The Romance of Failure: First-Person Fictions of Poe, Hawthorne, and James

212 Pages·1989·10.5 MB·English

by  Jonathan Auerbach

THE ROMANCE
OF FAILURE
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THE ROMANCE
OF FAILURE
First-Person Fictions of
Poe, Hawthorne, and James
Jonathan Auerbach
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
8
19 9
Oxford University Press
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Copyright © 1989 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
Published by Oxford Univers i ty Press, Inc.,
200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 1001(1
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford Univers i ty Press
All r ights reserved. No part of tills publication may he. reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or t ransmi t ted , in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical , photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
w i th o u t prior permission ol Oxford Univers i ty Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Auerbach, Jonathan , 1954—
The romance of failure: : f i rs t-person f i c t i ons of Poe, Hawthorne,
and James / Jonathan Auerbach.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN o-M)-50572i-X
i. American f i c t i o n - - i ( ) t h century—History and criticism.
2. Failure (Psychology) in literature. 3. First person narrative.
4. Poe, Kdgar Allan. 1809—18/19—Criticism and interpretat ion.
5. Hawthorne, Nathan ie l , 1804—1864-- Criticism and interpretat ion.
(i . James, Henry, 1 8 4 ^ — 1 9 1 6 -Crit icism and interpre ta t ion .
I . Title.
PS;574.I<2,-}A94 1989
Ni;i'.3'»9353- den) 88-12634 CIP
8 l
* 4 <> 9 7 5 :\
Printed in t h e Uni ted States oi America
on acid-free paper
For Marijean and Daniel
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Ackno wledgmeri ts
Many of the ideas for this book first took shape in a graduate
seminar taught by the late Laurence B. Holland; I trust that his
presence will be felt throughout these pages. I subsequently ben-
efited greatly from careful readings by Sharon Cameron and Larger
Ziff, who both guided my effor ts with an exemplary combination
of patience and rigor. I have since received advice and encour-
agement from friends and colleagues, including Maurice Bennett,
Vincent Carretta, William Kerrigan, Richard Vitzthutn, and es-
pecially Robert S. Levine and Kerry Larson.
f am also grateful to the LJniversity of Maryland Graduate
Research Board for providing a summer grant at a crucial juncture
of the book's composition, and to Wayne State University Press for
permission to publish a revised version of an article entitled "Foe's
Other Double: The Reader in the Fiction" that originally appeared
in the journal (Criticism (Fall 1982).
Colege Park, Aid. J.A.
June i()88
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Contents
Introduction: "Proper Identity" and the First Person 3
1. Disfiguring the Perfect Plot: Doubling and
Self-Betrayal in Poe 20
2. Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance and
the Death of Enchantment 71
3. The Jamesian Critical Romance 118
Afterword \ 7 2
Notes 177
Index 197