A Specter is haunting Europe : a sociohistorical approach to the fantastic PDF
Preview A Specter is haunting Europe : a sociohistorical approach to the fantastic
A SPECTER IS HAUNTING EUROPE A Sociohistorical Approach to the Fantastic by Jose B. Monleon PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY A SPECTER IS HAUNTING EUROPE A Sociohistorical Approach to the Fantastic by Jose B. Monleon PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY Copyright © 1990 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Oxford All Rights Reserved iL yrarb f osisgeroglnaotCaiC-gnilbuP-nitac no ataD Monleon, Jose B., 1950- A specter is haunting Europe : a sociohistorical approach to the fantastic / Jose B. Monleon. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-691-06862-3 (alk. paper) i. Fantastic literature, European—History and criticism. 2. Fantastic literature, Spanish—History and criticism. I. Title. PN56.F34M59 1991 809.^8766—dc20 90-33843 This book has been composed in Galliard Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey 1 3 5 7 9 1 0 8 6 4 2 CONTENTS ce aferP ii v ONE on itcudortnI 3 TWO 1789: The amerD of on saeR 21 THREE 1848: The ltuassA on on saeR 49 FOUR 1917: The sepilcE of on saeR 8i FIVE ws odahS 104 IX S Epilogue: rnutaS Devouring His en rdlihC 36 1 Notes 141 v C O N T E N TS Bibliography 157 Index 171 vi Illl PREFACE Illl THE FANTASTIC has become, without any doubt, a central component of our literary tradition and an increasingly "popu lar" genre. In our contemporary world of faith in science and technology, it has a wide reading and viewing audience and has invaded movie theaters and the supermarket paperback racks as well as academia. In fact, the fantastic belongs to mass culture and feeds the universe of artistic consumption. It is, at the same time, a primary element in the works of many "recognized" authors: from Hoffmann, Poe, and Maupassant to Borges, Garcia Marquez, and Stephen King, Western literary history incorporates a long tradition of the fantastic, a tradition that encompasses medieval stories as well as modern works, exotic tales from the Orient as well as novels immersed in our mun dane, daily life. In the last several decades, the fantastic increas ingly has attracted scholarly attention, from various critical perspectives. Psychoanalytic, structuralist, and feminist inter pretations—among others—have contributed to a better un derstanding of this unique form of artistic expression. The present study aims to establish an ideological reading rooted in the concrete historical circumstances from which the fantastic emerged and evolved. Given the immense number of texts and contexts to be con sidered, the project required self-imposed limitations. With the exception of Poe, I have considered only the European produc tion; this was done exclusively for historical reasons. This book is thus an introduction in the strictest sense of the word: it sketches, it outlines, it offers a paradigm. In so doing, it makes use of those texts that best serve its purpose—but this purpose, of course, was an a posteriori choice. In this sense I could, and should, endorse Erich Auerbach's comment regarding his study of mimesis: "My interpretations are no doubt guided by P R E F A C E a specific purpose. Yet this purpose assumed form only as I went along, playing as it were with my texts, and for long stretches of my way I have been guided only by the texts them selves. Furthermore, the great majority of the texts were cho sen at random, on the basis of accidental acquaintance and per sonal preference rather than in view of a definite purpose" (556). Obviously, many pertinent literary works have not been included—occasionally because they would have required ex tensive elaboration of subdeties and nuances. Outlines must bear that stigma. They pay a poor tribute to the original text; their simplifications can never do justice to the rich intricacies of a single story. Yet it is also true that part of that individual richness is due to the recognition that a text shares some ele ments with other individual texts. Texts create paradigms and paradigms create texts. oD n uQ iox te shapes the idea of the novel as much as the novel shapes oD n uQ iox te. This is part of the process of literary evolution. Therefore, departures from the model do not necessarily negate the model. On the con trary, they enhance it through modification, as I know further studies of the fantastic will enhance this one. The present book is, then, as the title indicates, an intro duction to the social history of the fantastic. It intends to frame, both in space and in time, the basic conditions that pro duced and were reproduced by what we now understand, very loosely, as the fantastic. In it I have used the works and ideas of numerous critics and historians who do not always con cur ideologically or methodologically. The names of Todorov, Foucault, Lukacs, Hobsbawm, and Himmelfarb seem at odds under the same roof. The book is neither an effort at critical pluralism nor an attempt to establish a synthesis of different and opposing currents. I have "expropriated" those findings that I considered correct and useful in the construction of the present study, regardless of whether or not I agreed with the general ideas or conclusions of each author. I am neither apply ing a particular method nor following a specific school of criti- Vlll P R E F A C E cism, although I am sure that the reader will be able to discern the perspective from which the issues are approached. The book consists of three main parts: chapter éi s a discus sion of thef antastic in theoreticatle rms; chapters 2,3,a nd 4a re concerned with the fantastic in industrially advanced countries such as England, France,a nd the United States. The chapters follow an evolutionary line, with each one concerned witht he characteristics andp roblems of the fantastic in a given period. This periodization does not imply the successive rise and fall of certain types of the fantastic. It indicates that during a certain span of time a particular kindo f the fantastic came into being and was predominant, but it does not exclude the possibility that previous forms subsisted in later stages. Chapter 5 is likewise an introduction, but it focuses on the Spanish production. Manyo f its theses must be regarded as hy potheses rather than definite conclusions, since a general vac uum envelops theS panish fantastic. Nevertheless, the sectionis necessary and useful insofar as it serves not only to introduce the Peninsular phenomenon but also to verify the European paradigm. Spain's late development, as well as its economic and cultural dependence, offers a distinct background against which to test the flexibility and reliability of the previous find ings. Germany or Russia could have served equally as a con crete example on which to test the model. Finally, a word about some formal aspects. Bibliographical information about works cited isp rovided in the bibliography at the end of the book. In the text, numbers in parentheses indicate the page number (and, if necessary for clarification, the date) of the work cited. As for translations, they are mine, except where otherwise indicated.
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