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Robert Southey's Kaleidoscope: the Doctor, &C ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ARTS, LAW AND SOCIAL SCIENCES ROBERT SOUTHEY’S KALEIDOSCOPE: THE DOCTOR, &C SABINA AKRAM A thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Anglia Ruskin University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Submitted: September 2018 Acknowledgments I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the people who supported me throughout this project and without whom this thesis could not have been completed. Firstly, I would like to wholeheartedly thank my supervisor, Professor John Gardner, for his constant support, advice and encouragement throughout the last five years. I would also like to thank my second supervisor, Professor Rohan McWilliams, whose contributions are greatly appreciated. I am sincerely grateful to Anna Huggins and Donna K Hudson for reading my work and providing feedback. You both are truly the epitome of friendship and the best friends anyone could ask for - the adventures will continue! To Liam O’Halloran, thank you for emotionally supporting me through the moments when I did not think this was possible. Your wings take you all around the world but you are never that far away when I need it the most – ferme les yeux et vois. Finally, to all my family - my sisters, brothers, nephews and nieces - I love you all. I would like to thank my parents in particular. Without your initial encouragement in pursuing my PhD, I would never have had the resolution to undertake this project. It is a testament to both your characters, and how much you have achieved, that you could pay for me to do so as well as financially support me throughout this time. Without your unconditional love, I could never have written this thesis. You both came to England without knowing a word of English - and now I’ve written 80,000 of them. I dedicate this to you. i ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY ABSTRACT FACULTY OF ARTS, LAW AND SOCIAL SCIENCES DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ROBERT SOUTHEY’S KALEIDOSCOPE: THE DOCTOR, &C SABINA AKRAM SEPTEMBER 2018 This thesis investigates the last text published by Robert Southey, The Doctor, &c (1834-1847), and argues that while Southey may have moved to political conservatism as he grew older, his writing became even more radically experimental. Southey’s text is a kaleidoscopic fusion and includes a range of topics that consists of the plot of Doctor Daniel Dove, autobiographical elements, Southey’s religious and political views, historical retellings and musical compositions, which have all been embedded within a postmodern narrative. The reason for this research is that, while other influences on Southey focus predominately on his early works, life or politics, the concept that The Doctor, &c demonstrates early postmodern characteristics and self-reflective portraits has been neglected. Five topics are identified within this thesis: identity, autobiography, postmodernism, religious politics and fairy tales, which combined establish the central argument that Southey’s text contains a kaleidoscope of ideas all iii combined together to create his most experimental composition. By examining the contextual background, The Doctor, &c is likened to Christopher Smart’s The Midwife, Or Old Woman’s Magazine (1751-1753) and recognises that the original tale of Doctor Daniel Dove first appeared within Smart’s periodical. Close readings of Southey’s letters and the text itself draw out comparisons, which indicate Samuel Taylor Coleridge urged Southey to write The Doctor, &c. I argue that Coleridge was the primary link that connected Southey and Smart and, essentially, The Doctor, &c was formed on the basis of collapsed projects between Coleridge and Southey. Subsequently, this thesis demonstrates that the idea for the text occurred as early as 1807 and written throughout Southey’s life until the first volume was finally published in 1834. Key words: Robert Southey, The Doctor, &c, Experimental literature, Postmodern, Romantic autobiography, Fairy tales, Politics, Islam, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Midwife; Or Old Woman’s Magazine iv Table of Contents Introduction: Locating Southey ............................................................................ 1 Chapter I: ‘His Old Curiosity Shop’: identity, digression and paratext ............ .20 1.1 The Identity Within ............................................................................... 23 1.2 A Work in Digression ............................................................................ 44 1.3 Common-placing ................................................................................... 57 1.4 Digressions and Paratexts ...................................................................... 62 Chapter II: Southey, &c: an experiment for the masses ..................................... 83 2.1 The Midwife and The Doctor .................................................................... 84 2.2 The Personal Correspondence of ‘The Doctor’ ....................................... 104 2.3 A Literary Self-portrait ............................................................................ 117 Chapter III: The Perception of the Mind: a postmodern narrative ................... 146 3.1 A Modern Genre? ................................................................................ 148 3.2 ‘Out-Sternifying Sterne’ ............................................................................. 162 3.3 Time is Crucial ........................................................................................... 168 3.4 Writer’s Time ............................................................................................. 171 3.5 Suspended Time ......................................................................................... 175 3.6 Southey’s Postmodern Music ..................................................................... 187 Chapter IV: Paradoxical Identity: the political and religious struggle of Robert Southey ............................................................................................................. 203 4.1 Youthful Exposure ............................................................................... 204 4.2 ‘A Very Catholic Taste’ ...................................................................... 210 4.3 The Near East ...................................................................................... 226 4.4 Southey’s Islam ................................................................................... 231 v Chapter V: The Story of the Three Bears: alternative explanations and the evolution of the tale .......................................................................................... 259 5.1 A Happily Ever-After? ........................................................................ 259 5.2 The Functions of a Fairy Tale ............................................................. 262 5.3 The Character Within .......................................................................... 267 5.4 The Storyteller's 'boudoir' Words: explanation I ................................. 276 5.5 The Drawing Room of Political Religion: alternative explanation II 282 5.6 The Library’s Natural Philosophy: alternative explanation III ........... 296 5.7 The Evolution of the Tale .................................................................... 301 Conclusion: ‘Everything and Nothing’ ............................................................ 312 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………..330 vi Abbreviations Southey, Letters ‘The Collected Letters of Robert Southey’, ed. Ian Packer, Lynda Pratt and Tim Fulford. Romantic Circles, 2009. https://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/southey_letters. (Digitising Southey’s personal correspondence is an on-going process for The Romantic Circles Electronic Edition. Southey’s letters are catalogued by number. Therefore, I will supply the logged number of each letter at the end of the citation and abbreviate it to: Southey, Letters¸ followed by the letter number) Coleridge, CL Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Collected Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge ed. Earl Leslie Griggs (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). vii COPYRIGHT DECLARATION COPYRIGHT Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of this thesis rest with: (i) Anglia Ruskin University for one year and thereafter with (ii) Sabina Akram This copy of the thesis has been supplied on the condition that anyone who consults it is bound by copyright. viii Introduction: Locating Southey Imagine a kaleidoscope. Inside there is a variety of colourful objects like beads, pebbles or small pieces of glass that freely move about and, as you look through the eyepiece and rotate the outside of the kaleidoscope, it creates fascinating visual images that change with each movement. It is not difficult to become mesmerised and amazed as you peer through to see ever-changing patterns of beautiful colours and shifting reflections. However, as you become absorbed by the colours that merge into an unrestrained optical swirl of distorted images that become nothing more than fragmented illusions, the mind is left enthralled within a chaotic spellbound of emotions which leaves it questioning the existence of such an ocular object and its purpose. This is what my mind felt like after reading The Doctor, &c (1834-1847). Robert Southey’s fragmented narrative and entanglement of words are so beautiful that the reader admires the sentiment in which it was written, but left to wonder what exactly was meant. It is my intention in this study to demonstrate precisely what Southey meant and why. This thesis examines the origins of the plot of Doctor
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