Will Ladislaw’s Aeolian Harp in Middlemarch
0
조회
0
다운로드
0
인용
0
참고문헌
키워드
초록
This essay examines how George Eliot draws on the symbol of the aeolian harp in her novel, Middlemarch, in her endeavor to reconcile subjective and objective viewpoints. Recent critics have attempted to view Eliot’s skepticism toward the logocentric view of knowledge and history as prefiguring poststructuralist or Nietzschean thought. Focusing on Will Ladislaw, who intuitively perceives the aeolian harp in Dorothea’s voice, this essay investigates how Eliot renders through literary language a means of transcending the limitations of subjective perspectives and imaginatively entering other perspectives. Ladislaw’s affinity with Romantic poets established through the symbol of the aeolian harp suggests that he is quite invested in negotiating between idealist and realist positions. While he strives not to lose sight of a realistic understanding of reality, Ladislaw is not without a desire to aspire to come into contact with essential elements of life. Ladislaw therefore makes an arduous effort to penetrate and grasp the dynamic and ever-changing essence of Dorothea’s beautiful soul without turning it into something fixed. Ladislaw’s intuitive appreciation of the complex operations of aesthetic elements in Dorothea’s voice enlarges his capacity for sympathy, which eventually transforms him from a perceiver of beauty into an active participant in politics.
Abstract
This essay examines how George Eliot draws on the symbol of the aeolian harp in her novel, Middlemarch, in her endeavor to reconcile subjective and objective viewpoints. Recent critics have attempted to view Eliot’s skepticism toward the logocentric view of knowledge and history as prefiguring poststructuralist or Nietzschean thought. Focusing on Will Ladislaw, who intuitively perceives the aeolian harp in Dorothea’s voice, this essay investigates how Eliot renders through literary language a means of transcending the limitations of subjective perspectives and imaginatively entering other perspectives. Ladislaw’s affinity with Romantic poets established through the symbol of the aeolian harp suggests that he is quite invested in negotiating between idealist and realist positions. While he strives not to lose sight of a realistic understanding of reality, Ladislaw is not without a desire to aspire to come into contact with essential elements of life. Ladislaw therefore makes an arduous effort to penetrate and grasp the dynamic and ever-changing essence of Dorothea’s beautiful soul without turning it into something fixed. Ladislaw’s intuitive appreciation of the complex operations of aesthetic elements in Dorothea’s voice enlarges his capacity for sympathy, which eventually transforms him from a perceiver of beauty into an active participant in politics.
참고문헌 (21)
- Anger, Suzy, "The Cambridge Companion to George Eliot" (2001), Cambridge UP
- Booth, Alison, "Particular Webs: Middlemarch, Typologies, and Digital Studies of Women’s Lives", Victorian Literature and Culture, 47(1), pp.5~34 (2018)
- Cantwell, Nancy Marck, "‘A Mere Victim of Feeling’: Women’s Tears and the Crisis of Lineage in Middlemarch", Victorian Review, 45(1), pp.28~33 (2019)[DOI]
- Capuano, Peter J., "An Objective Aural-Relative in ‘Middlemarch", Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, 47(4), pp.921~941 (2007)[DOI]
- 조희정, "오염과 전염 사이: 낭만주의 문학에 나타난 제국주의 시대의 질병", 영어영문학연구, 59(2), pp.175~195 (2017), 한국중앙영어영문학회[DOI]
- Colombo, Claire Miller, "Reading Scripture, Writing Self: Coleridge’s Animation of the ‘Dead Letter", Studies in Romanticism, 35(1), pp.27~53 (1996)[DOI]
- Duncan, Ian, "George Eliot’s Science Fiction", Representations, 125(1), pp.15~39 (2014)
- Eliot, George, "Middlemarch" (1994), Penguin
- Fay, Brian, "What George Eliot of Middlemarch Could Have Taught Spinoza", Philosophy and Literature, 41(1), pp.119~135 (2017)[DOI]
- Federico, Annette, "Dorothea’s Boudoir: Dream-Work and Ethical Perception in ‘Middlemarch.’", Texas Studies in Literature and Language, 56(4), pp.400~427 (2014)[DOI]
- Ferber, Michael, "A Dictionary of Literary Symbols" (2007), Cambridge UP
- Joudrey, Thomas J., "The Defects of Perfectionism: Nietzsche, Eliot, and the Irrevocability of Wrong in Middlemarch", Philological Quarterly, 96(1), pp.77~104 (2017)[DOI]
- Keats, John, "The Poetical Works of John Keats" (1958), Clarendon P
- 김연규, "『성 아그네스 축일 전야』에 구현된 키츠의 시공간 전략", 영어영문학연구, 62(3), pp.23~45 (2020), 한국중앙영어영문학회[DOI]
- Miller, J. Hillis, "Reading for Our Time: “Adam Bede” and “Middlemarch” Revisited", pp.36~69 (2012), Edinburgh UP
- 오복남, "키츠: 소극적 수용력을 통한 치유자", 영어영문학연구, 62(2), pp.65~83 (2020), 한국중앙영어영문학회[DOI]
- Peskin, S. G., "Music in ‘Middlemarch.’", English Studies in Africa, 23(2), pp.75~82 (2009)
- Shelley, Percy Bysshe, "The Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol. 2", pp.777~792 (1986), Norton
- Staten, Henry, "Spirit Becomes Matter: The Brontës, George Eliot, Nietzsche" (2014), Edinburgh UP
- Wilhelm, Cherry, "Conservative Reform in ‘Middlemarch", Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory, 53, pp.47~57 (1979)
- Wright, Daniel, "George Eliot’s Vagueness", Victorian Studies, 56(4), pp.625~648 (2014)