Intimations of Immortality: Nathaniel Hawthorne's
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INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY: NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE’S POETICS OF FIRE by SANDRA SUE HUGHES (Under the Direction of Rosemary Franklin) ABSTRACT In my dissertation, I adopt an interdisciplinary approach influenced by psychology, religion, history, and philosophy. Employing the framework of Gaston Bachelard's phenomenological studies of the four elements to examine Hawthorne's canon, I argue that Hawthorne's recurrent use of fire imagery not only reveals an affinity for an ambiguous symbol admirably suited to his literary aesthetic, but also anticipates a theme prevalent in the manuscripts he left unfinished at his death: the search for the Elixir Vitae and the attainment of immortality. In works such as “Main-Street” and The House of the Seven Gables, Hawthorne employs fire imagery on a conscious level, celebrating its multivalent symbolism. Furthermore, in several of his complex fictions, most notably “Ethan Brand,” he draws upon the legends of Prometheus, Empedocles, and the Phoenix—the three myths that Bachelard has identified as central to a “poetics of fire.” I contend that Hawthorne’s oneiric affinity with the element of fire indicates an abiding interest in the themes of regeneration, resurrection, and immortality chronicled in the Bachelardian fire myths, as well as in three disparate spiritual traditions linked to fire: the scriptural narrative of the Garden of Eden, the religious rituals of the Zoroastrians, and the mystical tradition of alchemy. After examining social contexts as well as biographical information that might explain why Hawthorne was particularly concerned with the idea of immortality, I conclude that although protagonists such as Septimius Felton—the title character of a late, unfinished romance—hope to extend their lives through alchemical experiments, Hawthorne himself sought immortality through his art. Hawthorne acted to preserve his literary legacy not only by attempting to write in “characters of fire,” but also by burning (or threatening to burn) inferior work he produced. Hence, fire, in both its creative and destructive aspects, contributed to the survival of his literary reputation—a writer’s version of the Elixir Vitae. INDEX WORDS: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Gaston Bachelard, American literature, Fire, Elements, Ambiguity, Immortality INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY: NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE’S POETICS OF FIRE by SANDRA SUE HUGHES B.A., Kentucky Wesleyan College, 1991 M.A., Marquette University, 1993 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2003 © 2003 Sandra Sue Hughes All Rights Reserved INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY: NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE’S POETICS OF FIRE by SANDRA SUE HUGHES Major Professor: Rosemary Franklin Committee: Hubert McAlexander Hugh Ruppersburg Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia December 2003 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to acknowledge the assistance of the faculty, librarians, and resources of the University of Georgia. In particular, I benefited from the advice and direction of my doctoral committee members, Dr. Rosemary Franklin, Dr. Hugh Ruppersburg, and Dr. Hubert McAlexander. Rosemary Franklin was the best dissertation director a graduate student could ever hope to work with—her wisdom, her experience, her knowledge of Hawthorne, and her unfailing support of my project inspired me to do the best research and writing of which I am capable. Of course, I owe a great debt of gratitude to my mother, Connie, my brother, B.C., and my aunt Annette for their unwavering belief that I would succeed. I likewise extend my most heartfelt thanks to the members of my dissertation writing and reading group, April Nixon Kendra and Angela Pfile, who read countless drafts and made helpful suggestions at every stage of the writing process. In addition, I would like to thank the following friends for their kind and constant support, which was vital to the completion of my project: Colleen, Greg, Rebecca, Billie, Doug, Brad, Joy, Jodi, Julie, Bronwen, James, Eric, Lisa, Packy, Jennifer, Kathryn, Janice, Diana, Allen, Laura, Yoko, Miyoko, Hiromi, Claire, Paul, Garth, Beth, Sarah, Hester, and Nettie. I also acknowledge the love and support of those friends and family members who are with me still: Billy Gene Hughes, Carlton and Anne Watkins, John and Stella Cost, Emma Watkins, Alice Waldridge, Karen Taketa, and Barb Bertrand Nass. I dedicate this work to all of you. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................... iv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 Biographical and Historical Background: The Birth of an Elemental Consciousness .........................................................................................9 Elemental Philosophy and Psychology: The Creation of a Literary Legacy ...................................................................................................15 2 “COOKERY” AND “APOCALYPSE”: FIRE’S MULTIVALENT SYMBOLISM .............................................................................................22 Domestic Fire: The “Comforting Warmth of the Hearth” ..........................23 Demonic Fire: The “Damnation of Hellfire” and the Final Conflagration..29 Fire as Polyvalent Symbol: A “Strategy of Pluralism” ...............................38 3 THE GARDEN, THE KILN, AND THE CRUCIBLE: SPIRITUALIZED FIRE ............................................................................................................62 The Garden: Eden........................................................................................62 The Kiln: Zoroastrianism ............................................................................69 The Crucible: Alchemy ...............................................................................75 The Marble Faun: A Convergence of Themes............................................82 Miriam, or Paradise Lost.............................................................................84 vi Hilda, or Paradise Sought............................................................................90 Donatello, or Paradise Regained .................................................................99 Kenyon, or Paradise Revisited ..................................................................107 4 PROMETHEUS, EMPEDOCLES, AND THE PHOENIX: THE BACHELARDIAN FIRE MYTHS AND LITERARY CREATIVITY ...110 “A Virtuoso’s Collection”: Connections and Revelations ........................111 “Ethan Brand”: Fictional Fusion of the Fire Myths ..................................115 Prometheus: Thief of Fire..........................................................................122 Empedocles: Flames of Purification..........................................................131 The Phoenix: “Nest” and “Pyre” ...............................................................134 The Role of Fire in Literary Creation and Destruction .............................140 5 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................145 Septimius Felton, the Civil War, and the Elixir Vitae……………..…….148 The Final Years, and the Desire for a Literary Legacy………………….151 NOTES………………………………………………………………………………….157 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................186 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION . we will never know for certain whether fire derives its meaning from images of external reality or its power from the fires of the human heart. —Gaston Bachelard, Fragments of a Poetics of Fire (64) Perhaps best known for his influential Poetics of Space (1958), French philosopher Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962) also produced several phenomenological studies of the four elements recognized by classical philosophers as comprising the universe: earth, air, fire, and water. According to Frank Thilly and Ledger Wood, the problem of external nature was taken up during the pre-Sophistic period, which lasted from around 585 to the middle of the fifth century BCE. The philosophers of this period sought to resolve two questions: 1) what is the original substance of the universe? and 2) how does this substance change in order to produce objects perceivable by the senses? (17). While Thales argued that water was the original substance of the universe (24), and Anaximenes claimed that the primal substance was air (26), Heraclitus maintained that fire was the original and essential element (32). Thus, in Fragment 30, Heraclitus writes, “The ordered world, the same for all, no god or man made, but it always was, is, and will be, an everliving fire . .” (Heraclitus 25). For Heraclitus, fire symbolized the transformation, flux, and incessant activity he believed to constitute reality (Thilly and Wood 32- 33). The answer to the question of how the primal stuff changes into familiar substances was finally offered by Anaxagoras, who postulated countless numbers of qualitative elements that were moved by a mind outside those elements, and by Empedocles, who proposed only four 2 elements—earth, air, fire, and water—which two mythical beings, Love and Hate, cause to unite and divide (41).1 In books such as The Psychoanalysis of Fire (1938), Water and Dreams (1942), Air and Dreams (1943), Earth and the Reveries of the Will (1947), The Flame of a Candle (1961),