THE GYPSY AS TROPE IN VICTORIAN AND MODERN BRITISH LITERATURE. Abigail Rothblatt ...

314 Pages·2007·1.36 MB·English

ABSTRACT
Title: THE GYPSY AS TROPE IN VICTORIAN
AND MODERN BRITISH LITERATURE.

Abigail Rothblatt Bardi, Ph.D. 2007

Directed by: Dr. William A. Cohen, Associate Professor
University of Maryland College Park

Since their arrival in the British isles in the early sixteenth century, the Romani
people, known as Gypsies, were the objects of a complex mixture of both persecution
and desire. Although early legislation reflects concerns about their alleged thievery
and vagrancy, little factual historical information exists about them, and their identity
is constructed in British discourse in large part by their functions in literature. In the
nineteenth century, the stereotype of the wild, exotic Gypsy evolves into an
established trope that can be readily deployed in texts as a challenge to normative
forms of property ownership, gender, sexuality, and national identity.

This dissertation takes as its central focus a twentieth-century text, Virginia Woolf(cid:146)s
Orlando (1928), in which an aristocratic man lives for 400 years, turning into a
woman midway through, and absconding with a band of Gypsies. Here, gender is
famously interrogated, but the novel also calls attention to the fundamental instability
of norms regarding property distribution, erotic desire, and British national identity.
Through the lens of Orlando, the dissertation examines a variety of nineteenth- and
early-twentieth-century texts in which Gypsies or Gypsy figures (characters with
Gypsy-like qualities) appear and disturb the social order. Chapter One shows how, in
works by Emily Brontº, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Arthur Conan Doyle, and
Kenneth Grahame, Gypsy figures, sometimes in small or cameo roles, imperil the
distribution of property through primogeniture. Chapter Two examines the ways in
which Gypsies destabilize gender in novels by Sir Walter Scott, Charlotte Brontº, and
Elizabeth Gaskell. Chapter Three considers the way they signal non-normative erotic
desire in works by Jane Austen, Matthew Arnold, George Eliot, T.S. Eliot, and D.H.
Lawrence. Finally, examining national identity in novels by George Borrow, Wilkie
Collins, and Bram Stoker, as well as George Eliot(cid:146)s narrative poem The Spanish
Gypsy, Chapter Four argues that while the British national project involves the
abjection of (cid:147)others(cid:148) in order to shore up the body politic, this project is doomed to
failure because Gypsies, as internal others, are ultimately inextricable from this body.
THE GYPSY AS TROPE IN VICTORIAN
AND MODERN
BRITISH LITERATURE.

By

Abigail R. Bardi.

Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the
University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
2007

Advisory Committee:
Associate Professor William A. Cohen, Chair
Associate Professor Elizabeth Loizeaux
Assistant Professor Jason Rudy
Professor Richard Cross
Professor Richard Price
' Copyright by
Abigail Rothblatt Bardi
2007
Acknowledgements

Many people have contributed to this project since its inception, and I would
like to thank some of them. First and foremost, my advisor, Bill Cohen, has been a
brilliant resource and guide, and the best kind of reader, one whose voice gets inside
one(cid:146)s head and continues to operate there. I also thank the members of my
committee, Beth Loizeaux, Jason Rudy, Richard Cross, and Richard Price, for their
insights. Jason Rudy(cid:146)s advice about organization was particularly helpful. Special
thanks, too, to my fellow graduate students, Dr. Liz McClure, Rebekah Benson, and
Dr. Cameron Bushnell, whose support, intellectual and culinary, was invaluable
throughout the doctoral process. Thanks, also, to Orrin Wang for his seminar on the
Gothic, and to Susan Handelman, for her ideas about intertextuality.
I would also like to thank the Gypsy Lore Society, whose 2004 conference in
Newcastle was instrumental in shaping my thinking about this subject, and
particularly Judith Okely and Yaron Matras, whose conversations were extremely
helpful. Also very useful in formulating my approach was the 2003 Hystorical
Fictions conference at the University of Swansea, which persuaded me to read
nineteenth-century fiction through the lens of the twentieth century.
I would also like to thank my friends, colleagues, and students at Prince
George(cid:146)s Community College. Special thanks to my girls, the Golightlies; and to my
dean, Bob Barshay, and chair, Melinda Kramer.
I also have to thank the Fallen Aardvark Society for our copious crab dinners,
and Rachel Carpenter for years of stellar blahage. There are not enough thanks in the
ii
world for the Shrews(cid:151)Vickie Baily, Barbara Bass, and Andie DiMarco(cid:151)for all the
support they have given me through the years. My kids, Andy and Ariel Bardi, have
contributed to this project by being wonderful and making me proud, and Ariel has
been a font of literary and critical knowledge. Thanks to my parents, Ben and Adele
Rothblatt, for always being not only supportive, but interested. To my husband Tony
McGuffin, that patient man, many thanks for being there for me through everything.
Finally, I would like to thank the Romani people, particularly the woman who
sold me a sprig of lavender in the Cirencester High Street twenty years ago. It is my
hope that somehow beyond their mythic presence in the arts, their genuine profound
strengths and sufferings will ultimately be universally acknowledged.

iii
Table of Contents

Introduction(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133) 1
I. (cid:147)Many Outlandysse People(cid:148): Historical Overview(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)...7
II. Critical History(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133) 16
III. The Gypsy as Trope: An Overview(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)... 20
IV. Disco Dialectics(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)..... 26
Chapter One: Gypsies and Property(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)... 29
I. (cid:147)From the Gipsy Point of View(cid:148): Gypsies and Property in Orlando(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)...29
II. (cid:147)A Dark Skinned Gipsy in Aspect(cid:148): Wuthering Heights(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)40
III. (cid:147)Some Gipsy Blood in Her(cid:148): Gypsies in Dickens(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133). 48
IV. (cid:147)Cursed Alien Blood(cid:148): George Eliot(cid:146)s Gypsies(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133) 64
V. (cid:147)But What, Then, Did the Gypsies Do?(cid:148): Gypsies and Sherlock Holmes(cid:133)(cid:133). 71
VI. (cid:147)The Real Thing at Last(cid:148): Wind and the Willows(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133). 82
Chapter Two: Gypsies and Gender(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133) 89
I. (cid:147)One or Two Important Particulars(cid:148): Gypsies and Gender(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133). 89
II. (cid:147)Rather Masculine Than Feminine(cid:148): Gypsies in Guy Mannering(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133). 98
III. (cid:147)I Have Seen a Gypsy Vagabond(cid:148): Gypsies in Jane Eyre(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133) 108
IV. (cid:147)The Indolent Gipsy-giantess(cid:148): Gypsies in Villette(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133).. 126
V. (cid:147)A Gipsy or Make-shift Life(cid:148): Gypsies in North and South(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133).. 145
Chapter Three: Gypsies and Desire(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133).(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)...... 157
I. (cid:147)Rogues and Trollops(cid:148): The Gypsy as Erotic Trope(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)....157
II. (cid:147)A Party of Gipsies(cid:148): Gypsies in Emma(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133) 167
III. (cid:147)That Wild Brotherhood(cid:148): Matthew Arnold(cid:146)s Scholar-Gipsy(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133).. 176
IV. (cid:147)More Like a Gypsy Nor Ever(cid:148): Maggie Tulliver(cid:146)s Gypsiness(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133).. 189
V. (cid:147)The Drowned Phoenician Sailor(cid:148): Gypsies in (cid:147)The Waste Land(cid:148)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133).. 198
VI. (cid:147)Be Braver in Your Body(cid:148): The Virgin and the Gipsy(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133). 210
Chapter Four: Gypsies and National Identity(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133) 226
I. (cid:147)The English Disease(cid:148): The Gypsy as Exotic Other(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133).. 226
II. (cid:147)A Strange Set of People(cid:148): Gypsies in Lavengro and The Romany Rye(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133) 233
III. (cid:147)A Set of Rascals Not Worth Regarding(cid:148): Gypsies and The Moonstone(cid:133)(cid:133) 246
IV. (cid:147)A Mighty Nation(cid:146)s Seed(cid:148): The Zincali and The Spanish Gypsy(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133).... 261
V. (cid:147)An Empty Hole(cid:148): The Szgany and Dracula(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133) 270
Afterword(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)... 285
Works Cited(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)....... 290
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Introduction

It is thus not lack of cleanliness or health that causes abjection but what
disturbs identity, system, order. What does not respect borders, positions,
rules. The in-between, the ambiguous, the composite.
(cid:150)Julia Kristeva, Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection 1

In Virginia Woolf(cid:146)s 1928 novel Orlando, an Elizabethan aristocrat, in the
midst of a lifespan of 400 years, turns quite casually from a man into a woman.
During the interval of this strange gender transition, the eponymous protagonist
spends a brief interlude traveling with a (cid:147)gipsy tribe(cid:148) (140). In depicting the Gypsies(cid:146)
ambiguous role in Orlando(cid:146)s transformation from landed, sexually profligate
Elizabethan man to disinherited, chaste Victorian woman, Woolf draws upon the long
history of representations of the Romani2 people, whose existence on the margins of
British society was recorded from the time of their arrival in the sixteenth century in a
variety of literary and historical registers. This dissertation examines the way in
which these historical representations construct the (cid:147)Gypsy(cid:148) as a trope in British
literature as it is manifested in multiple texts throughout the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. Building upon Woolf(cid:146)s seemingly offhand placement of the
Gypsies at the heart of the contestations of Orlando(cid:146)s economic, gender, sexual, and

1 p. 4.
2 The question of what terms to use for the Romani people is a vexed one. Throughout their history in
Europe, multiple terms have been used for them(cid:151)(cid:147)Gipsies,(cid:148) (cid:147)Egyptians,(cid:148) (cid:147)Zincali,(cid:148) (cid:147)Tsigane,(cid:148)
(cid:147)Travellers,(cid:148) (cid:147)Zigeuner,(cid:148) (cid:147)Sinti,(cid:148) etc. The World Romani Congress has recommended the term
(cid:147)Roma(cid:148) or (cid:147)Rroma,(cid:148) while the Romani people of Britain call themselves (cid:147)Romanichal(cid:148) or
(cid:147)Romnichel,(cid:148) a subset of the Roma (cid:147)nation.(cid:148) In this study, wherever possible, I have adopted the
somewhat arbitrary practice of using (cid:147)Romani people(cid:148) to refer to the actual people and the term
(cid:147)Gypsy(cid:148) to refer to the fictional representations of that group. While I was assured by Yaron Matras,
editor of Romani Studies, that the term (cid:147)Gypsy(cid:148) is perfectly acceptable in any case, it is difficult to
know whom to regard as an authority on this matter; the question of who is authorized to speak for the
Roma/Romanies/Gypsies is just as vexed as the issue of terminology.
1
national status, this study will explore the significance of the Gypsy figure as a
marker of these contestations.
A primary assumption here is that the reason Gypsies have been so available
as a signifier in nineteenth and early twentieth-century British literature3 in texts
ranging from Sir Walter Scott(cid:146)s Guy Mannering (1815) to D.H. Lawrence(cid:146)s The
Virgin and the Gipsy (1930, posthumous) is that despite their being the focus of
intense scrutiny since their arrival in the British isles, very little accurate information
about the Romani people has historically been available to non-Romanies (Gad(cid:158)e).
This absence of data has rendered Gypsies peculiarly available for signification: as
figures whose mere presence seems to have provoked anxiety in the European
populations in the course of their long diaspora from northern India, they have
traditionally been the repository of whatever anxieties Gad(cid:158)e populations have
wanted to project onto available others. Even the process of their naming is indicative
of this lack of information: they were initially known as (cid:147)Egyptians,(cid:148) from which the
term (cid:147)Gypsies(cid:148) is derived, because their place of origin was unknown or
misconstrued and a myth was projected upon them.
From these exoticized beginnings onward, the Romani people were, in the
words of Charles G. Leland, the first president of the Gypsy Lore Society,4 thought to
be (cid:147)a mysterious race(cid:148) about whose origins (cid:147)nothing is known(cid:148) (331). In his 1882
work The Gypsies, Leland sets out to dispel this mystery; like other (cid:147)Gypsiologists(cid:148)

3 Gypsies also appear in a variety of British texts prior to the nineteenth century, such as Ben Jonson(cid:146)s
The Gypsies Metamorphos(cid:146)d (1621), Oliver Goldsmith(cid:146)s The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), and Henry
Fielding(cid:146)s Tom Jones. However, the trope appears to have been consolidated in the nineteenth century,
as this study will argue.
4 Leland was president of the GLS from 1888 to 1892.
2
of his day as well as most contemporary scholars, Leland traces the Romanies(cid:146) roots
to India,5 and he examines their (cid:147)pursuits and habits(cid:148) to bolster his case:
They were tinkers, smiths, and farriers.
They dealt in horses, and were naturally familiar with them.
They were without religion.
They were unscrupulous thieves.
Their women were fortune-tellers, especially by chiromancy(cid:133).
They made and sold mats, baskets, and small articles of wood.
They have shown great skill as dancers, musicians, singers, acrobats;
and it is a rule almost without exception that there is hardly a
traveling company of such performers or a theatre, in Europe or
America, in which there is not at least one person with some
Romany blood(cid:133).(332)
Despite his being a purported (cid:147)Romany Rye,(cid:148) i.e., a Gad(cid:158)o who studies and/or travels
with Roma and is thus sympathetic to them, Leland(cid:146)s list is a compendium of aspects
of the Gypsy stereotype, which he romanticizes: (cid:147)Gypsies are the human types of
[the] vanishing, direct love of nature, of this mute sense of rural romance, and of al
fresco life(cid:133)despite their rags and dishonesty,(cid:148) he continues. (cid:147)Truly they are but rags
themselves; the last rags of the old romance which connected man with nature(cid:148) (13).
Underlying his description are the assumptions that the Romanies(cid:146) itinerant lifestyle
represents a challenge to the mainstream and that they are a transgressive foreign

5 (cid:147)[T]here appears to be every reason for believing with Captain [Richard] Burton that the Jāts of
Northwestern India furnished so large a proportion of [Gypsy] emigrants or exiles who, from the tenth
century, went out of India westward, that there is very little risk in assuming it as an hypothesis, at
least, that they formed the Hauptstamm of the gypsies in Europe(cid:148) (Leland 331).
3