Spectres of Antiquity: Classical Literature and the Gothic, 1740-1830

278 Pages·2020·3.213 MB·English

by  James Uden

Spectres of Antiquity

Spectres of Antiquity
Classical Literature and the Gothic,
1740–1 830
James Uden
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Names: Uden, James, author.
Title: Spectres of antiquity : classical literature and the Gothic, 1740–1830 / James Uden.
Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2020. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020010822 (print) | LCCN 2020010823 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780190910273 (hardback) | ISBN 9780190910297 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Gothic fiction (Literary genre), English—History and criticism. |
English literature—18th century—History and criticism. |
English literature—19th century—History and criticism. |
English literature—Classical influences.
Classification: LCC PR408.G 68 U34 2020 (print) |
LCC PR408.G 68 (ebook) | DDC 823/.087290905—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020010822
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020010823
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed by Integrated Books International, United States of America
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
CHAPTER 1 Gothic and Classical in Eighteenth- Century
Criticism: Ghosts, Knights, and the Sublime 25
CHAPTER 2 Horace Walpole, Gothic Classicism, and the Aesthetics
of Collection 55
CHAPTER 3 Ann Radcliffe’s Classical Remembrances 85
CHAPTER 4 Queer Urges and the Act of Translation: Matthew
Lewis 121
CHAPTER 5 Classical Idols and the Early American Gothic: The
Skepticism of Charles Brockden Brown 157
CHAPTER 6 Embodied Antiquity: Mary Shelley’s Relationships with
the Past 191
Afterword: Haunting or Reception? 227
Bibliography 235
Index 259

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Ic ould never have written this book without other people’s patience,
wisdom, and good advice. Obviously this is a very different book from
my first monograph, and I hope that, all the way through, it communicates
a sense of excitement in discovering something new. It was the encour-
agement and assistance of a large number of scholars— both classicists
and specialists in the Gothic—t hat gave me the confidence to roam more
widely. Jerrold E. Hogle has guided my research from the very beginning,
when he chaired the panel for my first presentation at the International
Gothic Association. The model of a generous senior scholar, Jerry con-
tinued to read and comment on my ideas over the years, and his detailed
comments on the book proposal and the entire manuscript have shaped
Spectres of Antiquity in vital ways. Jamil Mustafa and Christopher Weimer
have been wonderful companions for this journey, and I thank them for
their friendship and for sharing their expertise. At Boston University,
Joseph Rezek and John Paul Riquelme showed enthusiasm for my Gothic
ideas and were willing to answer all manner of questions. When Michael
Putnam learned of my interest in this area, he gave me his beautiful editions
of the Strawberry Hill Lucan and the travel narrative of Lewis Engelbach,
both of which I cite in this book. I will treasure them.
Parts of Spectres of Antiquity were tested in talks to various audiences
over the past few years. I cannot name all the audience members who
asked important questions. But I thank all who attended my talks at
Columbia, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Washington; at the an-
nual meetings of the Society of Classical Studies in Chicago and San
Diego; at International Gothic Association conferences at Simon Fraser
University, Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Manchester Metropolitan
University, and Lewis University; at the MACTe junior faculty collo-
quium at Connecticut College; and at Boston University, in the faculty
research group for travel literature and at “On Selling One’s Soul: A World
Languages and Literatures Symposium on the Faust Tradition.” Brett
M. Rogers, Benjamin Eldon Stevens, and Jesse Weiner organized the very
helpful conference on Frankenstein and classical literature at Hamilton
College in 2016, a meeting that came at a key point in my research.
I would particularly like to thank the audience for my talk at the University
of Michigan in September 2017, especially Basil Dufallo, Ian Fielding,
David Halperin, Yopie Pins, and Elizabeth Wingrove, whose comments
were pivotal in determining the final argument of Chapter 6.
I have discussed Spectres with more people than I can count (or re-
member). I would especially like to acknowledge the following friends
who helped clarify points in the argument or urged me to see things in a
different light: Alastair Blanshard, H. Christian Blood, Anston Bosman,
Shane Butler, Christopher B. Polt, Sunil Sharma, Dale Townshend, Angela
Wright, and Hariclea Zengos. Hannah Moss, Elizabeth A. Neiman, and
Dale Townshend generously sent me new or forthcoming research.
Elizabeth C. Goldsmith kindly offered her expertise in French literature,
as did Peter J. Schwartz in German literature. Early in my time in the
Department of Classical Studies at Boston University, it was made clear to
me that I should imagine the field of classics in the broadest terms possible,
and that directive was tremendously liberating. In many conversations over
the years, Stephen Scully has urged me always to think radically— to re-
turn to the root [radix] in order to learn something new. All my colleagues
in Classical Studies heard me discuss this project and offered valuable
suggestions and support. I give particular thanks to Loren J. Samons for
being my faculty mentor over the years. Thank you also to my brother and
parents— half a world away, close at heart.
Numerous scholars read parts of this book in various stages of comple-
tion. I thank C. Allen Speight for reading Chapter 1; Marguerite Johnson
and Joseph Rezek for their comments on an earlier version of Chapter 2;
and Leonard von Morzé for his detailed remarks on Chapter 5 and for
sharing unpublished work. Ann Vasaly read the entire manuscript and
her sharp eye saved me from numerous errors. Stefan Vranka at Oxford
University Press offered helpful comments on the finished manuscript, as
did the readers for the Press. Gareth Williams read an early draft of the
first two chapters, and then also read the full draft of the final manuscript.
viii | Acknowledgments
With his characteristic wit and insight, he led me to rethink my argument
at many points. Gareth was also the one who encouraged me to pick up
Matthew Lewis’s The Monk back in graduate school, so in a sense he is to
blame for all of this.
I am grateful to the Peter Paul Career Development Professorship for a
semester of leave in which I began the project, and to Boston University
for a semester of sabbatical in which to finish it. Kristen McDonald from
the Lewis Walpole Library was unfailingly helpful when I had queries
about its holdings, and Lucy Lead from the Wedgwood Museum helped me
obtain permission to reproduce an image from the museum’s collection.
Chapter 2 is an expanded version of a previous published article entitled
“Horace Walpole, Gothic Classicism, and the Aesthetics of Collection,”
Gothic Studies 20/ 1– 2 (2018), 44– 58. I thank Edinburgh University Press
for their permission to reprint it. Translations throughout the book are my
own unless otherwise noted.
Finally, my warmest thanks. I dedicate Spectres of Antiquity to Crystan
Tan. This is in part because of all the love and patience he has shown me
when I was utterly preoccupied with it, when I was spending too much
time in Gothic castles and not enough with him. It is also because he said
that if I dedicated the book to him, he would actually read it. Well, Tantan,
time’s up. Here it is. Let’s turn the page together, always—
— Boston, September 2019
Acknowledgments | ix