femme fatale, a charming and ruthless “woman”. He is fascinated with it, but his Puritan roots often make him retreat by asking questions about the immorality of Italy that attracts him ambiguously. The third chapter deals with the story of "Adina" in which the topaz of the emperor Tiberius is the cause of a turning point that leads to the "ruin" of the American Scrope who in the end, to break the spell, throws it into the Tiber. Scrope has been enchanted for too long by the beauty and value of topaz, appropriating it undeservedly. In the end, it is Angelo, the ignorant and naive Italian, who wins. The fourth chapter deals with the story of "The Last of the Valerii" in which the sculpture (of probable Greek origins) of Juno is the cause of a bizarre obsession for Count Valerio, who begins to worship and venerate it. He falls into a strange neo- paganism for that time. He even makes a bloody sacrifice at the foot of the statue that has totally taken possession of him. His American wife Martha will make him return to reality by bringing Juno back underground. Unlike "Adina" here the American reacts promptly but a piece of the sculpture remains in the villa that could threaten their married life again. The fifth chapter analyses the story of "The Madonna of the Future" in which Raphael's painting "The Madonna of the Chair" leads to the demise of the American Theobald who wants to create his "Madonna of the Future", by taking inspiration from Raphael’s masterpiece. Italian Renaissance art proves invincible for those who want to face it and the only outcome can be the extreme one: death. The tales are ordered in this way for their different endings that become ever more tragic. In "Adina", Scrope brings the topaz back into the river and the story closes predicting a lasting friendship between the narrator and him. This is a positive ending, despite the tragedy of the plot. In "The Last of the Valerii", a sense of calm returns, albeit in an ambiguous and unclear way. On the other hand, in "The Madonna of the Future", Theobald, who lives only to create his work, fails and dies. Of the three stories the latter is the most pessimistic and tragic. The presence of Italy is ghostly and deadly in these stories, and it is indicative of an obsession with the past that invests the characters through its Italian artistic artifacts. Clearly, this was also James’s own feeling. 7 By going against the grain, since the stories in which the concept of the uncanny has been analysed by critics are, to name a few, “The Turn of the Screw”, “The Jolly Corner” or “The Romance of Certain Old Clothes”, I discuss the uncanny choosing other stories that have a lot in common, starting with the object presented which often proves to be more alive than the characters, and becomes the bearer of a bewitching and destructive past. Obviously, the tales mirror James’s own complex experience of Italy. If in the travel essays he seems quite positive, in fiction he shows his hidden fears. As Macdonald argues: The objects of James’s receptive vision seem to take on, as it were, a life of their own. Throughout the early Italian essays [and so tales] they vibrate with a seemingly independent force and with what Merleau-Ponty has called “internal animation”. Italy functions, then, not only as a tangible presence, but as an active agency which solicits response and commands attention. “At every step”, as James wrote of Rome’s “weighty” historical presence, it “confronts you, and the mind must make some response.” It speaks to the viewer, demands a response and invites him into an exchange. Florentine scenes, […], do not merely await the interested gaze, they actively recruit the viewer’s attention and “force” themselves into view2. 2 Macdonald Bonney, Henry James’s Italian Hours: Revelatory and Resistant Impressions, Ann Arbor, UMI Research Press, 1990, p. 46. 8 THE UNCANNY A GENERAL INTRODUCTION Today is the last day that I'm using words They've gone out, lost their meaning Don't function anymore Words are useless, especially sentences They don't stand for anything How could they explain how I feel? (Madonna, “Bedtime Story”) Das Unheimliche is a word of the German language, used by Sigmund Freud as a conceptual term to express, in the aesthetic field, a particular aspect