The Gothic Wanderer: From Transgression to Redemption: Gothic Literature from 1794 - Present

by Tyler R. Tichelaar

Overview

The Gothic Wanderer Rises Eternal in Popular Literature
From the horrors of sixteenth century Italian castles to twenty-first century plagues, from the French Revolution to the liberation of Libya, Tyler R. Tichelaar takes readers on far more than a journey through literary history. The Gothic Wanderer is an exploration of man's deepest fears, his eff orts to rise above them for the last two centuries, and how he may be on the brink finally of succeeding.

Tichelaar examines the figure of the Gothic wanderer in such well-known Gothic novels as The Mysteries of Udolpho, Frankenstein, and Dracula, as well as lesser known works like Fanny Burney's The Wanderer, Mary Shelley's The Last Man, and Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Zanoni. He also finds surprising Gothic elements in classics like Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes. From Matthew Lewis' The Monk to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, Tichelaar explores a literary tradition whose characters refl ect our greatest fears and deepest hopes. Readers will find here the revelation that not only are we all Gothic wanderers--but we are so only by our own choosing.

Acclaim for The Gothic Wanderer
"The Gothic Wanderer shows us the importance of its title figure in helping us to see our own imperfections and our own sometimes contradictory yearnings to be both unique and yet a part of a society. The reader is in for an insightful treat."
--Diana DeLuca, Ph.D. and author of Extraordinary Things

"Make no mistake about it, The Gothic Wanderer is an important, well researched and comprehensive treatise on some of the world's finest literature."
--Michael Willey, author of Ojisan Zanoni

About the Author
Tyler R. Tichelaar holds a Ph.D. in Literature from Western Michigan University. He has lectured on writing and literature at Clemson University, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of London. Tichelaar is the author of numerous historical novels, including The Marquette Trilogy (composed of Iron Pioneers, The Queen City, and Superior Heritage) the award-winning Narrow Lives, and Spirit of the North: a paranormal romance. His other scholarly works include King Arthur's Children: a Study in Fiction and Tradition

Foreword by Marie Mulvey-Roberts, Ph.D.

Learn more at www.GothicWanderer.com

From Modern History Press www.ModernHistoryPress.com

Literary Criticism : Gothing & Romance
Literary Criticism : European - General

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781615991389
Publisher:	Loving Healing Press
Publication date:	03/28/2012
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Tyler R. Tichelaar holds a Ph.D. in Literature from Western Michigan University, and Bachelor and Master's Degrees in English from Northern Michigan University. He has lectured on writing and literature at Clemson University, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of London. Tyler is the regular guest host of Authors Access Internet Radio and the current President of the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association. He is the owner of his own publishing company Marquette Fiction (www.MarquetteFiction.com) and Superior Book Promotions (www.SuperiorBookPromotions.com), a professional book review, editing, and proofreading service. Tichelaar is the author of numerous historical novels, including The Marquette Trilogy (composed of Iron Pioneers, The Queen City, and Superior Heritage) the award-winning Narrow Lives, and Spirit of the North: a paranormal romance. His other scholarly works include King Arthur's Children: a Study in Fiction and Tradition. He is currently working on an Arthurian historical fantasy series, beginning with King Arthur's Legacy, in which he intends to weave many Gothic elements. For updates on Tyler R. Tichelaar's Arthurian novels, visit www.ChildrenofArthur.com. Please visit www.GothicWanderer.com for blog updates on current trends in gothic literature and criticism.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

The Gothic Wanderer's Origins in the French Revolution

While a great deal of criticism has been written about wanderers in Romantic poetry, the Gothic wanderer's distinct significance has been largely ignored. The Gothic wanderer, a contemporary figure to the Romantic wanderer, offers an equally important commentary upon the nineteenth century's political and social concerns. Like the Romantic poets, the Gothic novelists adapted the figure of the wandering outcast from Milton's Paradise Lost to comment upon the French Revolution and its implications for social struggle and political debate in Britain. The Gothic novels of the 1790s were metaphorical discussions of the French Revolution's legitimacy and whether the Revolution would benefit humanity or result in complete disaster. The Gothic wanderer figure reflected a fear that the Revolution would cause the breakdown of social order and the family's dissolution, thus resulting in individual alienation. While Romantic wanderers were primarily depicted as heroic rebels, by contrast, the Gothic wanderer suffers pangs of guilt and is often eternally damned for transgressing against authority. A brief discussion of the French Revolution's influence on the Gothic wanderer's creation will provide a background for understanding the figure's evolution over the course of the nineteenth century from a symbol of transgression into a Christian symbol of redemption.

The Optimism of Romantic Poets

The French Revolution evoked numerous reactions in England, varying from praise and hope to trepidation and fear. Several people, particularly radicals and intellectuals, hoped that the French Revolution would be as successful in casting off the yoke of tyranny as had been the American one. While many feared that the Revolution foreshadowed the coming Apocalypse, the Romantic poets hoped the Revolution was the beginning of a new age that would evolve into an age of peace on earth and humanity's regeneration. Numerous Romantic poems express this millennial view in the decades following the French Revolution including William Blake's The French Revolution, "Song of Liberty," "America," and "Europe," Robert Southey's "Joan of Arc," Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Destiny of Nations" and "Religious Musings," the conclusion of William Wordsworth's "Descriptive Sketches" and portions of the Prelude, and Percy Shelley's "Queen Mab." M.H. Abrams remarks that all these works depict a:

... panoramic view of history in a cosmic setting, in which the agents are in part historical and in part allegorical or mythological and the overall design is apocalyptic; they envision a dark past, a violent present, and an immediately impending future which will justify the history of suffering man by its culmination in an absolute good; and they represent the French Revolution (or else a coming revolution which will improve upon the French model) as the critical event which signals the emergence of a regenerate man who will inhabit a new world uniting the features of a restored paradise and a recovered Golden Age. (332)

The Romantic poets' optimism is reflected in their personal remembrances of the French Revolution, long after it failed to succeed as had been hoped. Wordsworth would declare in thePrelude, "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, / But to be young was very Heaven!" (Prelude (1850) XI, 1089). Similarly, Robert Southey felt that "few persons but those who have lived" during the French Revolution "can conceive or comprehend ... what a visionary world seemed to open upon those who were just entering it. Old things seemed passing away and nothing was dreamt of but the regeneration of the human race" (Abrams 330).

This optimistic spirit sorely diminished as the Revolution progressed, culminating in the royal family's executions and the Reign of Terror. The Romantic poets lost their faith that the Revolution foreshadowed humanity's return to an edenic state. And during the Reign of Terror, the Gothic novelists began to express their own skepticism about the Revolution's results, questioning its purpose and legitimacy. Most importantly, the Gothic debated how the social order could be maintained in a world that lacked the traditional forms of government. Because the monarchy had been a central focus of government, people feared that its destruction would result in the dissolution of all units of society, including the family. The Gothic became greatly concerned with how the family could be preserved or reinvented to ensure its survival during this time of political chaos. Lynn Hunt's The French Revolution as Family Romance provides a useful analysis of how the French Revolution was interpreted by witnesses as a large scale version of a family crisis. While Hunt does not discuss the response of British literature to the French Revolution, the French people's concerns and the reflection of those concerns in French literature are parallel to the concerns the English expressed in their own writings. The British Gothic novel adapted this concern over the family's future by creating plots that centered on family secrets and inheritances. These plots were attempts to reinvent the family in a new form so it could survive in the new post-revolutionary age.

Family as a Metaphor for Political Order

An increased emphasis upon the family was the natural result of how the political order was interpreted by eighteenth century Europeans. Hunt notes that prior to the French Revolution, most Europeans viewed a king as a father who ruled over his nation, which represented his children (xiv). The French royal family's execution resulted in the French people feeling they had become like orphans (2). While the monarchy's dissolution could be viewed as justifiable, it remained difficult to imagine a government not based upon a monarchy, thus providing a family model. French literature of the period reflects this difficulty by creating narratives or "family romances" (xv). Lynn Hunt uses the term "family romance" to refer to the "collective, unconscious images of the familial order that underlie revolutionary politics" (xiii). The family order was reinvented in literature to reflect the new order that rejected monarchy. Without a king as the nation's father, people feared disorder would result because the normal laws of social order and legitimacy no longer applied (Hunt 143). To prevent both future tyranny from another king and complete anarchy, the French people sought to be autonomous by creating a democratic brotherhood, as reflected in the Revolution's emphasis upon "fraternity" (Hunt xiv). French literature reflected the discourse on how such a fraternity could be formed to provide liberty and equality for all, yet still retain authority to ensure its citizens' loyalty and obedience (Hunt 3).

The new political order in France passed legislation that would restructure the family to reflect the current political changes, including the monarchy's abolishment. This legislation was heavily influenced by theories that arose from the Enlightenment. During the eighteenth century, philosophers believed that humanity had finally evolved into its maturity, and therefore, people should be autonomous rather than subservient to a ruler. At the same time, new emphasis was being placed upon the stage of childhood and how a person matured into an adult. Once mature, children were viewed as individuals and equals to their fathers, so while they should continue to respect their fathers, they were no longer bound to obey them (Hunt 17-8). With the monarchy's end, these theories of the Enlightenment influenced the creation of legislation that changed the family structure, predominantly by limiting a father's control over his children. After 1789, laws restricted paternal authority by establishing family councils to replace the father's unlimited control. By 1792, adults were declared not subject to paternal authority and the age of majority was lowered to twenty-one. While within marriage fathers retained predominant authority over children, new divorce laws provided that divorced parents had equal authority over their children. Simultaneously, divorce became more common because marriage was declared to be only a civil contract (Hunt 40-1). The regulation of inheritance laws prevented a father from controlling his children by threatening their inheritances. On November 2, 1793, laws were even passed that granted illegitimate children equal rights of inheritance with their legitimate siblings if paternity could be proven. This last law diminished traditional emphasis upon legitimacy by declaring that all siblings deserved equal treatment (Hunt 66).

While such changes provided increased equality and liberty for children, many feared that because these laws limited paternal power, the family unit would break down. To prevent such dissolution, the government promoted the family as an important element for the nation's well-being. Children became the shared responsibility of both parents and the government. Robespierre declared, "The country has the right to raise its children," and Danton similarly remarked, "Children belong to society before they belong to their family" (Hunt 67). Such statements reflect the Revolution's democratic and nationalistic goals where everyone owed allegiance to the national good rather than to one individual. The family's role in this new order was to educate children in the national ideals so they would become good citizens. In several ways, the government promoted this new role of the family. Robespierre established festivals focused upon the need to reinforce family values (Hunt 154) and a 1793 Proposed Constitution stated that "The fathers and mothers of the family are the true citizens" (Hunt 151). The family's role was no longer as a place of authority, but as a moral guide in the creation of autonomous individuals who could contribute to the new French government's democratic goals.

French literature reflected these attempts to restructure the family and its role. Novels prior to the Revolution tended to depict families in crises as the result of a father's actions, but by the end of the eighteenth century, emphasis was placed upon bastard or orphaned children who must make their ways in the world (Hunt 29, 34). The illegitimate child became a favorite character in literature because it reflected the confusion over the period's political environment. Hunt states that in a world without a father/king, the illegitimate and autonomous individual must search for a sense of place; therefore, literary characters sought knowledge of their pasts and births, while fearful of incest that resulted from ignorance over their family relationships. The illegitimate child was often depicted as seeking to gain an unwilling father's acknowledgement. Such plots reflected the unfairness of patriarchal authority and the Revolution's desire to overturn such tyranny (Hunt 40). Plots focusing on orphans removed fathers from significant roles, and when father figures were retained, the father was often rehabilitated by depicting him as a nurturer and guide to his children so they could become autonomous adults. Motherhood was also emphasized in literature to provide fathers with less prominent roles and less power over their children (Hunt 190). These examples demonstrate that French literature used the family as a metaphor to reflect the changing political climate of the French Revolution.

In England, concern over the Revolution was also discussed in terms of a family crisis. A pamphlet war occurred in which views upon the Revolution were debated. Among the most noted pamphlet writers at the time were Edmund Burke, William Godwin, and Mary Wollstonecraft. Each of these writers used the family metaphor in discussing the French Revolution, although Burke held opposite opinions about the consequences of the current political crisis from Godwin and Wollstonecraft. William Godwin would later turn to writing Gothic novels, of which St. Leon (1799) particularly, would emphasize how acts of transgression or rebellion cause family crises, but can ultimately result in a new and stronger family unit.

Edmund Burke's reaction to the French Revolution was one of fear and skepticism. He believed that the French monarchy's destruction would result in a decline of chivalry and manners and that man would cease to be noble or civilized. In Burke's view, overthrowing the French monarchy was a criminal act that destroyed the established institutions that had evolved from centuries of custom and thought. He feared the Revolution would establish governments without precedent, and therefore, without any reliable sources of authority. Burke's emphasis upon custom included the monarchy, which he felt was a figurehead around which centered the traditions that composed the social order. Burke believed that a form of filial devotion must be felt toward a monarch if the government is to retain the people's loyalty and obedience (Hunt 3). Even if a monarch were oppressive, Burke feared that the people who usurped the monarch's power would only become worse tyrants, a view which the Reign of Terror would later verify (Paulson, Representations 220). In Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), Burke expressed his opposition to the Revolution by using the family metaphor to show the indignity of rebelling against the monarch. Burke praises the institution of monarchy when he refers to the English political structure as providing a "sort of family settlement" (40) that resulted from "profound reflection" (39). Burke believes England is a superior nation precisely because of its monarchy and its patriarchal laws of inheritance.

... it has been the uniform policy of our constitution to claim and assert our liberties, as an entailed inheritance derived to us from our forefathers, and to be transmitted to our posterity; as an estate specially belonging to the people of this kingdom without any reference whatever to any other more general or prior right. ... We have an inheritable crown; an inheritable peerage; and an house of commons and a people inheriting privileges, franchises, and liberties, from a long line of ancestors.

This policy appears to me to be the result of profound reflection; or rather the happy effect of following nature, which is wisdom without reflection, and above it. A spirit of innovation is generally the result of a selfish temper and confined views. People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors. Besides, the people of England well know, that the idea of inheritance furnishes a sure principle of conservation, and a sure principle of transmission, without at all excluding a principle of improvement. (39-40)

Burke's views suggest that the patriarchal laws of inheritance provide the best government because they provide stability. He then compares this political system to a family structure:

... in this choice of inheritance we have given to our frame of polity the image of a relation in blood; binding up the constitution of our country with our dearest domestic ties; adopting our fundamental laws into the bosom of our family affections. (40)

Against these laws of inheritance, governed by the established monarchy, the French people have rebelled "against a mild and lawful monarch" (40). Burke condemns the French people's "barbarous philosophy" (45) that the king is an equal to the common people because "On this scheme of things, a king is but a man; a queen is but a woman" (45). Burke declares his outrage over the viewpoint that:

Regicide, and parricide, and sacrilege, are but fictions of superstition, corrupting jurisprudence by destroying its simplicity. The murder of a king, or a queen, or a bishop, or a father, are only common homicide; and if the people are by any chance, or in any way gainers by it, a sort of homicide much the most pardonable. (45)

Burke is outraged that the common people may be deemed more important than a monarch. The fall of the monarchy makes Burke morosely declare that "the age of chivalry is gone. ... the glory of Europe is extinguished forever" (44). Burke's use of the family metaphor suggests that with the monarchy's fall, traditions and customs will be destroyed, including parental authority, which will severely threaten the family unit.

In contrast, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft used the family metaphor to argue for the rights of man and to support the French Revolution. In Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, and its Influence on Morals and Happiness (1793), Godwin refutes Burke's statements, but he uses the same family metaphor for his own purposes. Godwin supports the Revolution's reinterpretation of the family as not a place for patriarchal authority, but as an environment in which children mature into adults who will become capable citizens of a government that emphasizes democratic equality. Godwin declares that adults should not be subservient to parental authority, and by extension to a patriarchal monarch.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The Gothic Wanderer: From Transgression to Redemption"
by .
Copyright © 2012 Tyler R. Tichelaar.
Excerpted by permission of Loving Healing Press, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments,
Foreword by Marie Mulvey-Roberts,
Introduction,
PART I - Creating the Gothic Wanderer,
Chapter I – The Gothic Wanderer's Origins in the French Revolution,
Chapter II – Paradise Lost and the Legitimacy of Transgression,
Chapter III – The Wandering Jew,
Chapter IV – The Rosicrucian Gothic Wanderer,
Chapter V – Gambling as Gothic Transgression,
PART II - Subversive Gothic Wanderers,
Chapter VI – "A Wandering Jewess": Fanny Burney's The Wanderer as Gothic Novel,
Chapter VII – The Existential Gothic Wanderer: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and The Last Man,
PART III - From Transgression to Redemption,
Chapter VIII – Teufelsdrockh as Gothic Wanderer and Everyman: Carlyle's Sartor Resartus,
Chapter IX – The Gothic Wanderer Redeemed: Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Zanoni and Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities,
Chapter X – The Gothic Wanderer at Rest: Dracula and the Vampiric Tradition,
Chapter XI - Modern Interpretations: from Wanderer to Superhero,
Bibliography,
Index,
About the Author,