The construction of a cause: Gothic architecture and the nineteenth century historical novel.
Item
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Title
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The construction of a cause: Gothic architecture and the nineteenth century historical novel.
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Identifier
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AAI3103148
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identifier
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3103148
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Creator
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Minott-Ahl, Nicola Angela Perkins.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Felicia Bonaparte
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Date
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2003
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, Comparative | Literature, Romance | Literature, English | History, General
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Abstract
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This dissertation argues for the existence of the architectural novel as distinct from the historical or Gothic novel, yet partaking of essential elements of both. This category of novel consists of those works expressly written with the preservation and restoration of specific Gothic buildings and the popularization of a national history (a necessary component of the argument in favor of preserving medieval buildings), as major goals. The authors of such novels place buildings, rather than a particular character, in the central role and, in doing so, permit them to determine the way the narrative unfolds. Because novels written this way necessarily focus on setting, history, and plot, this dissertation also argues that certain works by Victor Hugo and William Harrison Ainsworth, whose novels have been dismissed as an unsuccessful combination of Gothic novel and guidebook, must be looked at again with the stated and implied goals of their respective authors in mind. The category is a narrow one, but it is carefully defined and made to serve a specific purpose.;One of the ways in which this project approaches the definition of the architectural novel is to show how other authors responded to the opportunities and limitations posed by it. Alexandre Dumas uses the architectural perspective of Hugo and Ainsworth, even modeling his narrative on nineteenth century notions of the structure of a Gothic edifice to create a novel that moves in the direction of the restoration of the novel form itself by positing and then rejecting the conventions of Gothic fiction. In the process, he also creates a novel that makes national history the intellectual property of ordinary people. Jane Austen, mentioned last though she was published first, shows the reading public, and potential authors alike, a way beyond the Gothic novel and its devices that does not lead to architecture but which still embraces the complex political and philosophical debates that are inspired by the presence of the Gothic edifice in the other novels examined here. She restores the novel or points the way to its restoration by presenting the Gothic novel stripped of Gothicism and ready to take on subjects formerly reserved for academic treatises in a way that engages a larger proportion of readers. All four novelists recognize the power and potential of the novel as the disseminator of ideas, and as a force that can galvanize readers into action, rather than as mindless entertainment.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
