The self and it: novel objects in eighteenth-century England

310 Pages·2010·11.48 MB·English

by  Julie Park

The Self and It
Novel Objects in Eighteenth-Century England
Julie Park
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
© 2010 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.
All rights reserved.
An earlier version of Chapter 4 was published as “Pains and Pleasures of the
Automaton: Frances Burney’s Mechanics of Abjection,” Eighteenth-Century
Studies 40, no. 1 (Fall 2006): 23–49. An earlier version of Chapter 2 was
published as “‘I Shall Enter Her Heart’: Fetishizing Feeling in Clarissa,” Studies
in the Novel 37, no. 4 (Winter 2005): 371–93. An earlier version of Chapter 6
was published as “Unheimlich Maneuvers: Eighteenth-Century Dolls and
Repetitions in Freud,” Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation 44, no. 1
(Spring 2003): 45–68.
Frontispiece: “Moll Handy,” 1740. Courtesy of the Lewis Walpole Library, Yale
University.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission
of Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Park, Julie
The self and it : novel objects in eighteenth-century England / Julie Park.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
9780804773348
1. English fiction—18th century—History and criticism. 2. Self in literature. 3.
Mimesis in literature. 4. Commercial products in literature. 5. Capitalism and
literature—England—History—18th century. I. Title.
PR858.S427P37 2010
823’.509353—dc22
2009005429
For my parents
With respect to the characters of mankind, my curiosity is quite satisfied: I have
done with the science of men, and must now endeavour to amuse myself with the
novelty of things.
—TOBIAS SMOLLETT, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Table of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Its, Parts, Wholes, and the Eighteenth-Century Self
NOVEL
CHAPTER ONE - For the Pleasure of It: Consuming Novelty
FETISH
CHAPTER TWO - “No Sex in Ethereals”: Making the Heart and Hymen
Real in Clarissa
DOLL
CHAPTER THREE - Appearing Natural, Becoming Strange: The Self as
Mimetic Object
AUTOMATON
CHAPTER FOUR - Frances Burney’s Mechanics of Coming Out
PUPPET
CHAPTER FIVE - Puppet Life: Voice, Animation, and Charlotte Charke’s
Narrative
LAST THINGS
CHAPTER SIX - Unheimlich Maneuvers: Enlightenment Objects in the
Age of Psychoanalysis
Notes
Index
Table of Figures
FIGURE 1.1
FIGURE 3.1
FIGURE 3.2
FIGURE 3.3
FIGURE 3.4
FIGURE 4.1
FIGURE 5.1
FIGURE 5.2
FIGURE 5.3
FIGURE 5.4
FIGURE 5.5
FIGURE 5.6
FIGURE 6.1
FIGURE 6.2
FIGURE 6.3
FIGURE 6.4
FIGURE 6.5
Acknowledgments
My first acknowledgment of indebtedness goes to my advisors and teachers at
Princeton. Earliest on, Diana Fuss led me to think through objects and things.
She gave me many other things as an advisor, including the courage for patience,
clarity, and difficult questions. As my main supervisor, Claudia L. Johnson went
beyond her call of duty in reading just about every single incarnation of the
book. Her advice has always been direct and illuminating, and her deep support
continues to carry me through many tricky passages. Jonathan Lamb was
dedicated and expansive in his advisory role; he readily loaded me with books,
sources, and all the time I needed for his counsel. April Alliston was the first
teacher to galvanize eighteenth-century studies for me. I am grateful for her
probing and judicious comments on my writing, the excitement she passed on to
me over questions about mimesis, character and verisimilitude, and above all her
most loyal support and friendship. Joanna Picciotto taught me everything I know
about seventeenth-century England. Being her preceptor for her undergraduate
seminar gave me an opportunity to learn from her dazzling gifts in teaching,
scholarship, and friendship. I am grateful to Oliver Arnold for taking an early
interest in my work. He was the first to encourage me to find promise in dolls. I
am lucky to have had such formidably talented scholars as my mentors.
My teachers at Bryn Mawr, Jane Hedley and Carol Bernstein, first taught me
how to trace the beauty of ideas—always closely—and love rigor as its own
reward. I could not have predicted how long it would take for me to get to thank
them in this way. My colleagues at McMaster University, David Clark, Henry
Giroux, Melinda Gough, Jacques Khalip, and Susan Searls Giroux have been
generous in sharing with me their wisdom, time, support, and candor. Alicia
Kerfoot, an inspiring doctoral supervisee, single-handedly helped me with the
intimidating chore of obtaining permissions and reproductions for illustrations in
this book. Antoinette Somo took me under her able wing and made many
gestures of loyalty and support that I will always remember. The members of my
graduate seminar “The Eighteenth-Century Novel,” Melissa Carroll, Ailsa Kay,
Amanda Spina, Pouria Taghipour Tabrizi, and Emily West were passionate
readers and interlocutors, bringing me good cheer during an important stage of
writing this book. The many colleagues at Vassar who have taken the time to
give me much-appreciated support, guidance and good will include Mark