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278 pages

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Literary criticism has, in recent decades, rather fled from discussions of moral psychology, and for good reasons, too. Who would not want to flee the hectoring moralism with which it is so easily associated-portentous, pious, humorless? But in protecting us from such fates, our flight has had its costs, as we have lost the concepts needed to recognize and assess much of what distinguished nineteenth-century British literature. That literature was inescapably ethical in orientation, and to proceed as if it were not ignores a large part of what these texts have to offer, and to that degree makes less reasonable the desire to study them, rather than other documents from the period, or from other periods.Such are the intuitions that drive The Burdens of Perfection, a study of moral perfectionism in nineteenth-century British culture. Reading the period's essayists (Mill, Arnold, Carlyle), poets (Browning and Tennyson), and especially its novelists (Austen, Dickens, Eliot, and James), Andrew H. Miller provides an extensive response to Stanley Cavell's contribution to ethics and philosophy of mind. In the process, Miller offers a fresh way to perceive the Victorians and the lingering traces their quests for improvement have left on readers.

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Reino Unido

Ireland

Literary theory

United Kingdom

English

Stephen Ireland

Great Britain

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Publié par	Cornell University Press
Date de parution	15 août 2011
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780801460838
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

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Th e B u r d e n s o f P e r f e c t i o n

The Burdens of Perfection On Ethics and Reading in NineteenthCentury British Literature



andrew h. miller

c o r n e l l u n i v e r s i t y p r e s s Ithaca & London

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For infor mation, address Cornell University Press, Sage House,512East State Street, Ithaca, New York14850.

First published2008by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Miller, Andrew H.,1964– The burdens of perfection : on ethics and reading in nineteenthcentury British literature / Andrew H. Miller. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN978–0–8014–4661–0(cloth : alk. paper) 1. English literature—19th century—History and criticism.2. Didactic literature, English—History and criticism.3. Perfection in literature.4. Ethics in literature.5. Literature and morals.6. Books and reading—Moral and ethical aspects—Great Britain—History— 19I. Title.th century. PR468.P36M552008 820.9'384—dc22 2007043283

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable based, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood ﬁbers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing

1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Mary and in memory of Sophia Patrick Miller

That is why the Victorians are so close to us. In some ways we naturally think ourselves to have evolved away from them. . . . Uni versal equality is more radically understood, as twentiethcentury social reforms, anticolonialism, and feminism all attest; democ racy is more integrally applied. All this is true. But what is re markable is that the basic moral and political standards by which we congratulate ourselves were themselves powerful in the last century. Even more strikingly, the very picture of history as moral progress, as a “going beyond” our forebears, which underlies our own sense of superiority, is very much a Victorian idea. Of course, there were resistances . . . Charles Taylor

Preface xi

Contents

Resisting, Conspiring, Completing: An Introduction1 Improvement and Moral Perfectionism Moral Perfectionism in the Winter of 1866–67 Historical Sources Implicative and Conclusive Criticism

Part I. The Narrative of Improvement

1. Skepticism and Perfectionism I: Mechanization and Desire35 Standing Before Camelot Skepticism as Ungoverned Desire: Browning’s Duke Skepticism as Mechanization: Carlyle and Mill Mr. Dombey Rides Death 2. Skepticism and Perfectionism II: Weakness of Will54 VictorianAkrasia Perspective and Commitment Hard TimesandAkrasia Daniel Derondaand SecondPerson Relations Orchestrating Perspectives Mark Tapley’s Nausea Interlude: Critical Free Indirect Discourse84