Victorian Disharmonies: A Reconsideration of Nineteenth-century English Fiction

241 Pages·2010·3.127 MB·English

by  Francesco Marroni

Victorian Disharmonies

Victorian Disharmonies
A Reconsideration
of Nineteenth-Century
English Fiction
Francesco Marroni
The John Cabot University Press, Rome
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Marroni, Francesco, 1949-
[Disarmonie vittoriane. English]
Victorian disharmonies : a reconsideration of nineteenth-century English
fiction / Francesco Marroni.
p. cm.
English translation of: Disarmonie vittoriane, with revisions.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-87413-090-4 (alk. paper)
1. English fiction—19th century—History and criticism. 2. Social problems in
literature. 3. Social conflict in literature. 4. Social change in literature. 5. Order
in literature. 6. Literature and society—Great Britain—History—19th century.
I. Title.
PR878.S62M3713 2010
823'.809355—dc22
2009042752
printed in the united states of america
Contents
Acknowledgments 7
Introduction: The Victorian Ethos
and the Disharmony of the World 11
1. A Tale of Two Cities: Dickens and the Guillotine 51
2. Wilkie Collins, Death, and the Labyrinth of the Letter 85
3. Cousin Phillis: Illness as Language 104
4. The Cursed Hearth: Desire and Deceit
in the Short Stories of Elizabeth Gaskell 120
5. The Whirlpool: Gissing, Vocation, and Modernity 137
6. Jude the Obscure and the Spectacle of Disharmony 159
Notes 189
Select Bibliography 229
Index 239

Acknowledgments
T
his book appeared in Italian some years ago with a similar
title: Disarmonie vittoriane: Rivisitazioni del canone della narrativa inglese
dell’Ottocento (Rome: Carocci, 2002). Its translation in English has in-
volved a significant, albeit partial revision of my work for at least two
reasons. First, while trying to offer a clearer presentation of my ideas,
I could not help modifying, sometimes even radically, the linguistic
structure of sentences and paragraphs. Second, each chapter has
been substantially revised not only in the light of further reflections
on the contents and methodology of the original version, but also as
a response to useful bibliographical suggestions from, and fruitful
discussions with, friends and colleagues.
My first thanks go to Allan C. Christensen for his unfailing sup-
port and for his proposal of an English version of my book. Indeed,
after reading it in Italian, Allan sent me an e-mail in which he envis-
aged a larger readership for my interpretation of Victorian fiction as
disharmony. He read carefully the drafts of each chapter throughout
the translating process, and his keen eye was always extraordinarily
helpful in detecting linguistic and semantic “disharmonies”—thanks
to his advice the text improved stylistically and gained in claritas and
economy of expression. I am also boundlessly grateful to Renzo
D’Agnillo, old friend and intellectual partner in Victorian discus-
sions and literary walks in Thomas Hardy’s footsteps: he was an in-
spiring reader of my work, while generously helping me in solving
many translating dilemmas in the evolution of the English version. I
owe a particular debt of gratitude to my dear friend Gloria Lauri-
Lucente, who read the typescript at its various stages, always with me-
ticulous perceptiveness and thought-provoking remarks—her de-
tailed and enthusiastic comments have strengthened some theoretical
aspects of this book.
My warmest thanks are due also to Massimo Verzella, who, at my
implicit pressing request, read the final draft with critical insight
7
8 acknowledgments
and acumen: he was perceptively clever at directing my attention to
some minor blemishes that I would otherwise have overlooked. To
Raffaella Antinucci I express my gratitude for her very helpful com-
ments on some specific points, and for the gift of a new book de-
voted to Dickens and London on the very day I concluded my trans-
lation, which I tendentiously interpreted as an invitation to continue
in my Victorian “progress.”
For their precious bibliographical assistance, I wish to thank
Mary P. Kane and Eleonora Sasso. Former doctoral students, partic-
ularly Silvia Antosa, Valentina Polcini, Saverio Tomaiuolo, and
Laura Tommaso, who helped me in various ways: knowingly or not,
they provided the unvarying stimulus in workshops and seminars
that made this book much the richer.
I also benefited from feedback, advice, and comments of my col-
leagues of the Center for Victorian and Edwardian Studies
(C.U.S.V.E.—G. d’Annunzio University, Pescara, Italy). In particu-
lar, affectionate thanks to Emanuela Ettorre, Marilena Saracino,
and Enrichetta Soccio, who have always been very supportive and
ready to help me in my bibliographical research. But my special
thanks are due to Mariaconcetta Costantini, with whom, for over a
decade, I have had constant discussion on a variety of Victorian top-
ics during our editorial and departmental meetings and, more fre-
quently, in evening phone calls, when doubts and hesitations be-
sieged my mind.
Finally, as always, love and gratitude to my children, Michela and
Jacopo, to whom this book is dedicated.
Victorian Disharmonies