Under the Hammer: Iconoclasm in the Anglo-American Tradition (Clarendon Lectures in English Literature)

237 Pages·2011·4.72 MB·English

by  James Simpson

UNDER THE HAMMER
the clarendon lectures
in english 2009
Frontispiece:BarnettNewman,BrokenObelisk(1967),inSecondFloor,
PublicSpace,TheDonaldB.andCatherineC.MarronAtrium,TheDavid
andPeggyRockefellerBuilding,MuseumofModernArt,NewYork.
Reproducedbypermissionq2009TheBarnettNewmanFoundation,
NewYork/ArtistsRightsSociety(ARS),NewYork.
UNDER THE
HAMMER
Iconoclasm in the
Anglo-American Tradition
*
JAMES SIMPSON
1
3
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cknowledgements
A
A confession: throughout the deeply pleasurable, not to say ex-
hilaratingprocessofwritingthisbook,Idevelopedatasteforthe
illicit. All but one of the following chapters is an act of breaking
and entering academic shops not my own. I can only hope that
my readers will also experience the frisson of transgression
I enjoyed, although of course they may be provoked every now
and again, when they feel I have strayed too far, to phone the
police.
Booksaretheproductandsourceofconversation.Theconver-
sationthat beganthisbookwasover breakfastwiththeinspiring
Andrew McNeillie, who invited me to deliver the Clarendon
Lectures, under the auspices of both Oxford University Press
and the Faculty of English, University of Oxford, in May 2009.
The two weeks I spent in Oxford were unquestionably the most
pleasurable of an academic life, thanks in no small part to the
hospitalityofSallyMapstoneandVincentGillespie.
Many friends, colleagues, and students have tried to keep me
onthestraightandnarrow,for whichIofferthewarmestthanks.
The following were especially generous: Amy Appleford, Tim
Bahti, Larry Buell, Ian Donaldson, Milad Douehi, Philip Fisher,
Jorie Graham,GraziaGunn,NicholasHalmi,JeffreyHamburger,
AnnaHuber,JasonLaFountain,BarbaraLewalski,NinaLu¨bbren,
LukeMenand, Carl Schmidt,PeterSacks,Daniel Shore,Nicholas
Watson, and Nicolette Zeeman, who first started me thinking
about iconoclasm. Many of these interlocutors and friends are
colleagues in the Department of English, Harvard University,
whose collective intellectual ambition and warmth of intellectual
friendshipnourishedthebookateveryturn.Dozensofgraduatesin
Acknowledgements vii
thisdepartmentenlivenedmythinking.Idonotmeantoenlistthe
colleaguesherenamedassupportersofthepositionstakeninthis
book: many are not. Neither is Richard Strier, of the University
of Chicago, who nonetheless provided the most tenacious and
exacting opposition I have ever encountered in academic debate.
Mythankstohimareverywarmindeed.
My wife and daughter, Luisella and Clelia Simpson, both
offeredpenetratingcommentatdifferentmoments.
NicoleMillercourageouslyandsuccessfullyundertookHercu-
leantasksateveryleveloftheproject.Mydebttoherisverylarge.
The librarians of the Lamont Library, Harvard University, gave
detailedhelpwiththebibliography.
I completed the notes to this book in the magnificent Biblio-
teca Berenson of the Villa I Tatti, thanks to the warm and
humane hospitality of its Director, Joseph Connors, and his
wife,Franc¸oise.
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ontents
C
ListofIllustrations x
ListofAbbreviations xiii
Introduction 1
1. Iconoclasm in Melbourne, Massachusetts, and the
MuseumofModernArt 18
2. Learn to Die: Late Medieval English Images before
theLaw 49
3. Statues of Liberty: Iconoclasm and Idolatry in the
EnglishRevolution 85
4. UndertheHammer:IconoclasmandtheEnlightenment 116
Conclusion 155
Notes 159
Bibliography 196
Index 209