1 Modern Britain in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries 2 semesters First Semester Civilization themes: I. II.

. The British Em ire at home: e!onom"# te!hnolo$" and the re%orms that !han$ed the so!iet" at home &e'!er ts %rom (i!)ens: Hard Times* (e%initions o% +i!torian man in ,iterature and the +i!torian Modes o% Modern -ritin$ &Thomas Carl"le The .ero as Man o% ,etters* &Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre/ Tenn"son0s Ulysses/ 1rnold The Buried Life* Thomas .ard": Tess of the DUrbervilles/Jude the Obscure The 2ld and the New ,i3eral Edu!ation 4aradi$ms & Newman# Mill# 1rnold# .u'le"* +i!torian Mentalit" Blo!)s : Thomas Carl"le0s !ondemnation o% the resent: s)e ti!ism/ The .i$h Chur!h 5evival o% The 2'%ord Movement and the 4o ular# 4uritani!al 5evival/ a$nosti!ism and the new !ultural and aestheti! %aith & ,i3eralism/ &Brownin$ 6 Cali3an 7 on Sete3os* &Swin3urne# ."mn to 4roser ine* The +i!torian 5evivals as the sour!e %or the Cultural Cam ai$ns and St"les in 4oetr"# 4aintin$ and 1r!hite!ture &5us)in and the 8othi! 5evival/ the 4re65a haelite sensi3ilit" and te!hni9ues* 7to ian and Fa3ian So!ialism on the Eve o% the Twentieth Centur" &8eor$e Bernard Shaw: Ma:or Bar3ara*

III. I+.

+.

+I.

Bi3lio$ra h": 4rimar" Sour!es: Excerpts from Essays: 3" Carl"le# The Hero as Man of Letters !i"ns of the Times !artor #esartus$ The Everlastin" %ea &&&'victorian&eb'or"'/ 3" ;ohn Stuart Mill On Liberty$ (ha) ***$ Of *ndividuality+ ,s One of the Elements of -ell.Bein" &htt :<<www.$uten3er$.or$<%iles<=>?@1<=>?@16h<=>?@16h.htm 3" ;ohn .enr" Newman: The *dea of a University www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24526 Thomas .enr" .u'le": 1$nosti!ism htt :<<ale h@.!lar)u.edu<hu'le"<CEA<1$n.html/ 2s!ar -ilde: The !oul of Man Under !ocialism htt :<<www.mar'ists.or$<re%eren!e<ar!hive<wilde6os!ar<soul6man<inde'.htm Poems: 1l%red Tenn"son B7l"ssesC/Matthew 1rnold BThe Buried ,i%eC/ 5o3ert Brownin$ BCali3an 7 on Sete3osC/ 1l$ernon Charles Swin3urne# B."mn to 4roser ineC. Novels: Ch. (i!)ens: .ard Times htt :<<www.$uten3er$.or$<!a!he<e u3<DEF< $DEF.html/ C. Bronte: ;ane E"re htt :<<www.$uten3er$.or$<%iles<12F@<12F@6h<12F@6h.htm/ Thomas .ard": Tess of the DUrbervilles htt :<<www.$uten3er$.or$<%iles<11@<11@6h<11@6h.htm /Jude the Obscure htt :<<www.$uten3er$.or$<e3oo)s<1A= / 2. -ilde: The /icture of Dorian 0ray htt)$//&&&'"utenber"'or"/files/122/122.h/122.h'htm/

2 Play: 8eor$e Bernard Shaw: Ma3or Barbara htt :<<www.$uten3er$.or$<%iles<=D?@<=D?@6h<=D?@6 h.htm

= 1ntholo$ies Cartianu# 1na G Stoenes!u# Ste%an: 4roza eseisti!a +i!toriana &vol0s 1# 2# =*# Ti o$ra%ia 7niversitatii Bu!uresti# 1?DD Stoi!ules!u# Mira# Constantines!u# 1urelia6S!um a si Bottez Moni!a: The +i!torian 1$e &an antholo$"*

Se!ondar" Sour!es ,iterar" !riti!ism %rom the site www.+i!torianwe3. or$. 4re%a!es o% the +i!torian novels read Ioana Hirra# (ontributions of the British 4ineteenth (entury 5 The 6ictorian ,"e 5 to the History of Literature and *deas &the %irst volume 6 e'!er ts*. This 3oo) !an 3e ur!hased %rom the .istor" (e artment lo33"# where there is a 3oo)6stand# or it !an 3e read in ele!troni! %orm on the site www. uni3u!.ro<resurse edu!ationale<%ilolo$ie# amon$ several other titles 3" di%%erent ro%essors.

FI5ST ,ECT75E The +i!torian 1$e# named a%ter the lon$ rei$n o% Iueen +i!toria &1E=D61?@1* is the a$e o% the British Em ire# a si$ni%i!ant national a$e %or Britain# whi!h had 3e!ome The 7nited Jin$dom o% 8reat Britain and Northern Ireland in 1E@1. 8eo oliti!all" s ea)in$# the British Em ire !ame to 3e in !ontrol o% 1<= o% the world durin$ the 1?th !entur" with ossessions on all the !ontinents &1ustralia and New Healand# several Islands in the 4a!i%i! -est Indies# India# whi!h 3e$an as a !olon" o% the mer!hants %rom the East India Com an" and turned into a Crown ossession in 1EDD# when Iueen +i!toria 3e!ame Em ress o% India/ Canada# %ort" times the sizes o% Britain in North 1meri!a/ in 1%ri!a# E$" t and Ni$eria to the North and South 1%ri!a at the southern ti o% the !ontinent# !om letel" British and de%eated a%ter the Boer -ars o% the !entur"0s last de!ades. Four )e"words !an 3e used to 3e$in the e!onomi!# oliti!al and so!iolo$i!al des!ri tion o% Britain in the nineteenth !entur": wealth# !a italism# demo!ra!" and so!ialism. -ealth was rodu!ed than)s to the s!ienti%i! and te!hnolo$i!al advan!es# whi!h ena3led +i!torian man to !ontrol nature and in!rease the livin$ standard o% the ri!h# in a!!ordan!e with the ideas o% the !lassi!al e!onomist 1dam Smith0s The -ealth of 4ations' Ca italism# the e!onom" 3ased on !a ital# rested on the a!!umulation o% wealth as a sure ath to ro$ress. It was made ossi3le 3" the massive s!ienti%i! and te!hnolo$i!al advan!es o% the ei$hteenth and nineteenth !enturies &Hirra# vol. I# ?#1@* that led to the !reation o% a hu$e# all6 ower%ul mar)et. The main issues o% nineteenth !entur" oliti!s were to stren$then the %ree mar)et &and the British Em ire ossessions essentiall" !ontri3uted to this* to en%ran!hise the men o% ro ert" and turn them into mature# res onsi3le !itizens with e9ual ri$hts and owers moreover# 3" $rantin$ them the ower to !onsume an in!reasin$ variet" o% $oods. +i!torian middle6!lass demo!ra!"# whi!h

> was modern 3e!ause# 3" !om arison to 1thenian demo!ra!"# it was aimed at !reatin$ a er%e!t middle6!lass esta3lishment. Thou$h modern demo!ra!" in!or orated some o% the revolutionar" rin!i les %or whi!h eo le had died in 1meri!a and Fran!e in 1DDD and 1DE?# res e!tivel"# in Britain1# it was a!tuall" !arried out in ea!e%ul !on%rontation# and in %a!t in !oo eration# 3" the two oliti!al arties o% the nineteenth !entur": the Conservative 4art" and the ,i3eral 4art". &The %ollowin$ ara$ra hs re%ormulate the material availa3le in Hirra# vol. 1#1@612*Between the two o% them# the" !arried out the re%orms whi!h 3rou$ht a3out the modernization o% Britain: the ele!toral and %ree6mar)et re%orms# %irstl"# and then $enerall" so!ial# reli$ious # ur3an and !ultural re%orms# %or e'am le the re%orms in edu!ation. The %irst ele!toral re%orm# the 5e%orm Bill 2 o% 1E=2 en%ran!hised male owners o% ro ert" whose annual in!ome was at least 1@ ounds# the ne't one# o% 1EFD# dou3led the num3er o% middle6!lass voters and the third# in 1EE># se!ured the universal male en%ran!hisement. In 1E>F# a law that ut an end to the British mono ol" on the !orn mar)et was the re eal o% the Corn ,aws and 3" 1EF@# a %ull6%led$ed %ree mar)et had 3e!ome o erative in Britain. 2ther re%orms that modernized British so!iet" and made it resem3le nowada"s0 so!iet" were the Catholi! Eman!i ation &whi!h 3e!ame e%%e!tive a%ter 1E=@*# whi!h $ave the Catholi!s e9ual o ortunities# !ivil ri$hts and a!!ess to the middle6!lass ro%essions &o% law"ers# do!tors# ro%essors*# the 1ED@ Edu!ation 1!t# whi!h $eneralized litera!" 3" ma)in$ rimar" edu!ation !om ulsor" and settin$ u En$lish State S!hools all over the Em ire# the 1ED1 5e eal o% the Test 1!ts. The last o% these re%orms $ave %ree a!!ess to resti$ious universities & Cam3rid$e and 2'%ord* to non61n$li!ans and o ened their wa" to elite !areers in the esta3lishment. The !ultural !am ai$ns !ondu!ted in the +i!torian a$e# whi!h we !an read a3out at lar$e in the essa"s and %i!tional literature reserved in antholo$ies# indi!ate that !ulture was re$arded as one o% the im ortant levers %or so!ial eman!i ation and !ontrol. This leads to the arado' that the +i!torian %irst mass a$e had a hi$h6!ulture. It !an 3e stated without e'a$$eratin$ that the +i!torian so!iet" was held to$ether 3" 9ualit" ress !ir!ulated in 3roadsheets: one ma$azine whi!h !arried arliamentar" re orts# essa"s# oems and %i!tion# %or e'am le# was read 3" one hundred thousand eo le. 1 art %rom the $entr"# a%ter the Edu!ation 1!t# even the servants in the $enteel households had a!!ess to the literature read at home. In the +i!torian $enteel households literature was ori$inall" read on Sunda"s# a%ter Chur!h# as another instrument %or the $enerall" moral edu!ation and entertainment. In $eneral# it is %air to sa" that the British ,i3erals were )eener on home re%orms# as the" were artisans o% the little En$land oli!". 1t their head was -illiam Ewart 8ladstone# %our times 4rime Minister &3etween 1EFE6D># 1EE@6EA# 1EEA6F and 1E?26=*. 2ne %amous e'am le o% the ,i3eral %orei$n oli!" was
1

KEn$land0 is an in!orre!t wa" o% re%errin$ to Britain# in the nineteenth !entur"# :ust as toda": the !ountr"0s name is the 7J# the 7nited Jin$dom o% 8reat Britain and Ireland# in the nineteenth !entur"# and o% 8reat Britain and Northern Ireland in the twentieth !entur". The !itizens are %ormall" Kthe British0<0the British eo le0# and in%ormall"# the Brits. The !ontrast 3etween KBritish0 and KEn$lish0 !omes %rom that 3etween oliti!s and lin$uisti!s<literar" !ulture# KBritish0 3ein$ oliti!all" !orre!t# 3e!ause it naturall" in!ludes the inha3itants o% the )in$doms o% -ales and S!otland and Ireland. 4eo le stud" En$lish in Britain and a3road# in &hi$h*s!hool or when the" are at universit". 2 Be!ause a law is :ust a Bill while it is dis!ussed in the British arliament and 3e%ore it re!eives the 5o"al assent to 3e!ome a statute# the name Kthe 5e%orm Bill0 as retained 3" histor" indi!ates the serious de3ates re!edin$ its ado tion. This revolutionar" measure turned the demo!rati! mas9uerade ra!ti!es and traditional oliti!al %avoritism towards the modern# $enuine oliti!al re resentation o% wide masses o% middle6!lass eo le. This meant the a3olition o% the so6!alled Krotten 3orou$hs0# %or e'am le %a)e !onstituen!ies that sent to arliament re resentatives o% la!es on the ma with no real o ulation to re resent.

A the !am ai$n %or uttin$ an end to the 7nion 3etween Ireland and 8reat Britain throu$h the Irish .ome 5ule 3ills unsu!!ess%ull" assed &de3ated* in 1EEF and 1E?=# owin$ to the allian!e 3etween -illiam Ewart 8ladstone# ni!)named KThe 2ld Man0# and the Irish un!rowned )in$# Charles Stuart 4arnell. The Conservative 4art" was im eriall" minded# the artisan o% the Bi$$er En$land oli!"# o% wars and the investment oli!ies im li!it in them. The head o% the Conservative 4art" was -illiam Ewart 8ladstone# in o%%i!e as 4rime Minister %or one "ear in 1EFE and 3etween 1ED>61EE@. .e was also Iueen +i!toria0s %riend# an ele$ant dand" and a writer. In his 1E>A novel !ybil+ or the t&o 4ations &availa3le on the ortal o% the 4ro:e!t 8uten3er$ on the net# in ele!troni! %orm %or an"one who ma" wish to read it*# he introdu!ed the idea that the ri!h and the oor were two se arate British nations. This oint is roved 3" the last )e"word announ!ed at the 3e$innin$ o% the le!ture: so!ialism. Throu$hout the nineteenth !entur"# the lower !lasses were almost !om letel" ne$le!ted 3" the leaders o% the +i!torian esta3lishment and the non6interventionist state=. 1mon$ the %ew re%orms whi!h re$arded the oor in Earl" +i!torianism was the1E=> 4oor ,aw 1mendment# whi!h !reated the wor)houses# whi!h resem3led risons more than as"lums and in whi!h were $athered &!on%ined* the 3e$$in$# under%ed and overwor)ed oor %rom the streets. The Fa!tor" 1!ts assed 3etween 1E== and 1EDE# thou$h# eliminated !hild la3our and $ross overwor)in$. Moreover# there was no !han!e %or su3stantiall" e'tendin$ an" modernization re%orms to the eo le who were not re resented in arliament as roved 3" the Chartist Movement. Between 1E=F and 1EA># several etitions or Charts dra%ted in er%e!t i$noran!e o% the le$al %orms with whi!h 4arliament o erated. 1lthou$h the" were endorsed 3" millions o% si$natures o% eo le who $athered in lon$ street6demonstrations &the 1E>@ Chart# %or e'am le was si$ned 3" over three million three hundred eo le*# the" were not ta)en into !onsideration 3" arliament 3e!ause o% their %ormal as e!t and the !ivil ri$hts !laimed in them were not $ranted. The %irst $eneral stri)e too) la!e in Britain in 1E>2 and Trade 7nionism 3e!ame a stead" movement 3etween the 1EF@s and 1ED@s. No wonder# then# that the end o% the nineteenth !entur" saw the rise o% two 3rands o% so!ialism: radi!al or uto ian so!ialism &whi!h envisa$ed the !om lete a3olition o% ro ert" as a sour!e o% :usti!e %or a er%e!t modern a$e and as the onl" wa" %or re$eneratin$ a so!iet" that redu!ed its eo le to mere me!hanisms at the mer!" o% entre reneurs* and Fa3ian &or moderate* so!ialism. The rise o% so!ialism roved the limitations and a!tual in:usti!e o% modern# !a italisti! and ver" artial demo!ra!". It demonstrated that the material !riteria %or the $eneral# avera$e B$reatest ha iness o% the $reatest num3ersC &as advo!ated 3" ;erem" Bentham at the end o% the ei$hteenth !entur" needed to 3e !om leted with virtues that the mer!antile# !a italist world6order !ould not rise to. The %ailure o% !ommunism to ri$ht the wron$s o% !a italism one !entur" a%ter the +i!torian a$e# however# demonstrates the short!omin$s o% an" modern uto ia# 3e it !a italist or so!ialist. This is wh" the slow6 a!e# rational re%ormism whi!h the Fa3ian so!ialists advo!ated and tried to im lement in Britain seems to have more !han!es o% su!!ess in rin!i le 3e!ause# thou$h 3ein$ moderate # ra$mati! and !or oratist in s irit# it does not destro" e'istin$ stru!tures o% so!ial# e!onomi! and oliti!al li%e 3ut tries to !orre!t evils $raduall" while retainin$ the overall %rames.
=

The non6interventionist state was a state !ommitted to the rin!i le o% laisse7.faire whi!h 3e9ueathed the oliti!al rero$ative o% the state to the entre reneurial !lass &the !a italists* and allowed the invisi3le hand o% the mar)et# i.e.# %ree !om etition# to rule undistur3ed.

,e!ture II (e%initions o% +i!torian man in ,iterature and the +i!torian Modes o% Modern -ritin$: Thomas Carl"le 6 The .ero as Man o% ,etters. +i!torian 4roto6Feminism in Charlotte Bronte0s Jane Eyre. Tenn"son0s Ulysses/ Matthew 1rnold The Buried Life. Thomas .ard": Tess of the DUrbervilles/Jude the Obscure 1. Models o% +i!torian .umanism 6 2verview 1. The Model o% 4uritani!al modest": ins ired 3" man0s return to 8od and the ethi!al tea!hin$s o% the Bi3le & 1%ter the model o% the lower6!lass 4rotestants the 4uritans# whose individualism was 3ased on virtues su!h as humilit" and a!tivism &sel%6denial di!tated 3" lu!rative am3ition and a sense o% er%e!tion / industriousness. 1lthou$h the aim o% the 1Dth !entur" 4uritans and o% their later %ollowers was to attain moral er%e!tion in the e"es o% 8od# the side6e%%e!t o% their er%e!tionism and lu!rative s irit was the a!hievement o% material wealth and material ro$ress# too whi!h led to the develo ment o% !a italism see Ma' -e3er0s The /rotestant Ethic and the !)irit of (a)italism 8erman edition 1?@># made %amous in the En$lish translation 3" Tal!ott 4arsons in 1?=@ and its 1??= 5omanian translation# 3" Ihor ,emni:# Etica )rotestanta si s)iritual ca)italismului # Bu!uresti: .umanitas.* In nineteenth !entur" Britain# Thomas Carl"le arado'i!all" !ommended the 4uritani!al ethos# as will 3e seen 3elow# while he des ised the material !on!erns and ro$ress o% the modern# industrialized a$es# as was seen in the revious le!ture and the 9uotation %rom the essa"> !i"ns of the Times & . > in 4roza eseisti!a +i!toriana I# in his vitu erations a$ainst the 1$e o% Me!hanism* 2. The !ultural idealisti! model : it was a hi$h6mimeti!A<e'em lar" model o% !ulture understood as the endeavour to imitate heroes in the resent. The series<!"!les o% heroism transmitted &!ommuni!ated* 3" !ulture to the modern a$es were de%ined 3" Carl"le al whi!h envisa$ed the revival o% 3ased on the revival o% the heroi! Thomas Carl"le0s le!tures On Heroes+ Hero.-orshi) and the Heroic in History &1E>@*
3. Models put in circulation by literary realism

a. The early Victorian model of high-mimetic/ exemplary realism the female version: Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre ( 1847)- admiration/ maturing plot (Bildungsroman; novel of adolescence) the making of virtue and its perfection in stages becoming. The stages in Jane Eyre are marked by places (social milieu) where she lives, which represent stages of virtuous acquisition or victories she scores in becoming a model human being: at Gateshead, she manifests her sense of justice because she is kept out of the gate(i.e., the household in which she is an outsider) and becomes headstrong (obstinate) in response to her relatives abuses (she is likeable, angry child) ; at Lowood School she learns the
>

See the Modes o% Modern -ritin$ art o% the le!ture %or the la!e o% the essa" in the !hart o% the literar" $enres and %or its im ortan!e in the +i!torian 1$e. A The term K.i$h6mimeti!0 is derived 3" traditional st"listi!s %rom 1ristotle0s !lassi%i!ations in /oetics and re%ers to art0s no3le imitation# in hi$h re$isters# o% li%e. Its s"non"m is Kelevated0 and translates in 5omanian as B modul mimeti! su eriorC &see the 5omanian version# 3" (omni!a G Mihai S ariosu# o% Northro Fr"e0s ,natomy of (riticism*

E
virtue of deliberate humility and tolerance from Miss Temple and Helen Burns6; at Thornfield Hall, the genteel middle-class manor which lacks a mistress but acquires in Jane Eyre more than a governess for the orphaned girl AdLle and a housekeeper, like Mrs. Fairfax. Janes radiant maturity and sweetness wins over everybody including the master, Mr. Edward Rochester, who falls in love with Jane and proposes to her, although he was already married and his crazy wife, Bertha Mason was locked up in the attic at Thornfield Hall. Jane manages to avoid the thorns of temptation, without becoming the wrong mistress at Thornfield Hall and runs away, preserving her virtue, her balance and self-respect. After crossing a kind of desert, like that of the Biblical people led by Moses to the land of Canaan7, Jane survives by arriving at Moor House, another genteel household, more balanced than Thornfield Hall. What Jane achieves here is discretion (discernama^nt): she rejects another mans proposal that did not suit her: Saint John Riverss. Jane realizes that without loving each other, their marriage and departure to another life as Christians missionaries was a form of noble self-deceit. After all her dearly paid victories, Jane Eyre is rewarded with a happy life in marriage to Edward Rochester at Ferndean Manor, at the books end. b. The early Victorian model of low-mimetic (self-divided/critical) realism debated in the dramatic monologue by Lord Alfred Tennyson Ulysses (1842) a conflict of public/private mentalities solved in favour of subjective desire ( typified by Ulysses as a Romantic man of aspiration) c. The mid-Victorian model of Philistine8 (skeptical and mildly sentimental) realism Matthew Arnold: The Buried Life (1852) the critical patronizing view of man as a (frivolous) baby

d. The late Victorian ironic9 model of pessimistic (harsh, dejected) realism: Thomas Hardy: Tess of the DUrberville (1891) (the female version) Jude the Obscure (the male version) (1895) Tess, the pure woman undone by ill-luck and society: The exceptional maiden of the novels title and subtitle retains her exemplary Puritanical profile throughout the book and serves as a standard of condemnation for modern society and humanity as a whole, because two men, who do not resemble each other in their moral profile, social or cultural background and deeds, in the least both end up forcing the feminine protagonist to become a kind of sacrificial Victim of their wrong behaviour. Jude, the failed man of letters: Although he is a man of aspiration, as uncommon in his milieu (environment) as Ulysses (in Tennysons poem), Jude Fawleys failure to become a man of letters is blamed upon the circumstances in Thomas Hardys naturalistic novel. Ill-starred Jude falls because and for women that he cannot be matched with, because Hardy believes in the incompatibility of modern human beings10. Society, with its oppressive conventions, mans individual unconscious and the general incompatibilities between the aspirations and deeds of human beings cooperate in undoing Hardys characters. The instinctual pathology responsible for many of Hardys characters failures
F

See the e'!han$e 3etween ;ane E"re and .elen Burns in the Se!tion with illustrations %rom the literar" te'ts D For %urther asso!iations with the Bi3li!al te't as a sour!e o% ins iration in the inter retation o% Charlotte BrontM0s novel# see Ioana Hirra# (ontributions of the 4ineteenth (entury 5 the 6ictorian ,"e . to the History of Literature and *deas# vol. I# Bu!uresti: Editura 7niversitati the le!ture on Jane Eyre. E B4hilistineC is a Bi3li!al term a lied 3" Matthew 1rnold to the +i!torian middle6!lasses %or whom he 3elieved there was ho e o% er%e!tion throu$h !ulture# see the essa"s o% (ulture and ,narchy &1EF?*. ? The meanin$ o% Kironi!0 oints to the in%erior osition o% man re$arded as a vi!tim o% !ir!umstan!es and li%e# as e' lained 3" Northro Fr"e# in the ,natomy of (riticism# the %irst a$e o% the First Essa". 1@ In the %irst volume o% (ontributions8'the le!ture on Thomas .ard" e' lains at len$th the !on%li!tin$ !ultural hases and orders o% nature to whi!h .ard"0s !hara!ters 3elon$.

?
make them qualify as modern neurotics. Hardys model is, therefore, that of modern psychoanalysable man.

Models o% +i!torian .umanism 1. THE MODEL OF PURITANI AL MODE!T":

Mans Unhappiness, as I construe, comes of his Greatness; it is because there is an Infinite in him, which with all his cunning he cannot quite bury under the Finite. ill the whole Finance Ministers and Upholsterers and !onfectioners of modern "urope underta#e, in $oint%stoc# company, to ma#e one &hoeblac# '())*+ ,hey cannot accomplish it, abo-e an hour or two. for the &hoeblac# also has a &oul quite other than his &tomach; and would require, if you consider it, for his permanent satisfaction and saturation, simply this allotment, no more, and no less. Gods infinite Universe altogether to himself, therein to en$oy infinitely, and fill e-ery wish as fast as it rose. /ceans of 'ochheimer, a ,hroat li#e that of /phiuchus. spea# not of them; to the infinite &hoeblac# they are as nothing. 0o sooner is your ocean filled, than he grumbles that it might ha-e been of better -intage. ,ry him with half of a Uni-erse, of an /mnipotence, he sets to quarrelling with the proprietor of the other half, and declares himself the most maltreated of men. 1 (lways there is a blac# spot in our sunshine. it is e-en, as I said, the Shadow of Ourselves. 23ut the whim we ha-e of 'appiness is somewhat thus. 3y certain -aluations, and a-erages, of our own stri#ing, we come upon some sort of a-erage terrestrial lot; this we fancy belongs to us by nature, and of indefeasible right. It is simple payment of our wages, of our deserts; requires neither than#s nor complaint; only such overplus as there may be do we account 'appiness; any deficit again is Misery. 0ow consider that we ha-e the -aluation of our own deserts oursel-es, and what a fund of &elf%conceit there is in each of us, 1 do you wonder that the balance should so often dip the wrong way, and many a 3loc#head cry. &ee there, what a payment; was e-er worthy gentleman so used4 1 I tell thee, 3loc#head, it all comes of thy 5anity; of what

1@

thou fanciest those same deserts of thine to be. Fancy that thou deser-est to be hanged 6as is most li#ely7, thou wilt feel it happiness to be only shot. fancy that thou deser-est to be hanged in a hair%halter, it will be a lu8ury to die in hemp. 2&o true is it, what I then said, that the Fraction of Life can be increased in value not so much by increasing your Numerator as by lessening your Denominator. 0ay, unless my (lgebra decei-e me, Unityitself di-ided by ero will gi-e !nfinity. Ma#e thy claim of wages a 9ero, then; thou hast the world under thy feet. ell did the isest of our time write. :It is only with ;enunciation 6"ntsagen7 that <ife, properly spea#ing, can be said to begin.

#. THE MODEL OF ULTURAL IDEALI!M 6 Thomas Carl"le0s le!tures On Heroes+ Hero. -orshi) and the Heroic in History &1E>@* 6 the heroi!<hi$h6mimeti!<e'em lar" !ultural model: the Man o% ,etters &le!ture +*

6 Hero-Gods, Prophets, Poets, Priests are forms of Heroism that belong to the old ages, make their appearance in the remotest times; some of them have ceased to be possible long since, and cannot any more show themselves in this world. The Hero as Man of Letters, again, of which class we are to speak to-day, is altogether a product of these new ages; and so long as the wondrous art of Writing, or of Ready-writing which we call Printing, subsists, he may be expected to continue, as one of the main forms of Heroism for all future ages. He is, in various respects, a very singular phenomenon.. 6 this same Man-of-Letters Hero must be regarded as our most important modern person. He, such as he may be, is the soul of all. What he teaches, the whole world will do and make . a Great Soul living apart in that anomalous manner; endeavoring to speak forth the inspiration that was in him by Printed Books, and find place and subsistence by what the world would please to give him for doing that. ruling (for this is what he does), from his grave, after death, whole nations and generations who would, or would not, give him bread while living Examples of Men of Letters: Goethe, Rousseau, Dr. Johnson men of the eighteenth century The Eighteenth was a Sceptical Century; in which little word there is a whole Pandora's Box of miseries. Scepticism means not intellectual Doubt alone, but moral Doubt; all sorts of infidelity, insincerity, spiritual paralysis. Perhaps, in few centuries that one could specify since the world began, was a life of Heroism more difficult for a man. That was not an age of Faith, an age of Heroes! The very possibility of Heroism had been, as it were, formally abnegated in the minds of all. Heroism was gone forever; Triviality, Formulism and Commonplace were come forever. Johnsons portrait:

11
Johnson's youth was poor, isolated, hopeless, very miserable. Indeed, it does not seem possible that, in any the favorablest outward circumstances, Johnson's life could have been other than a painful one. (he lived in a garret and had worn-out shoes) A hard-struggling, weary-hearted man, or "scholar" as he calls himself, trying hard to get some honest livelihood in the world, not to starve, but to live without stealing! A noble unconsciousness is in him. He does not "engrave Truth on his watch-seal;" no, but he stands by truth, speaks by it, works and lives by it. The highest Gospel he preached we may describe as a kind of Moral Prudence: "in a world where much is to be done, and little is to be known," see how you will do it! A thing well worth preaching. "A world where much is to be done, and little is to be known:" do not sink yourselves in boundless bottomless abysses of Doubt, of wretched god-forgetting Unbelief; you were miserable then, powerless, mad: how could you do or work at all? 3. THE MODELS OF LITERARY REALISM High-mimetic/ exemplary realism the female version: Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre ( 1847)- admiration/ maturing plot the making of virtue and its perfection staged becoming her victories at Gateshead; Lowood School; Thornfield Hall; Moor House; Ferndean Manor Dramatic (divided/critical) realism: Lord Alfred Tennyson: Ulysses (1842) conflict of public/private mentalities; focus on subjective desire Philistine (nave, skeptical and sentimental) realism: Matthew Arnold: The Buried Life (1852) critical patronizing view of man as a baby Pessimistic (harsh, dejected) realism: Thomas Hardy: Tess of the DUrberville (1891) (the female version) Jude the Obscure (the male version) (1895)

Iuotations
JANE EYRE Jane Eyre a sensitive child, with a keen sense of justice and harsh judgments about other spoilt children:

Accustomed to John Reeds abuse, I never had an idea of replying to it; my care was how to endure the blow which would certainly follow the insult. hat were you doing behind the curtain!" he as#ed. I was reading." $how the boo#." I returned to the window and fetched it thence. %ou have no business to ta#e our boo#s; you are a dependent, mama says; you have no money; your father left you none; you ought to beg, and not to live here with

12

gentlemens children li#e us, and eat the same meals we do, and wear clothes at our mamas e&pense. 'ow, Ill teach you to rummage my boo#shelves( for they are mine; all the house belongs to me, or will do in a few years. )o and stand by the door, out of the way of the mirror and the windows." I did so, not at first aware what was his intention; but when I saw him lift and poise the boo# and stand in act to hurl it, I instinctively started aside with a cry of alarm( not soon enough, however; the volume was flung, it hit me, and I fell, stri#ing my head against the door and cutting it. *he cut bled, the pain was sharp( my terror had passed its clima&; other feelings succeeded. ic#ed and cruel boy+" I said. %ou are li#e a murderer,you are li#e a slave-driver ,you are li#e the Roman emperors+" I had read )oldsmiths .istory of Rome, and had formed my opinion of 'ero, /aligula, 0c. Also I had drawn parallels in silence, which I never thought thus to have declared aloud.
;ane0s er%e!tin$ en!ounter with Miss Tem le and .elen Burns at ,owood S!hool &!h F* +I5T7E

1iss *emple is full of goodness; it pains her to be severe to any one, even the worst in the school( she sees my errors, and tells me of them gently; and, if I do anything worthy of praise, she gives me my meed liberally. 2ne strong proof of my wretchedly defective nature is, that even her e&postulations, so mild, so rational, have not influence to cure me of my faults; and even her praise, though I value it most highly, cannot stimulate me to continued care and foresight." *hat is curious," said I, it is so easy to be careful." 3333333333 And when 1iss *emple teaches you, do your thoughts wander then!" 'o, certainly, not often; because 1iss *emple has generally something to say which is newer than my own reflections; her language is singularly agreeable to me, and the information she communicates is often 4ust what I wished to gain." ell, then, with 1iss *emple you are good!" %es, in a passive way( I ma#e no effort; I follow as inclination guides me. *here is no merit in such goodness." A great deal( you are good to those who are good to you. It is all I ever desire to be. If people were always #ind and obedient to those who are cruel and un4ust, the wic#ed people would have it all their own way( they would never feel afraid, and so they

1=

would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. hen we are struc# at without a reason, we should stri#e bac# again very hard; I am sure we should,so hard as to teach the person who struc# us never to do it again." %ou will change your mind, I hope, when you grow older( as yet you are but a little untaught girl."

7,NSSES &3" Tenn"son* 6 4u3li! domesti!it" versus in%init" in individual as irations

6 It little profits that an idle king, By this still hearth, among these barren crags, atch!d with an aged wife, I mete and dole "ne#ual laws unto a sa$age race, %hat hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

6 6

I am a part of all that I ha$e met& 'et all e(perience is an arch wherethrough )leams that untra$elled world, whose margin fades. *or e$er and for e$er when I mo$e. +ow dull it is to pause, to make an end, %o rust unburnished, not to shine in use, -s though to breathe were life.

%his is my son, mine own %elemachus, %o whom I lea$e the sceptre and the isle . /ell0lo$ed of me, discerning to fulfil %his labour, by slow prudence to make mild - rugged people, and through soft degrees 1ubdue them to the useful and the good. ost blameless is he, centred in the sphere 2f common duties, decent not to fail In offices of tenderness, and pay eet adoration to my household gods, /hen I am gone. +e works his work, I mine. %+3 B"4I35 6I*3 7by 6 atthew -rnold8

-rnold9s lament for the indi$idual caught in the snares of public e(istence : man9s sadness and his soul

I feel a nameless sadness o!er me roll. 'es, yes, we know that we can ;est, /e know, we know that we can smile, But there!s a something in this breast, %o which thy light words bring no rest, -nd thy gay smiles no anodyne.

1> 6 The mass o% men &so!ial man*

I knew the mass of men conceal!d %heir thoughts, for fear that if re$eal!d %hey would by other men be met /ith blank indifference, or with blame repro$ed& I knew they li$ed and mo$ed %rick!d in disguises, alien to the rest 2f men, and alien to themsel$es00and yet %he same heart beats in e$ery human breast,

2<

1rnoldian<4hilistine 4aternalism
=<

*ate, which foresaw +ow fri$olous a baby man would be00 By what distractions he would be possess!d, +ow he would pour himself in e$ery strife, -nd well0nigh change his own identity00 %hat it might keep from his capricious play +is genuine self, and force him to obey 3$en in his own despite his being!s law, Bade through the deep recesses of our breast %he unregarded ri$er of our life >ursue with indiscernible flow its way& -nd that we should not see %he buried stream, and seem to be 3ddying at large in blind uncertainty, %hough dri$ing on with it eternally.

4<

Modern man0s lon$in$ %or authenti!it"

But often, in the world!s most crowded streets, But often, in the din of strife, %here rises an unspeakable desire -fter the knowledge of our buried life& - thirst to spend our fire and restless force In tracking out our true, original course& - longing to in#uire Into the mystery of this heart which beats 1o wild, so deep in us00to know /hence our li$es come and where they go. ??????.. -nd long we try in $ain to speak and act 2ur hidden self, and what we say and do Is elo#uent, is well00but !tis not true,

5<

The %ew# e'!e tional moments o% authenti!it" the e9uivalent o% the moments o% $ra!e
2nly00but this is rare0 ???.

1A
/hen our world0deafen!d ear Is by the tones of a lo$ed $oice caress!d00 - bolt is shot back somewhere in our breast, -nd a lost pulse of feeling stirs again. %he eye sinks inward, and the heart lies plain, -nd what we mean, we say, and what we would, we know. - man becomes aware of his life!s flow, -nd hears its winding murmur& and he sees %he meadows where it glides, the sun, the bree@e

1F
%311 2* %+3 59"4B34AI663 6 6ucidity and the sense of man9s loss in a doomed uni$erse 7ch 48 & all the e$ents with longstanding effects happen when the character is, as it were in a trance, always made dumb and suffers from ill luck.

56id you say the stars were worlds, *ess!5 5%es.5 5All li#e ours!5 5I don7t #now; but I thin# so. *hey sometimes seem to be li#e the apples on our stubbard-tree. 1ost of them splendid and sound,a few blighted.5 5 hich do we live on,a splendid one or a blighted one!5 5A blighted one.5 57*is very unluc#y that we didn7t pitch on a sound one, when there were so many more of 7em+5 5%es.5 5Is it li#e that really, *ess!5 said Abraham, turning to her much impressed, on reconsideration of this rare information. 5.ow would it have been if we had pitched on a sound one!5 5 ell, father wouldn7t have coughed and creeped about as he does, and wouldn7t have got too tipsy to go on this 4ourney; and mother wouldn7t have been always washing, and never getting finished.5 5And you would have been a rich lady ready-made, and not have had to be made rich by marrying a gentleman!5
B"53 %+3 2B1C"43 - man of aspiration with a clearer targetD Christminster 7ch = 0 the beginning and the end8

.e ascended the ladder to have one more loo# at the point the men had designated, and perched himself on the highest rung, overlying the tiles. .e might not be able to come so far as

1D

this for many days. 8erhaps if he prayed, the wish to see /hristminster might be forwarded. 8eople said that, if you prayed, things sometimes came to you, even though they sometimes did not. .e had read in a tract that a man who had begun to build a church, and had no money to finish it, #nelt down and prayed, and the money came in by the ne&t post. Another man tried the same e&periment, and the money did not come; but he found afterwards that the breeches he #nelt in were made by a wic#ed Jew. *his was not discouraging, and turning on the ladder Jude #nelt on the third rung, where, resting against those above it, he prayed that the mist might rise. .e then seated himself again, and waited. In the course of ten or fifteen minutes the thinning mist dissolved altogether from the northern hori9on, as it had already done elsewhere, and about a :uarter of an hour before the time of sunset the westward clouds parted, the sun7s position being partially uncovered, and the beams streaming out in visible lines between two bars of slaty cloud. *he boy immediately loo#ed bac# in the old direction. $ome way within the limits of the stretch of landscape, points of light li#e the topa9 gleamed. *he air increased in transparency with the lapse of minutes, till the topa9 points showed themselves to be the vanes, windows, wet roof slates, and other shining spots upon the spires, domes, freestone-wor#, and varied outlines that were faintly revealed. It was /hristminster, un:uestionably; either directly seen, or miraged in the peculiar atmosphere. *he spectator ga9ed on and on till the windows and vanes lost their shine, going out almost suddenly li#e e&tinguished

1E

candles. *he vague city became veiled in mist. *urning to the west, he saw that the sun had disappeared. *he foreground of the scene had grown funereally dar#, and near ob4ects put on the hues and shapes of chimaeras.
O.

5It is a city of light,5 he said to himself. 5*he tree of #nowledge grows there,5 he added a few steps further on. 5It is a place that teachers of men spring from and go to.5 5It is what you may call a castle, manned by scholarship and religion.5 After this figure he was silent a long while, till he added( 5It would 4ust suit me.5