Vicarious Narratives: A Literary History of Sympathy

247 Pages·2019·1.345 MB·English

by  Jeanne M. Britton

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Vicarious Narratives
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Vicarious Narratives
A Literary History of Sympathy,
–
1750 1850
JEANNE M. BRITTON
1
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3
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formyparents
JohnandKathyBritton
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Acknowledgments
FromitsfirstincarnationasadissertationattheUniversityofChicagoand
through its transformations elsewhere, this book has benefitted from the
guidance, encouragement, and support of many people. My ideas about
sympathywereprofoundlyinfluencedbyJamesChandler.Iamalsograteful
toThomasPavelfornudgingmetothinkmoreaboutcharactersinfictional
sympatheticencountersandRobertMorrisseyforpushingmetothinkmore
abouttheFrenchRevolution.AttheUniversityofChicago,Ialsobenefitted
fromtheinsightsofElaineHadley,SandraMacpherson,RobinValenza,and
discussions of the Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Reading Group.
Generous support from the Franke Institute of Humanities propelled the
original project to completion. Early versions of portions of this book have
previouslyappearedin“NovelisticSympathyinMaryShelley’sFrankenstein,”
Studies in Romanticism 48.1 (2009): 3–22; and “Translating Sympathy by
the Letter: Henry Mackenzie, Sophie de Condorcet, and Adam Smith,”
Eighteenth-CenturyFiction22.2(2009):71–98.Iamgratefultothepublishers
fortheirpermissiontousethismaterialhere.
At various points in this process, I have relied on the following people
for their advice, questions, generosity, and humor: Rachel Ablow, Sarah
Berry, Claire Colebrook, Danielle Coriale, Eurie Dahn, Susan Edmunds,
Paula Feldman, Mike Goode, Emily Harrington, Tony Jarrells, Nicholas
Joukovsky,ClaudiaKlaver,PatriciaRoylance,RobinSchulze,LisaSternlieb,
andLindaShires.ThankstoanEmersonFellowshipatSyracuseUniversity,
I was able to devote substantial time to reformulating the book’s methods
and argument. I would also like to thank members of the Faculty Writing
GroupatSyracuseUniversityandtheUpstateNewYork19cReadingGroup
aswellasstudentsinmygraduatecoursesatPennStateUniversityandthe
UniversityofSouthCarolinafortheirquestionsandconversation.
I am thrilled to have completed this book at USC, my alma mater, as a
member of the library faculty in the Irvin Department of Rare Books and
Special Collections. In addition to working among first editions of novels
Idiscussin this book, I have been very fortunate to work alongside Jessica
Crouch and Michael Weisenburg and under the leadership of Associate
DeanElizabethSudduthandDeanThomasMcNally.AtOxfordUniversity
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viii 
Press,IamgratefultoRobertFaber,StephanieIreland,EleanorCollins,and
Aimee Wright. The informed comments and insightful questions of two
anonymous readers reshaped the book’s argument and strengthened its
details.
Mymostheartfeltthanksareformytirelesssupporters:myparentsJohn
and Kathy Britton, and my husband and best friend Jody Fowler. Their
unwavering confidence has sustained me and this book. Completing it—a
bookaboutresemblanceandfraternity—asamotherofidenticaltwinboys
has, to say the least, altered my understanding of some of its central
concepts. Thanks to Simon and Oliver, I can look forward to many years
ofbeinganeagerwitnesstothefrequenthappinessandoccasionalstrifeof
brotherhood.
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Contents
Introduction:DefiningSympathy 1
Smith’sSympathyandtheHistoryoftheNovel 10
Sympathy,LiteraryForm,andHistory 14
1. 1759and1794:MoralSentiments,PoliticalRevolution,
andNarrativeForm 22
HistoricalTortureandFictionalImagination 26
AdamSmith’s“OurBrother...upontheRack”in
Post-RevolutionaryFrance 30
BodiesandPersonsinSympathy’sGrammarofVicarious
Experience 37
“ThingsasTheyAre”or“AsIfTheyWereMyOwn”in
CalebWilliams 41
KinshipinSmith’sSympathy 56
ThroughSmith’sWindow:FromVisualPerceptionto
ImaginativePerspective 59
2. LettersintheNovelandtheNovelinLetters:Henry
Mackenzie’sJuliadeRoubignéandtheAfterlifeofthe
EpistolaryNovel 70
SympathyandtheEpistolaryNovel 72
Correspondence,Soliloquy,andMackenzie’sNovelistic
Voices 79
Mackenzie’sReformulationofEpistolaryPerspectives 84
SharedLanguageandRacialDifference 89
3. LaurenceSterneintheRomanticAnthology 93
LiteraryAnthologies:SentimentalExtractsandReading
Strategies 97
Sterne’sStarlingandtheMechanicsofCitation 102
“TheNegroGirl”ofTristramShandy 108
Torture,Kinship,andtheJewishBodyinTristram
Shandy 117
AnimalMindsandPerspectivalSympathy 122