Thomas De Quincey and the Cognitive Unconscious PDF
Preview Thomas De Quincey and the Cognitive Unconscious
Thomas De Quincey and the Cognitive Unconscious PalgraveStudiesinLiterature,ScienceandMedicine Serieseditors:ProfSharonRuston(LancasterUniversity,UK),ProfAliceJenkins (UniversityofGlasgow,UK)andProfCatherineBelling(NorthwesternUniver- sity,USA) Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine is an exciting new series that focusesononeofthemostvibrantandinterdisciplinaryareasinliterarystudies. Comprisingacademicmonographs,essaycollections,andPalgravePivotbooks, theserieswillemphasizeahistoricalapproachtoitssubjects.Theserieswillcover allaspectsofthisrichandvariedfieldandisopentonewandemergingtopicsas wellasestablishedones. Sharon RustonisChairinRomanticismandResearch Director fortheDepart- mentofEnglishandCreativeWritingatLancasterUniversity,UK. AliceJenkinsisProfessorofVictorianLiteratureandCultureatGlasgowUniver- sity,UK.Sheisaco-founderandformerChairoftheBritishSocietyforLiterature andScience. CatherineBellingisAssociateProfessorinMedicalHumanitiesandBioethicsat NorthwesternUniversity,USA.SheisalsotheExecutiveEditorofthejournalLit- eratureandMedicine. EditorialBoard: Steven Connor, Professor of English, University of Cambridge, UK; Lisa Diedrich, Associate Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies, Stony Brook University, USA; N Katherine Hayles, Professor of English, Duke University, USA; Peter Middleton, Professor of English, University of Southampton, UK; Sally Shuttleworth, Professorial Fellow in English, St Anne’s College, Univer- sity of Oxford, UK; Susan Squier, Professor of Women’s Studies and English, Pennsylvania State University, USA; Martin Willis, Professor of Science, Litera- tureandCommunication,UniversityofWestminster,UK Titlesinclude: MarkusIseli THOMASDEQUINCEYANDTHECOGNITIVEUNCONSCIOUS AlannaSkuse CONSTRUCTIONSOFCANCERINEARLYMODERNENGLAND RavenousNatures PalgraveStudiesinLiterature,ScienceandMedicine SeriesStandingOrderISBN978–1–137–44538–4hardback 978–1–137–44543–8paperback (outsideNorthAmericaonlyyy) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to usattheaddressbelowwithyournameandaddress,thetitleoftheseriesand theISBNquotedabove. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XS,England Thomas De Quincey and the Cognitive Unconscious Markus Iseli IndependentScholar,Switzerland ©MarkusIseli2015 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-50107-3 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6–10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedhisrighttobeidentifiedastheauthorofthiswork inaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2015by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-1-349-57894-8 ISBN 978-1-137-50108-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137501080 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. AcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress. To Moni Letusbreakdownthebarriersbetweenscienceandthehumanities. J.AllanHobson ‘ThomasDeQuincey,Dreams,andOpium’ Contents Acknowledgements viii ListofAbbreviations x Introduction 1 Part I Language 1 TheNeedforNeologismsandtheEmergenceof Subconscious 23 2 DeQuincey’sSubconsciousandtheCognitiveUnconscious 43 3 StyleandtheRevelatoryPowerofLanguage 71 Part II BodyandBrain 4 TheEmbodiedUnconsciousinAnimalMagnetismand Physiology 107 5 MesmericandOpium-InducedStatesofMind 139 6 TheBrain-MindintheConfessions,LiteraryCriticism,and Suspiria 161 Epilogue 200 AppendixA 206 AppendixB 208 Notes 210 Bibliography 226 Index 241 vii Acknowledgements My greatest debt goes to my mentor and friend Robert Morrison, who has been a constant source of advice and encouragement – often over apintofale.HisprofoundknowledgeofDeQuinceyopenedupmany doors into the opium-eater’s life and work and his generous support andacutecommentshelpedmetoturnideasintoarguments.LisaAnn Robertsonwasmysteadiestcompanion.OurregularSkypemeetingsto shareanddiscussourworkonRomanticauthorsandcognitivescience enriched my experience on a professional and personal level. I would also like to thank Alan Richardson, whose comments and encourage- mentatalatestageofthisprojectwereashelpfulastheywereprecious. Withouthiswork,whichcreatedanewfieldinliterarystudies,thisbook would not exist. I am also grateful to John F. Kihlstrom for his replies tomyquestionsaboutcognitivepsychologyandinparticularforshar- inganunpublishedarticle,whichessentiallyshapedmywork.Ihighly value J. Allan Hobson’s supportive comments and I am grateful for his permissiontousethemformyepigraph. Of all the other people to whom I am indebted in academia – be it for an engaging discussion, for pointing out a text, author, or resource, for answering an inquiry, or for commenting on my work – I would like to thank Joel Faflak, Alasdair Gunn, Grevel Lindop, Julian North, Rahel Orgis, Peter Rowlands, Katrin Rupp, Sharon Ruston, DavidSimpson,SimonSwift,MargaretTudeau-Clayton,PatrickVincent, Gabor Zemplen, and Martina Zier. Finally, without Robert Rehder I would not have discovered the beauty of literature, the excitement ofanalysis,andthejoyofreadingasIexperiencethemtoday. MythanksalsogototheSwissNationalScienceFoundationandthe UniversityofNeuchâtel.ThegeneroussupportoftheSNSFallowedme topursueresearch at Queen’sUniversity,KingstonON,Canada,which freed me from teaching and all other obligations for six months. The University of Neuchâtel gave financial support to present some of my work at various conferences and to return to Queen’s University for a secondresearchstay. At Palgrave Macmillan, I am grateful to commissioning editor Ben Doyle for his encouragement at the outset of the project and his con- tinuous support. Tomas René, the editorial assistant, was always very viii Acknowledgements ix quick, detailed, and accurate in his responses to my many techni- cal inquiries. An earlier version of Chapter 2 and some material from Chapter 1 was published in Romanticism issue 20.3 as ‘Thomas De Quincey’s Subconscious: Nineteenth-Century Intimations of the Cogni- tiveUnconscious’(www.euppublishing.com).Materialnowincludedin Chapters2and6waspublishedinEuropeanRomanticReviewissue24.3 as ‘Thomas De Quincey and the Cognitive Prospects of the Uncon- scious’(www.tandfonline.com).Iwouldliketothankthepeer-reviewers and the editors for their suggestions and for the permission to reuse the material here. I am grateful to the National Library of Scotland for granting me the permission to quote manuscript material from their collection. Michael Raaflaub is the brain and hand behind the cover illustration. The staggering ink drawing he made for this book speaks foritself. Iwouldalsoliketosingleoutafewofthemanypeoplewhoindirectly contributedinonewayoranothertothesuccessfulcompletionofthis project. Elena Diez del Corral Areta, who is so full of life and positive energy, was always there to share the pains and pleasures of academia. IamalsogratefultoSimonRaaflaubforunapologeticallyremindingme nottoburymycreativetraitsinfavourofacademicresearchandwriting. Mymotherandmybrothers,Barbara,Simon,Lukas,andChristian,have notalwaysunderstoodwhatIwastellingthemaboutDeQuincey.How- ever,theyhavetriedtounderstandwhatIwasdoingandhavebelieved– or at least convincingly made me feel that they have believed – that it wasworththewhile.Myfatherwouldhavedonethesame. BasilandLuisshowedgreatpatiencewhiletheirdaddywasawayfor teachingandresearch.Basil’scuriosityaboutwhatThomasDeQuincey was doing, when I occasionally told him that I was writing about that man,wasalwaysapleasure.Ileftthebitaboutopiumoutandfocused on dreaming instead, which satisfied his interest. Thomas was at times almost part of the family it seems. When Basil was having one of the fightsthreeyearoldshavewiththeirbestfriends,bothboyswerethreat- eningtogetgrown-upstohelpthem.Alreadyhavingmeinhislineof defence,Basilcontinuedhismilitarytacticsandaudaciouslyannounced thathewouldgoandgetThomasDeQuincey! Last,butforemost,Monideservesmysinceregratitudeforalwayssup- porting me beyond measure throughout this long project, for taking such good care of our boys while running her own business, and for keepingthefamilylifeupwhenIwasdivingintomypapers.
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