On sympathy

281 Pages·2009·1.25 MB·English

by  Sophie Ratcliffe

OXFORD ENGLISH MONOGRAPHS
GeneralEditors
helen barr david bradshaw christopher butler
hermione lee richard a. mccabe david norbrook
fiona stafford
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On Sympathy
SOPHIE RATCLIFFE
CLARENDON PRESS (cid:1) OXFORD
3
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp
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Ratcliffe,Sophie,1975–
Onsympathy/SophieRatcliffe.
p. cm.—(OxfordEnglishmonographs)
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
ISBN–13:978–0–19–923987–0
1. Englishliterature—Historyandcriticism—Theory,etc. 2. Sympathyinliterature.
3. Authorsandreaders. 4. Literatureandmorals. 5. Reader-responsecriticism.
6. Booksandreading—Philosophy. I. Title.
PR149.S95R372008
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ISBN 978–0–19–923987–0
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For my mother, Rel,
with love and thanks,
and for Andrew, always.
i.m. A. J. RatcliVe (1943–1988)
Acknowledgements
Miranda—The Tempest, by J. W. Waterhouse is reproduced with the
permission of Christie’s Images Ltd. Extractsfromthe following copy-
rightedmaterialareusedinthiswork:TheSeaandtheMirror,copyright(cid:1)
1976byEdwardMendelson,WilliamMeredithandMonroeK.Spears,
Executors of the Estate of W. H. Auden, ‘Shorts’, copyright (cid:1) 1974 by
TheEstateofW.H.Auden,‘OdetoTerminus’,copyright(cid:1)1968byW.
H. Auden; ‘The Watchers’, copyright (cid:1) 1976 by Edward Mendelson,
WilliamMeredith,andMonroeK.Spears,ExecutorsoftheEstateofW.
H. Auden; The Age of Anxiety, copyright 1947 by W. H. Auden and
renewed 1975 by the Estate of W. H. Auden, ‘The Dark Years’, ‘Their
LonelyBetters’,copyright1951byW.H.Auden;‘AttheGraveofHenry
James’,copyright1940andrenewed1969byW.H.Auden;FortheTime
Being, copyright 1944 and renewed 1972 by W. H. Auden; ‘New Year
Letter’, copyright 1941 and renewed 1969 by W. H. Auden; from Col-
lectedPoemsbyW.H.Auden,copyright(cid:1)1976byEdwardMendelson,
WilliamMeredithandMonroeK.Spears,ExecutorsoftheEstateofW.H.
Auden, used by permission of Random House, Inc and Faber & Faber
Ltd;linesfrom‘Christmas1940’,copyright(cid:1)1941byW.H.Audenand
‘TheCreatures’,(cid:1)1935byW.H.Audenarereprintedwithpermissionof
CurtisBrownLtdandFaber&FaberLtd;fourlinesfrom‘ElegiacStanzas
onavisittoDoveCottage’fromCollectedPoemsbyGeoffreyHill(Penguin
Books, 1985) first published in For the Unfallen (1959), copyright (cid:1)
GeoffreyHill,1959,1985;fivelinesfrom‘Huntress,no,notthatHunt-
ress’ from Speech! Speech! (Viking, 2001), copyright (cid:1) Geoffrey Hill,
2001; ‘Just a Smack at Auden’ (four lines) from The Complete Poems of
William Empson, edited by John Haffenden (Allen Lane: The Penguin
Press,2000),copyright(cid:1)EstateofWilliamEmpson,2000,reproduced
bypermissionofPenguinBooksLtd.QuotationsfromSamuelBeckett’s
HowItIs(London:JohnCalder,1964)andBeckettsCompleteDramatic
Works(London:Faber,1986)arereproducedwiththepermissionofFaber
& Faber Ltd. Aside from this, every reasonable effort has been made to
contactandacknowledgetheownersofcopyrightmaterial,andcarehas
been taken toensurethatallquotationsfallwithin the definition of fair
dealingforthepurposesofcriticism.
Acknowledgements vii
Thisbook wasdeveloped from adoctoral thesis, fundedby the Arts
andHumanitiesResearchCouncil.Itwascompletedduringmytimeas
a Postdoctoral Research Fellow appointed by the British Academy. An
additionalresearch grantfrom theBritishAcademy enabled me to pay
the permission fees to reproduce material that appears in this book.
I thank both bodies for their generous support. Many thanks, also, to
the three Oxford colleges in which the work for this book was carried
out—Hertford,Jesus,andKeble—andtomycolleaguesthere.
Ihavebeenluckyenoughtohavewonderfulteachers.Forhisinsight,
intellectual rigour, humour, and kindness, I cannot thank Christopher
Butler,whosupervisedtheoriginalthesis,enough.Iamhugelygratefulto
haveworkedwithhim.MythanksalsotoEricGriYthsandAdrianPoole;
theirteaching,overa decade ago,formed the seedsofsomeoftheideas
in this book. Many thanks to Andrew McNeillie, Jacqueline Baker,
Valerie Shelley, and Alice Jacobs at OUP for all their help and advice,
and to Rowena Anketell and Cyril Cox for their careful editing. A
number of people have been kind enough to read parts of this book in
variousforms,ortodiscusstheideasitcontainswithme.Mythanksto
Rachel Buxton, Matthew Creasy, Steven Connor, Valentine Cunning-
ham, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Mina Gorji, John Kelly, Peter McDo-
nald, Ronan McDonald, Andrew Schuman, Helen Small, Bharat
Tandon, Shane Weller, and Christopher Woodard. I have also gained
from speaking to many students and former students. Thanks, in par-
ticular, to Joe Hickey, Anastasia Tolstoy, and Kirsty Martin. Only the
errorsareentirelymine.
For their support as I have been writing this work, or even thinking
about writing about it, my thanks to Erin Blondel, David Bradshaw,
Paddy and Rebecca Bullard, Richard Butchins, Lindsay Duguid, Ralph
Hanna, Xander Cansell, Peter Carroll, Clive James, Claudia Fitzgerald,
Nicholas Hallam, Alan Jenkins, Jeri Johnson, Rhodri Lewis, Frances
Neale, Diane Purkiss, Chris RatcliVe, Ellie RatcliVe, David and Jenny
Rhymes, Alan Schuman, Amy Shindler, Emma Smith, Joanna Walsh,
Miranda Ward, and Jenny Wheeldon. I wish it were possible to thank
Anthony Levi and Anthony Nuttall; I hope that they might have ap-
provedofsomeofwhatiswrittenhere.MygreatestdebtsarereXectedin
thededication.
S.R.
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Contents
NoteonShortTitles,Texts,andNames x
Introduction 1
1. UnderstandingSympathyandSympathetic
Understanding 6
2. Browning’sStrangeness 71
3. W.H.Auden:‘asmirrorsarelonely’ 123
4. SamuelBeckett:‘humanityinruins’ 169
Epilogue:SympathyNow 225
Bibliography 237
Index 263