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278 Pages·2020·3.213 MB·English
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Spectres of Antiquity Spectres of Antiquity Classical Literature and the Gothic, 1740–1 830 James Uden 1 1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2020 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. 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

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