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GothicAntiquity

GothicAntiquity

History,Romance,andtheArchitectural Imagination,1760–1840

DALETOWNSHEND

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Preface

TherelationshipbetweenGothicliterature romances,dramas,poetry, chapbooks andGothicarchitecture thearchitecturalstyleoftheMiddle Ages,inbothits ‘survivalist’ and ‘revivalist’ forms issomethingthathaslong fascinatedtheGothicscholarlytradition.Nodoubtthisisbecause,wellbeyond thepreoccupationwiththeruinedcastles,abbeys,convents,andtowersofthe MiddleAgesthatweseethroughouttheso-called ‘firstwave’ ofBritishGothic writing(c.1760–1840),thetwohavebeenyokedtogetherbythatmostthoroughly over-determinedofadjectives:theterm ‘Gothic’ itself.¹ForClaraF.McIntyrein 1921,thefactthataneighteenth-centuryliteraryformshareditsnamewitha medievaland ‘medievalist’ architecturalstylewasmoremisleadingthanitwas revealing: ‘WeallknowatleastalittleaboutaGothiccathedral, ’ shewrote, ‘but whenwe findthetermgiventoanovelweareall,Ibelieve,atriflevague. ’²Whilea writersuchasAnnRadcliffe,McIntyrecontinued,certainlypopulatedher fictions with ‘Gothicabbeys’ and ‘Gothicwindows’,itwastotheEuropeanRenaissance andnottothe ‘Gothic’ pastoftheEnglishMiddleAgesthatthewriter’sbestknownnarrativescharacteristicallyreturned.³ButMcIntyre’sreservationsare exceptional,andforthevastmajorityofscholarsinthe firstfourdecadesofthe twentiethcentury,therewassomethingintrinsic,evenabsolute,abouttherelationshipbetweeneighteenth-centuryGothicwritinganditsarchitecturalnamesake,eveniftheycouldnotalwaysarticulatepreciselywhythiswasso.For DorothyScarboroughin1917,forexample,the ‘Gothiccastle’,liketheruined andcrumblingabbey,contributedinnosmallparttothede finitivesenseof ‘mysteryandawe’ elicitedbyGothic fiction,itssecretpassageways,trapdoors, undergroundvaults,anddungeons ‘ a fit settingfortheunearthlyvisitantsthat hauntit’;the ‘horrificromance ’ ingeneral,shetautologouslyconcluded, ‘showsa closekinshipwithitsarchitecture’ . ⁴ Compoundingtheidentificationsbetweenthe literaryandthearchitecturalthatwerealreadyinplaceintheeighteenthcentury, EdithBirkheadin TheTaleofTerror (1921)drewattentiontowhatshetooktobe thestartlingcorrespondencesbetweenHoraceWalpole’ s TheCastleofOtranto

¹Fortheuseofthephrase ‘firstwave’ todesignateBritishGothicwritingofthelateeighteenthand earlynineteenthcenturies,seeRictorNorton,ed., GothicReadings:TheFirstWave,1764–1840 (London:LeicesterUniversityPress,2000).

²ClaraF.McIntyre, ‘Werethe “GothicNovels” Gothic?’ , PMLA vol.36,no.4(Dec.1921): pp.644–67(p.645).

³McIntyre, ‘Werethe “GothicNovels” Gothic?’,p.645.

⁴ DorothyScarborough, TheSupernaturalinModernEnglishFiction (NewYorkandLondon: G.P.Putnam’sSons,1917),p.9.

(publishedlate1764;dated1765)andWilliamBeckford’ s Vathek (1786)andthe authors’ architecturalworkatStrawberryHill,Twickenham,andFonthillAbbey, Wiltshire,respectively,thusreinstatinganearlycriticaltendencythatremains prevalentifnotinveteratetothisday.⁵ Despitewhatitpromisedinitstitle,Eino Railo’ s TheHauntedCastle (1927)ultimatelyhadverylittletosayaboutthe relationshipbetweenGothic fictionandarchitecturebeyondpointingoutthat thehauntedcastlewasadominantmotifinwhathetermedthe ‘horrorromanticism’ ofWalpole,MatthewLewis,WalterScott,andothers,onethat tookitsplacealongsidesuchothertropesasthecriminalmonk,thewandering Jew,incest,ghosts,anddemonicbeings.⁶ InhispioneeringaccountofJane Austen’ s ‘NorthangerNovels’ ofthesameyear,MichaelSadleirmadesome importantobservationsregardingthepoliticalsignificanceofarchitecturalruins inpost-FrenchRevolutionaryGothicromancespublishedinBritain,ifonly eventuallytodismissthese fictions’ architecturalpreoccupations theabbeys, castles,andruinssofrequentlyreferencedintheirtitles asbeingoneofthe many ‘fatuitiesoftheschool’ . ⁷ J.M.S.Tompkinswassimilarlyattunedtothe use andhighlyconventionalizedoveruse ofarchitectureinheraccountof Gothicromancein ThePopularNovelinEngland (1932),claimingthat,since Gothicarchitecturehadsufferedfromsuch ‘degradation’ and ‘over-production’ in Gothic fiction,itwasbarelynecessarytodiscussthematteratall.⁸

Inhisessay ‘FormsofTimeandoftheChronotopeintheNovel:NotesToward aHistoricalPoetics’ of1937,theRussiantheoristMikhailBakhtindevelopedhis notionofthe ‘chronotope’—thatcomplexconflationofspaceandtimethatlends toaliterarygenreitssingularity throughabriefbutimportantanalysisofthe architectureofGothicromance.TheGothiccastle,heargued,is ‘saturated throughandthroughwithatimethatishistoricalinthenarrowsenseofthe word,thatis,thetimeofthehistoricalpast’ ; ⁹ more trenchantly,itwasthis particularchronotopicarrangementoftimeandspacethatwassaidtolendto Gothicliteratureitsgenericspecificity.ThoughBakhtin’stheorieshavesincebeen fruitfullyappliedtotheanalysisoftheearlyGothic mostnotablybyRobert Milesin GothicWriting1750–1820:AGenealogy (1993)andbyJacqueline Howardin ReadingGothicFiction:ABakhtinianApproach (1994) thebelated translationofhisworkontheGothicchronotopeintoEnglishmeantthatits

⁵ EdithBirkhead, TheTaleofTerror:AStudyoftheGothicRomance (London:ConstableandCo., 1921),pp.30,97.

⁶ EinoRailo, TheHauntedCastle:AStudyoftheElementsofEnglishRomanticism (London:George Routledge&Sons,1927),p.vii.

⁷ MichaelSadleir, TheNorthangerNovels:AFootnotetoJaneAusten,TheEnglishAssociation Pamphletno.6(Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,1927),p.17.

⁸ J.M.S.Tompkins, ThePopularNovelinEngland1770–1800,2ndedn(Lincoln:Universityof NebraskaPress,1961),p.268.

⁹ MikhailMikhailovichBakhtin, ‘FormsofTimeandoftheChronotopeintheNovel:Notestoward aHistoricalPoetics’,inMikhailMikhailovichBakhtin, TheDialogicImagination:FourEssays,trans. M.HolquistandCarylEmerson(Austin:UniversityofTexasPress,1981),pp.84–258(p.245).

impactupontheAnglo-Americancriticaltraditionwasslowtotakeeffect.Indeed, thougharchitecturalmatterswerefrequentlymentionedinearliercriticism,itwas reallyonlywiththepublicationofWarrenHuntingSmith’ s Architecturein EnglishFiction in1934thattheyreceivedanysustainedcriticalattentionatall. ThoughHuntingSmithwasnotsolelyconcernedwithGothic fictionalforms,his studyremains,todate,unsurpassedinitsencyclopedicknowledgeofthe field,and initssearchingexaminationoftherelationshipbetweenarchitectureandliteratureacrossabroadrangeofeighteenth-andnineteenth-centurytextsandwriters. ThiswasfollowedsoonthereafterbythepublicationofMontagueSummers’ s The GothicQuest in1938,astudythat,thoughbynomeanssolelyconcernedwith architecture,continuouslyponderedthequestioninrelationtothecountless forgottenromances,dramas,andchapbooksthatitbroughttolight.Inhis characteristicallypassionatetone,SummerspausedamidadiscussionofWalpole andClaraReeveinordertoarguethat ‘TheconnexionbetweentheGothic RomanceandGothicArchitectureis,sotospeak,congenitalandindigenous’ , thatit ‘goesdeepdowntoandisvitallyoftheveryheartofthematter’.¹⁰ Summers ’sprimaryobjectivein TheGothicQuest wastorecuperateforserious considerationaliteraryformthathadfallenfoulofthesameculturalbiasesthat,in the firsthalfoftheeighteenthcentury,haddismissedGothicarchitectureascrude, uncouth,andbarbaric.Tothisgesture,thereconsiderationofarchitecturein Gothicwritingassomethingoffargreatersignificancethanwhatearliercritics hadtendedtodenounceasconventionalized ‘claptrap’ orsuperficial ‘paraphernalia’ becameparamount.TheGothiccastle,Summershereandelsewhere insisted,wassocentraltotheGothicaslegitimatelytobeconceivedasaliterary ‘character’ initsownright,invariablyfunctioning,assuch,asmuchmorethana vaguehistoricalreferentorthemarkerofanatmospheric miseenscène.¹¹Ashe putitinashortpieceontherelationshipbetweenarchitectureandliterature publishedinthe ArchitecturalDesignandConstruction journalin1931, ‘Itisthe castlewhichistheprotagonistofWalpole’sromance;andthroughoutallOtranto’sprogeny,whosenameislegionindeed,theremoteandruinedcastle,the ancientmanor,thevastfortress,theloneandsecretconvent,thedarkand mysteriousmonastery,areeverandagaintheprincipalfeaturesofthetale.’¹²Of allearlycriticalopinions,itwasthisclaimtothepersonifiedformandfunctionof architectureintheearlyGothicthathasprovedtobeoneofthemostenduring.As E.J.CleryputitinherIntroductiontotheOxfordWorld’sClassicseditionof The CastleofOtranto in1996, ‘Fewcriticshavefailedtomakethepointthatthegothic

¹⁰ MontagueSummers, TheGothicQuest:AHistoryoftheGothicNovel (London:TheFortune Press,1938),p.189.

¹¹See,forinstance,MontagueSummers’sargumentinhis ‘Introduction’ toConstable’seditionof TheCastleofOtrantoandTheMysteriousMother (London:Constable,1924),pp.xi–lvii.

¹²MontagueSummers, ‘ArchitectureandtheGothicNovel’ , ArchitecturalDesignandConstruction vol.2,no.2(December1931):pp.78–81(p.80).

castleisthemainprotagonistof Otranto,andthatthestoryofusurpation, tyranny,andimprisonmentcouldbeseenasanextensionofthemoodevoked bythesetting.’¹³Morerecently,CarolMargaretDavisonin GothicLiterature 1764–1824 (2009)hasdrawnupon,andextended,suchreadingsofarchitecture astheGothic’sprimary ‘protagonist’,thoughleaveningthisapproachwithgreater sensitivitytothearchitecturalstyle’shistoricalsignifications.¹⁴

IntheIntroductionthatshewroteforDevendraP.Varma’ s TheGothicFlame in1957,J.M.S.Tompkinssignalledthecriticalseachangeeffectedbywhatwas otherwiseahighlyderivativestudybypointingoutthat ‘whathasalteredour attitudetoGothicwritingsis,ofcourse,theapplicationofFreudianpsychologyto literatureandliteraryperiods’.¹⁵ Bythiswayofreasoning,theGothiccastle—‘that formidableplace,ruinousyetaneffectiveprison,phantasmagoricallyshiftingits outlineasevernewvaultsextendtheirlabyrinths,sceneofsolitarywanderingscut offfromlightandhumancontact,ofunformulatedmenaceandtheterrorofthe livingdead’—nowpresenteditselftocritics ‘asthesymbolofneurosis’,atextual ‘symptom’ ofanxietyconcerningtheforcesofcontemporarypoliticalandreligiousoppression.¹⁶ AsTompkins’scarefulchoiceofwordssuggests,itwasinthe wakeofacriticsuchasVarmathatpsychoanalysisbecameGothiccriticism’ s dominantmetalanguage,ifnotalwaysinanorthodoxFreudiansense,thenatleast throughthedeftsynthesisofpsychoanalysisandMarxismthatweencounterin DavidPunter’ s TheLiteratureofTerror (1980).InPunter ’saccount,mattersof architecturalinterest fromWalpole’sCastleofOtranto,throughtheruined abbeysofRadcliffe,toMervynPeake’ s Gormenghast series(1946–59),and beyond areneverfaraway.Yet,itwasreallyonlywiththeattentionthat Anglo-AmericanfeministscholarsbegantopayGothicwritingfromthelate 1970sonwardsthatarchitecturebecameanobjectofcriticalinterestinitsown right.CrucialtothisfeministturnwasEllenMoers’sworkonthe ‘femaleGothic’ in LiteraryWomen (1979),aswellasSandraM.GilbertandSusanGubar’ s feministcritiqueofGastonBachelard’ s The PoeticsofSpace (1958)in TheMadwomanintheAttic (1979).CounteringBachelard’sexclusivefocusuponsitesof ‘topophilia’—thecomfortingand ‘felicitous’ homeofchildhoodexperienceto whichthemodernbourgeoissubjectrepeatedlyreturnsindreamsandnostalgic flightsoffancy withtheirnotionof ‘topophobia’,GilbertandGubardrew

¹³E.J.Clery, ‘Introduction’,inHoraceWalpole, TheCastleofOtranto,ed.W.S.Lewis(Oxford: OxfordUniversityPress,1996),pp.vii–xxxiii(p.xv).

¹⁴ CarolMargaretDavison, GothicLiterature1764–1824 (Cardiff:UniversityofWalesPress,2009), pp.70–3.

¹

⁵ J.M.S.Tompkins, ‘Introduction’,inDevendraP.Varma, TheGothicFlame,BeingaHistoryofthe GothicNovelinEngland:ItsOrigins,Efflorescence,Disintegration,andResiduaryInfluences (London: ArthurBarker:1957),pp.xi–xv(p.xiii).

¹⁶ Tompkins, ‘Introduction’ , TheGothicFlame,p.xiii.

attention,primarilythroughnineteenth-centuryGothic fictionalexamples,tothe architecturalspacesofgender-basedanxiety,terror,andoppression.¹⁷

Equallycentraltothissecond-wavefeministcriticalendeavourwasthearchitecturaltopographyofthepsychedescribedbyCarlGustavJungin Contributions toAnalyticalPsychology (1928):theclaimthathumanconsciousnesscouldbe equatedwiththeupperstoriesofanineteenth-centurybuilding,thepreconscious withthesixteenth-centuryground floor,andtheunconsciouswiththeantique andpre-antiquestructuresominouslylurking,undiscovered,inthecellar.¹⁸ Thus spatialized,psychoanalyticconceptualizationsofsubjectivitywouldfurther informthecriticalreadingofarchitectureinGothic fiction,particularlyinClaire Kahane ’sinfluentialaccountoffemalesubject-formationthroughanencounter withamaternalghostinwomblikesubterraneanarchitecturalspaceintheessay ‘GothicMirrorsandFeminineIdentity ’ (1980);inJerroldE.Hogle’sreadingof ‘cryptonomy ’ andsubterraneanspacein ‘TheRestlessLabyrinth’ (1980);andin IanWatt’s1986psychoanalyticreadingofthearchitectureof TheCastleof Otranto .¹⁹ EugeniaC.DeLamottepaidconsiderableattentiontothefunctionof architectureinGothic fictionin PerilsoftheNight (1990),mostmemorably readingthebedchamberofEmilyStAubert,theheroineofRadcliffe ’ s The MysteriesofUdolpho (1794),asthephysicalandsexualboundaryofthe ‘self ’ thatiscontinuouslytransgressed,disrupted,andpenetratedbyanumberof unwelcomemasculinethreats.²⁰ InherlargelyKristevanreadingofeighteenthandnineteenth-centuryGothicin ArtofDarkness (1995),AnneWilliamsprovidedanequallyinfluentialfeministreadingofarchitecture,qualifyingand supplementingJung’sarchitecturalpsychicmetaphorwithgenderedinsightsso astoarguethattheGothiccastle,itswalls,towers,andrampartssignified consciousnessandmale-dominatedrealmsofpower,anditsdungeons,attics, secretrooms,andhiddenpassages ‘theculturallyfemale,thesexual,thematernal, theunconscious’.²¹AsinDeLamotte’sstudy,thearchitectureofGothic fictionis givengendered,highlypoliticizedmeaningsintheworkofthesecritics,an inflectionthatplayeditselffurtherinsuchotherimportantfeministreadingsas

¹⁷ SeeSandraM.GilbertandSusanGubar, TheMadwomanintheAttic:TheWomanWriterandthe Nineteenth-CenturyLiteraryImagination (NewHavenandLondon:YaleUniversityPress,1979), pp.87–8.ForamorerecentcontinuationofthisfeministreadingofGothicarchitecturalspace,see CarolMargaretDavison, ‘GothicArchitectonics:ThePoeticsandPoliticsofGothicSpace’ , Paperson LanguageandLiterature vol.46(2010):pp.136–63.

¹⁸ SeeC.G.Jung, ContributionstoAnalyticalPsychology,trans.H.G.andCaryF.Baynes(New York:HarcourtBrace,1928),pp.118–19.

¹

⁹ See,respectively,ClaireKahane, ‘GothicMirrorsandFeminineIdentity’ , TheCentennialReview vol.24,no.1(winter1980):pp.43–64;JerroldE.Hogle, ‘TheRestlessLabyrinth:Cryptonomyinthe GothicNovel’ , ArizonaQuarterly no.36(1980):pp.330–58;andIanWatt, ‘TimeandtheFamilyinthe GothicNovel: TheCastleofOtranto’ , Eighteenth-CenturyLife vol.10,no.3(1986):pp.159–71.

²⁰ EugeniaC.DeLamotte, PerilsoftheNight:AFeministStudyofNineteenth-CenturyGothic (New YorkandOxford:OxfordUniversityPress,1990),pp.149–92.

²¹AnneWilliams, ArtofDarkness:APoeticsofGothic (ChicagoandLondon:UniversityofChicago Press,1995),p.44.

KateFergusonEllis’ s TheContestedCastle (1989);AlisonMilbank ’ s Daughtersof theHouse (1992);MaggieKilgour’ s TheRiseoftheGothicNovel (1995);andDiane LongHoeveler’ s GothicFeminism (1998).

Thesehistorical,psychoanalytic,andfeministstudiesoftheGothicconstitute onlyasmallsampleofthemanycriticalworksthathaveaddressedthesignificance ofarchitecturetoGothicwritingofthelateeighteenthandearlynineteenth centuries.Onethinks,too,ofRobinLydenberg’soften-overlookedaccountof theparallelsbetweentheresponsesgeneratedbyGothicarchitectureandthose exploitedbyearlyGothic fiction,orofLindaBayer-Berenbaum’srelatedattempts in TheGothicImagination (1982)atdrawingouttheconnectionsbetweenthe psychologicalstateselicitedbyGothicarchitectureandthosetobefoundin literarymanifestationsoftheGothicaesthetic.²²Other,better-knownexamples includethebriefarchitecturalturnofVictorSage ’ s HorrorFictionintheProtestantTradition (1988),astudythat,inpart,soughttoreadthedarkhousesof Gothicliteratureaspowerfulallegoriesoflargertheologicalconcerns,or,totakea morerecentexample,FredBotting’soften-citedFoucauldianreadingofruins, graveyards,labyrinths,andother ‘heterotopic’ spacesintheearlyGothicliterary tradition.²³WhennotreadingGothicarchitecturethroughsuchallegoricalor theoreticallenses,criticshaveexpendedconsiderableenergyinidentifyingthe ‘real’ housesthatinformsomeofthewell-knownarchitecturalpilesinthe literature,notonlyintheoften-citedparallelsbetweenStrawberryHilland Otranto or,moretangentially,betweenFonthillAbbeyand Vathek ,butalsoin, say,RictorNorton’sclaimthatHaddonHall,Derbyshire,mightwellhavebeenthe sourceforRadcliffe’sChateau-le-Blancin TheMysteriesofUdolpho.²⁴ Suchcritical questsforthe ‘real’ housesbehindthenovelsareallshadesofthesameendeavour thathadsofrustratedNikolausPevsnerinhisworkonthehousesofJaneAusten’ s fictionin1968:tryashemight,thetwentiethcentury’sgreatesttopographerand architecturalhistorianwasultimatelyunabletoprovideanydefinitiveanswers, concludingthatAusten ‘didnotvisualizeanyonethingforanyonehouseortown’ whenshepennedher fictions.²⁵ Architecture,itturnsout,ismoretheworkofthe imaginationthananymimeticrepresentationofareal-lifebuilding.Inanimportantessayof1998,StephenClarkeproposedausefulsolutiontotheproblemofthe relationshipbetween ‘real’ and ‘fictional’ Gothicbuildingsoftheeighteenth

²²SeeRobinLydenberg, ‘GothicArchitectureandFiction:ASurveyofCriticalResponses’ , The CentennialReview vol.22(1978):pp.95–109,andLindaBayer-Berenbaum, TheGothicImagination: ExpansioninGothicLiteratureandArt (Cranbury,NJ,London,andMississauga,Ont.:Associated UniversityPresses,1982),pp.47–71.

²³VictorSage, HorrorFictionintheProtestantTradition (Houndmills:MacmillanPress,1988), pp.1–25,andFredBotting, ‘InGothicDarkly:Heterotopia,History,Culture’,in ANewCompanionto theGothic,ed.DavidPunter(Oxford:Blackwell,2012),pp.13–24.

²⁴ RictorNorton, MistressofUdolpho:TheLifeofAnnRadcliffe (London:LeicesterUniversityPress, 1999),p.209.

²⁵ NikolausPevsner, ‘TheArchitecturalSettingofJaneAusten’sNovels’ , JournaloftheWarburgand CourtauldInstitutes vol.31(1968):pp.404–22(p.409).

centurybyarguingthat,thoughtheymightoccasionallyoverlap,the ‘written Gothic’ ofauthorssuchasAnnRadcliffeandJaneAustenisfundamentally differentfromthe ‘builtGothic’ oftheearlyGothicRevival:whiletheformer tradedintheintricacy,mystery,complexity,andobscurityofthesublime,the latterwereintendedtobelight,airy,cheerful,andpicturesque.²⁶

Inpost-millennialGothiccriticism,thereisbarelyamonographonRomanticeraGothicwritingthatdoesnotatleastgesturetowardstheterm’sarchitectural meanings,orexplorethewaysinwhichGothicarchitectureisimplicatedin Gothicwriting’sbroaderideologicalwork.²⁷ DavidPunterandGlennisByron includeashortoverviewofGothicarchitectureandtheeighteenth-centuryGothic Revivalin TheGothic (2004),whileVictorSage’simportantessayonGothic Revivalistarchitecture,initiallypublishedin1998,wasreprintedinthesecond editionofMarieMulvey-Roberts’ s TheHandbookoftheGothic in2009.²⁸ William Hughes,DavidPunter,andAndrewSmith’ s TheEncyclopediaoftheGothic (2013) includesshortentriesonGothicarchitecture,theGothicRevival,andruins,and NickGroom’ s TheGothic (2014)includesabriefbutinformativeoverviewof Gothicarchitecture,evenasitrangeswidelytoexploretheGothic’sotherpolitical, cultural,andliterarymanifestationsacrosstime.²⁹ Inthemoreextendedformof thescholarlymonograph,KerryDeanCarsohasaddressedtherelationship betweenGothicarchitectureandnineteenth-centuryliteraturein American GothicArtandArchitectureintheAgeofRomanticLiterature (2014),while DavidAnnwnJonescommenceshis GothicEffigy (2018),awide-rangingstudy oftheGothicaestheticacrossseveralmediaandforms,withabriefdiscussionof GothicRevivalistarchitectureineighteenth-andnineteenth-centuryEngland, Wales,andAmerica.³⁰ Mostrecently,AlisonMilbank ’ s GodandtheGothic (2018)hasprovidedafascinatingaccountoftheambivalentresponsestomonastic ruinsineighteenth-centuryGothic fictionandtheirtheologicalrelationtothe culturalworkofthe ‘LongReformation’.³¹

²⁶ StephenClarke, ‘AbbeysRealandImagined:NorthangerAbbey,Fonthill,andAspectsofthe GothicRevival’ , Persuasions 20(1998):pp.93–105(p.99).

²⁷ See,forexample,AngelaWright’sdiscussionofabbeysandcastlesin Britain,Franceandthe Gothic,1764–1820:TheImportofTerror (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2013),pp.88–146, andDianeLongHoeveler’sreadingoftherepresentationofruinedabbeysin TheGothicIdeology: ReligiousHysteriaandAnti-CatholicisminBritishPopularFiction,1780–1880 (Cardiff:Universityof WalesPress,2014),pp.197–246.

²⁸ SeeDavidPunterandGlennisByron, TheGothic (Oxford:Blackwell,2004),pp.32–6,andVictor Sage, ‘GothicRevival’,in TheHandbookoftheGothic,2ndedn,ed.MarieMulvey-Roberts (Houndmills:PalgraveMacmillan,2009),pp.156–69.

²

⁹ SeeWilliamHughes,DavidPunter,andAndrewSmith,eds, TheEncyclopediaoftheGothic,2vols (Oxford:Wiley-Blackwell,2013),vol.1,pp.38–40and40–4;vol.2,pp.579–81;andNickGroom, The Gothic:AVeryShortIntroduction (Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,2012),pp.12–23.

³⁰ DavidAnnwnJones, GothicEffigy:AGuidetoDarkVisibilities (Manchester:Manchester UniversityPress,2018).

³¹SeeAlisonMilbank, GodandtheGothic:Religion,Romance,andRealityintheEnglishLiterary Tradition (Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,2018),pp.13–61.

FromtheriseofascholarlyGothictraditiononwards,then,criticshave repeatedlyreturnedtothearchitecturalquestion,accountingforitspresencein theliteraturevariouslythroughpsychoanalytic,feminist,ornewhistoricisttheoreticallenses,orthroughtheshorter,introductoryexplicationsoutlinedabove. However,thereremains,todate,nosustainedandcloselyhistoricizedaccountof GothicwritinginrelationtothebroaderGothicRevivalinarchitecturewithwhich itwascontemporary,anditisthisgapinthestudyofGothicliteraturebetweenthe years1760and1840that GothicAntiquity attemptsto fill.Inthisrespect,this bookalignsitselfmostcloselywithworkonthearchitecture/literaturerelation thathasbeenpublishedoverthelastfourdecadesinthe fieldofBritishromanticism, aliterarytraditionthatiscloselyalignedbutnotalwaysentirelycoterminouswiththe earlyGothic.TheseincludeAnneJanowitz’ s England’sRuins (1990);SophieThomas ’ s RomanticismandVisuality (2008);NicoleReynolds’ s BuildingRomanticism (2010);andTomDuggett’ s GothicRomanticism (2010).ThoughneitherReynolds norDuggettisprimarilyconcernedwiththepreciseformsof ‘Gothic’ literaturethat Itreatinthisbook,bothstudieshavebeenparticularlyinfluentialinmyown thinkingonthesubject.ThesamemightbesaidofLeeMorrissey’ s FromtheTemple totheCastle (1999),abrilliantaccountoftheliterature/architecturerelationin selectedauthorswhowereeitherpractisingarchitectsandarchitecturalpatrons withconsiderableinvolvementinthedesignprocess JohnVanbrugh,Alexander Pope,andHoraceWalpole orthosewhosewritingsdemonstrateabidingarchitecturalpreoccupations,suchasJohnMiltonandThomasGray.Othermodernstudies ofthearchitecture/literaturerelationship,includingEllenEveFrank’ s Literary Architecture (1979)andDavidAntonSpurr’ s ArchitectureinModernLiterature (2012),donottreateighteenth-andnineteenth-centuryBritishGothicinanydepth. IfGothicliterarystudieshavefailedadequatelytoprovideasustainedand historicallyrigorousaccountofhowGothicwritingoftheperiod1760–1840participatedinthebroaderarchitecturalimpulsesoftheGothicRevival,studiesof Gothicarchitectureintheeighteenthandnineteenthcenturieshavebeencorrespondinglycursoryintheirtreatmentoftheliterarycontext.Inhisseminal AHistory oftheGothicRevival (1872),the firstscholarlystudytodefineandconstitutethe movementassuch,CharlesLockeEastlakegavewritersofGothicromanceshort shrift,maintainingthatthetrivial ‘Gothic’ productionsofHoraceWalpoleandAnn Radcliffewereasfarremovedfromthesplendid,revived ‘mediævalism’ ofWalter Scottasthe ‘Gothick’ fripperyofBattyLangleywasfromthe ‘authentic’ Gothic architectureofWilliamButterfield.³²Thougharguingthat,priortoitsarchitectural manifestations,therevivalismofthelateseventeenthandeighteenthcenturieswas primarilyaliteraryphenomenon,KennethClarkin TheGothicRevival (1928) cautionedagainstanymeaningfulinteractionbetweenthearchitecturalandthe

³²CharlesL.Eastlake, AHistoryoftheGothicRevival (London:Longmans,Green,andCo.,1872),p.113.

literarybyinsistingthat ‘itisimpossibletoshowasmoothinteraction,orevenaclose parallel,betweeneighteenth-centuryGothicnovelsandbuildings’.³³Whilethe ‘Gothicness’ ofpopularromance,hecontinued, ‘consistedingloom,wildness,and fear’,reviveddomesticGothicarchitecture ‘wastoosensibletoadmitthesequalities’ , strivinginsteadforanatmosphereof ‘lightnessandvariety’.³⁴

In GothicAntiquity,IsubjectClark’ssenseofthelimitedrelationshipbetween GothicliteratureandGothicRevivalistarchitecturetoongoingscrutiny,sometimesdisagreeingwithit(asinthecaseofWalpole’sself-consciousdrawingupon whatheunderstoodtobethetraditionof ‘Gothicstory’ inhisfashioningof StrawberryHill),andatothertimesconfirmingit(asinnineteenth-century Gothicarchitects’ attemptsatpurgingtherevivedGothicstyleofitslong-standing relationshipwithGothic fiction).Eveninsuchcases,though,Imaintainthat literaturewascentraltotheworkoftheGothicRevival,albeitonlythroughan impulseofnegativerecoil.OtheraspectsofClark’ s TheGothicRevival are similarlyfoundationaltomyargument.Itwasinthe firstchapterofthestudy thatClarkintroducedaninfluentialdistinctionbetween ‘GothicRevival’ and ‘GothicSurvival’,meaningbytheformerthatself-consciousreturnto,and revitalizationof,thearchitecturalstylesoftheMiddleAgesthatwe firstencounter intheeighteenthcentury,andbythelatterthe ‘tinybrackishstream’ ofGothic architecturalpracticethatpersisted,attenuatedyetlargelyunaltered,fromthe medievalperiodonwards.³ ⁵ Gothicsurvivalism,heclaimed,comprisedthree closelyinterrelatedelements:theworkofRenaissancearchitects(Christopher Wren,JohnVanbrugh,NicholasHawksmoor)whooccasionallybuiltinaGothic idiom;thetendencyoflocalbuildersandcraftsmentoclingtoolderarchitectural traditions,asintheOxfordcollegesthatwerebuiltintheGothicstylewellintothe seventeenthcentury;andthemoresentimentalapproachtotheruinedremainsof originalmedievalpilesadoptedbyantiquarianscholars,fromshortlyafterthe dissolutionofthemonasteriesduringthemid-1530sonwards.Whilethese instancesofthepersistenceorthesurvivalofGothic,Clarkargued,werein somesensesquanti fiablydifferentfromtheeighteenth-centuryGothicRevival, theynonethelesscalledforareflectionontheaccuracyandapplicabilityofthe phraseitself.Inhisessay ‘GothicSurvivalandGothickRevival’ of1948, H.M.ColvinadoptedafarmorecategoricalstanceinrelationtoClark’sdistinction,claimingthat ‘Gothic survivalandGothickrevivalhadnothingincommon’ , andforegroundingthedifferencebetweenthesetwoimpulsesthroughtheuseof thearchaicspellingoftheterm ‘Gothick’.³⁶ GilesWorsley,bycontrast,advanced, inthefashionofClark,astrongargumentinfavourofGothicsurvivalismin ‘The

³³KennethClark, TheGothicRevival:AnEssayintheHistoryofTaste,2ndedn(Harmondsworth: PenguinBooks,1962),p.33.

³⁴ Clark, TheGothicRevival,p.33.³⁵ Clark, TheGothicRevival,p.1.

³⁶ H.M.Colvin, ‘GothicSurvivalandGothickRevival’ , TheArchitecturalReview vol.103(1948): pp.91–8(p.95).

OriginsoftheGothicRevival:AReappraisal’ (1993),theessayinwhichhepointed toanumberofsixteenth-centuryGothicarchitecturalprojectssoastocastdoubt ontheverynatureofaneighteenth-century ‘GothicRevival’.³⁷ Morerecent architecturalhistorianshavecontinuedtoponderthequestion.Ishalladdress thisandotherrelatedmattersintheConclusiontothisbook,butfornowitis importanttostressthatmyinterestinGothicarchitecturein GothicAntiquity straddlesbothsidesoftherevivalist/survivalistdivide.Thatis,Iamasinterestedin drawingattentioninthisstudytotheinterplaybetweenliteratureandarchitecture insuchrevivalistor ‘modernGothick’ structuresasStrawberryHill,Fonthill Abbey,andthenewPalaceatWestminsterasIaminaddressingnotableinstances ofGothicsurvivalintheeighteenthandearlynineteenthcenturies thewaysin whichantiquariesandwritersofGothic fiction,poetry,anddramaintheperiod 1760–1840respondedtotheruinedcastles,abbeys,andmonasteriesofwhatwe nowterm ‘medieval’ Britain.

Clark’saccountoftheGothicarchitecture/literaturerelationsetthetermsofthe debateforseverallaterscholars.ThoughhereiteratedClark’sclaimconcerning theliteraryoriginsoftheGothicRevivalinEngland,PaulFrankl’streatmentof literatureinhiswide-ranging,pan-Europeanstudy TheGothic (1960)wasslight, theargumentmerelyrehearsingthecommonplaceassumptionthatWalpole ‘ was contributingtothepopularizationofGothic[architecture]inthewidestcircles throughhisnovel, TheCastleofOtranto’.³⁸ GeorgGermann ’saccountofGothic literaturein GothicRevivalinEuropeandBritain (1972)isevenmoreperfunctory, achievinglittlemoreinthisregardthanreiteratingtheclaimthatStrawberryHill providedthe ‘inspiration’ for TheCastleofOtranto .³⁹ Muchthesamepertainsto MichaelMcCarthy’sotherwisepioneeringfocusupontheworkofThomasGray, HoraceWalpole,andthedomesticarchitectureoftheStrawberryHillarchitectsin TheOriginsoftheGothicRevival (1987):eventhoughhissubjectmatterbegs literaryquestions,thisisneveraconcernthatheexploresinanydepth.

Itistruethat,withthecriticalturntowardsinterdisciplinarityacrosstheartsand humanitiesinthelatetwentiethcentury,morerecentaccountsoftheGothicRevival inarchitecturehavebeenlessreluctanttoengagewithliteraryquestions.In Gothic Revival (1994),MeganAldrichwasthe firstscholartoachievemorethanamere gesturingtowardsthelinksbetweenWalpole’shomeandhis fiction,citingacrossher studyexamplesofliteraryresponsestoGothicarchitecturalformstakenfromAnn Radcliffe’ s TheMysteriesofUdolpho (1794),JaneAusten’ s NorthangerAbbey (1818), andevenBramStoker’ s Dracula (1897).Ultimately,though,Aldrich’sattentionis morearchitecturalthanitisliterary,withtheseandother fictionalexamplesoften

³⁷ GilesWorsley, ‘TheOriginsoftheGothicRevival:AReappraisal:TheAlexanderPrizeEssay’ , TransactionsoftheRoyalHistoricalSociety vol.3(1993):pp.105–50.

³

⁸ PaulFrankl, TheGothic:LiterarySourceandInterpretationsthroughEightCenturies (Princeton, NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress,1960),p.392.

³⁹ GeorgGermann, GothicRevivalinEuropeandBritain:Sources,InfluencesandIdeas,trans. GeraldOnn(London:LundHumphrieswiththeArchitecturalAssociation,1972),p.55.

onlymarshalledasepigraphstoillustratebroaderarchitecturalconcerns.Chris Brooks’sexcellent,moreself-consciouslyinterdisciplinary TheGothicRevival (1999),bycontrast,devotesatleastonediscretechaptertotheGothicnovel, exploring,ingreaterdetailthananycriticbeforehim,theclaimthattheimaginative possibilitiesoftheGothicpastspreadinitiallynotthrougharchitecturebutthrough eighteenth-centuryBritishandEuropeanliterature,fromthegraveyardverseofthe 1740s,throughtheliteraryantiquarianismofThomasPercyandRichardHurd,and intothe fictionsofWalpole,Radcliffe,MatthewLewis,JohannWolfgangvon Goethe,JohannFriedrichvonSchiller,JohnPolidori,MaryandPercyByssheShelley, andothers.⁴⁰ Similarly,MichaelCharlesworth’ s TheGothicRevival1720–1820 of 2002,anindispensablethree-volumecollectionofprimaryresources,includesa numberofliteraryextracts,amongthempoemsbyAlexanderPope,William Shenstone,andLordByron,andprosedescriptionsbyRadcliffe,Austen,WashingtonIrving,andSheridanLeFanu.⁴¹Usefulthoughthismaterialis,Gothicliterary studieshaveforthemostpartfailedtotakeupthechallengethatCharlesworth’ s anthologyimplicitlywagers thehistoricizedreadingofGothic fictionalongsidethe Gothicarchitecturaldebatesandaestheticswithwhichitwascontemporary,and withwhichthesewritersandtextsveryclearlyengaged.MichaelJ.Lewis’ s TheGothic Revival (2002)ofthesameyearreturnedtotheearlierclaimsofClarkandBrooksto arguethat ‘TheGothicRevivalbeganasaliterarymovement,drawingitsimpulses frompoetryanddrama,andtranslatingthemintoarchitecture’ ; ⁴²beyondafew referencestograveyardverse,Gray,andEdmundSpenser,however,thematteris neverpursued.Havingofferedanumberofrevealingarchitectural–historicalreadingsofselectGothic fictionsinhismorerecent GeorgianGothic (2016),Peter N.LindfieldhasdrawnoutthecorrelationsbetweentheefflorescenceoftheGothic novelinEnglandbetween1770and1800andtheriseinthenumberofscholarly essaysbyantiquariesonGothicarchitecture,sculpture,andfragmentaryGothic remains.⁴³TheparadoxthatLindfieldexposesisthat,whilemodesoftheGothic proliferatedinlatereighteenth-centuryBritainthroughsuchmeans,thetasteforthe Gothicininteriordesignandfurnishinginthesameperiodwasinsomeways waning.Thus,whilehistoriansoftheeighteenth-andnineteenth-centuryGothic RevivalinBritainandEuropemorebroadlyhavebynomeansentirelyoverlooked thematterofliterature,itisfairtosaythatGothicliteraturehasnotbeentheirsole focus. GothicAntiquity ismyresponsetothisissue,ahistoricizedreadingofGothic fiction,poetry,anddramathatisattunedthroughouttoliterature’scloseand sometimescomplexrelationstothesurvivingandrevivedarchitecturalstylewith whichitcametoshareitsname.

⁴⁰ SeeChrisBrooks, TheGothicRevival (London:PhaidonPress,1999),pp.105–26.

⁴¹SeeMichaelCharlesworth,ed., TheGothicRevival1720–1870,3vols(Mountfield:Helm Information,2002).

⁴²MichaelJ.Lewis, TheGothicRevival (London:Thames&Hudson,2002),p.13.

⁴³SeePeterN.Lindfield, GeorgianGothic:MedievalistArchitecture,FurnitureandInteriors, 1730–1840 (Woodbridge:BoydellPress,2016),pp.131–43.

Acknowledgements

Thisbookhasbenefitedimmeasurablyfromtheassistanceofmanyindividuals andinstitutionsoverthedecadeandmorethatithastakenmetocomplete.My greatestdebtofgratitudeistotheArtsandHumanitiesResearchCouncil(AHRC) forhavingawardedmeaneighteen-month-longAHRCLeadershipFellowship (June2015–December2016)for WritingBritain ’sRuins,1700–1850:TheArchitecturalImagination,thelargerresearchprojectfromwhichthisstudyderives. DouglasBrodie,thenHeadoftheSchoolofArtsandHumanitiesattheUniversity ofStirling,providedfurthersupport,whileBertholdSchoeneandSharonHandley, respectivelyHeadofResearchandKnowledgeExchangeandPro-Vice-Chancellor fortheFacultyofArtsandHumanitiesatManchesterMetropolitanUniversity, oversawthetransitionoftheprojecttomynewinstitutionalhomeinSeptember 2016,andgenerouslygrantedmeafurtherperiodofinstitutionalresearchleave. AHRCfundingalsomadepossibletheappointmentofPeterLindfieldasthe project’sResearchAssistant,withoutwhosebrilliance,efficiency,architectural expertise,andphotographicskillsthisbookwouldhavebeengreatlyimpoverished.Themembersofthe WritingBritain’sRuins researchnetworkstimulated andgreatlyenrichedmythoughtsonGothicarchitecture,antiquarianism,and literatureinthelateeighteenthandearlynineteenthcenturies,andIamespecially gratefultohaveworkedsocloselywithsuchdistinguishedscholars:Michael Carter;OliverCox;SallyFoster;NickGroom;MarionHarney;JamesKelly; EmmaMcEvoy;HamishMathison;DavidPunter;FionaRobertson;Rosemary Sweet;NicolaWatson;JamesWatt;andAngelaWright.Beyondthis,Angela WrighthasbeenagoodfriendandsourceofGothicinspirationovertheyears. JessEdwards,HeadoftheDepartmentofEnglishatManchesterMetropolitan University,andAntonyRowland,HeadoftheCentreforCreativeWriting, EnglishLiteratureandLinguistics,havebeenthemostsupportiveofmanagers, whilemyfriendsandcolleaguesintheManchesterCentreforGothicStudies XavierAldanaReyes;LinnieBlake;HelenDarby;ChloéGermaineBuckley;Sarah Illot;EmmaLiggins;andSorchaNíFhlainn haveprovidedaconvivialenvironmentinwhichtowork.Thanks,too,tothemanycolleagueswhoreadportionsof themanuscriptindraftform,andtothosewithwhomI’vediscussedsomeofthe book’sideasovertheyears,amongthemKirstieBlair;FredBotting;Stephen Bygrave;JohnDrakakis;MattFoley;KatieHalsey;EmmaMcEvoy;Stephen Penn;JonStobart;AngusVine;andMerleWilliams.StephenClarkehasbeen themostastuteandinsightfulofreaders,andIamespeciallygratefultohimfor havingsogenerouslysharedwithmehisunsurpassedknowledgeofHorace WalpoleandtheearlyGothicRevival.TimFulfordkindlyletmereadhiswork

onWordsworth’slaterpoetrypriortothepublicationofhismonographonthe subject,andNorbertBeschhelpedmetoaccesssomerareeighteenth-century Gothic fictions.Atacrucialtimeinthebook’sgenesis,theTrusteesoftheLewis WalpoleLibrary,YaleUniversity,awardedmeaLewisWalpoleFellowship, facilitatinganintensiveperiodofworkonmanuscriptandarchivalmaterialto whichIwouldnototherwisehavehadaccess.SpecialthanksareduetoNicole Bouché,theExecutiveDirectoroftheLewisWalpoleLibrary,aswellastothe assistance,support,andgoodhumourofKristenMcDonald,ScottPoglitsch, CindyRoman,andSueWalker.Thestaffatanumberofotherresearchlibraries havebeensimilarlyindispensabletotheresearchingofthisbook,andIwouldlike toacknowledgeherethehelpthatIhavereceivedfromtheArchivesandSpecial CollectionsatKing’sCollege,London;theBeineckeRareBookandManuscript Library,YaleUniversity;theBodleianLibraries,Oxford;theBritishLibrary, London;CambridgeUniversityLibrary;theLibraryoftheRoyalInstituteof BritishArchitects,London;theLibraryoftheSocietyofAntiquariesofLondon; theNationalLibraryofScotland,Edinburgh;PembrokeCollegeLibrary, Cambridge;theResearchLibraryandArchiveoftheSirJohnSoane ’sMuseum, London;theYaleCenterforBritishArt,NewHaven;andthelibrariansand interlibrary-loanfacilitiesatStirlingandManchesterMetropolitanUniversities. TheanonymousreadersforOxfordUniversityPressprovidedmuch-needed input,guidance,andsupport,andIamespeciallygratefultothem,andtomy editorsJacquelineNortonandAimeeWright,fortheirbeliefinaprojectthathas beensolonginthemaking.NeilMorriscopy-editedthetypescriptwithenviable accuracy,care,andattention,andPaulineHubnerhasproved,onceagain,tobea meticulousindexer.Myparents,HowardandShannonTownshend,havealways beenunstintinglysupportiveofmyacademicpursuits,andIamgratefultothem, andtomybrotherJonathanTownshend,forhavingtoleratedmysinglemindednessovertheyears.Dickens,theadorableRagaMuf finkitten,tookup residenceinmystudyinthe finalyearoftheproject,bringingbothdistractionand endlessdelight.JayBarlow,DavidCarr,LeoraCruddas,TraceyFarber,Renée Gerritsen,BasilLawrence,andStefanStenOlssonhavelongbeenmyemotional stalwarts,whileStephenPennhasremainedmyprimarysourceoflaughterand joythroughout.Thisbookisdedicatedtohim.

SomeofthematerialonWilliamGilpininChapter1 firstappearedin ‘Ruins, RomanceandtheRiseofGothicTourism:TheCaseofNetleyAbbey,1750–1830’ , JournalforEighteenth-CenturyStudies vol.37,issue3(2014):pp.377–94,©2013, BritishSocietyforEighteenth-CenturyStudies.AnearlyversionofChapter4 first appearedas ‘ImprovementandRepair:Architecture,RomanceandthePoliticsof Gothic,1790–1817’ , LiteratureCompass vol.8,issue10(2011):pp.712–38, ©2011,theauthor,LiteratureCompass©2011BlackwellPublishingLtd.Iam gratefultotheeditorsandpublishersofbotharticlesforpermissiontousesmall portionsofthisworkhere.

ListofFigures xxi

ListofAbbreviations xxiii Introduction:GothicAntiquity,GothicArchitecture, GothicRomance

1.AssociationistAestheticsandtheFoundationsofthe ArchitecturalImagination

2.HoraceWalpole’sEnchantedCastles

3.From ‘CastlesintheAir’ totheTopographicalGothic:Locating AnnRadcliffe’sArchitecturalImagination

4.Improvement,Repair,andtheUsesoftheGothicPast:Architecture, Chivalry,andRomance

5. ‘VenerableRuin’ or ‘NurseriesofSuperstition’:Ecclesiastical ArchitectureandtheGothicLiteraryAesthetic 221

6.AntiquarianGothicRomance:Castles,Ruins,andVisionsof GothicAntiquity

Conclusion:FromtheGothictotheMedieval: Historiography,Romanticism,andtheTrajectoriesofthe

ListofFigures

0.1. ‘Système figurédesconnoissanceshumaines’

0.2.JohnCarter, TheEntryofPrinceFrederick[sic]intotheCastleofOtranto

0.3.GeorgePerfectHarding,illustrationto TheCastleofOtranto

1.1.SampleofAnnRadcliffe’sannotationsinAlexanderGerard’ s An EssayonTaste

1.2.WilliamGilpin’sdrawingofGlastonburyAbbey,Somerset

1.3.WilliamBeckford’seditorialmarksin Dreams,WakingThoughts, andIncidents

2.1.WilleyReveley, SouthWestviewoftheCastleofOtranto,Italy

2.2.JohnCarter, SouthViewoftheCastleofOtranto

2.3. CastelloDiOtranto,fromJeffery’s1796editionofthenovel

2.4.DianaBeauclerk’sillustrationtoBookIIIof TheFaerieQueene

3.1.RichardBentley’sheadpiecetoThomasGray’ s ‘ALongStory’

3.2.Rev.WilliamWarrenPorter(1776–1804), CastleofUdolpho

3.3.JamesNasmyth’setchingoftheCastleofUdolpho

3.4.Emily’ s firstglimpseofUdolpho,fromLimbird’s1824editionofthenovel151

3.5.ImageoftheChateau-le-Blanc,fromLimbird’s1824editionofthenovel151

3.6. TheEnchantedCastle,engravingbyWilliamWoollettand FrançoisVivarès 153

3.7.WilliamMarlow(1740–1813), Capriccio:StPaul’sandaVenetianCanal 170

5.1.ConyersMiddleton,D.D.,PrincipalLibrariantotheUniversity ofCambridge 227

5.2.TailpieceforThomasGray’ s ‘OdeonaDistantProspectofEtonCollege’ 239

5.3.ThomasRowlandson, NorthEntranceofStrawberryHillwithaProcession ofMonks 251

6.1.WenceslausHollar’stitlepageforWilliamDugdale’ s Monasticon Anglicanum 297

6.2.EngravingofCumnorPlace 306

7.1.FrontispiecetoPugin’ s TheTruePrinciplesofPointedorChristian Architecture

ListofAbbreviations

CorrespondenceTheYaleEditionofHoraceWalpole’sCorrespondence,ed.W.S.Lewis, 48vols(NewHaven:YaleUniversityPress,1937–83)

GM TheGentleman’sMagazine:AndHistoricalChronicle

LibraryEdition TheLibraryEditionoftheWorksofJohnRuskin,39vols,ed.E.T.Cook andAlexanderWedderburn(London:GeorgeAllen;NewYork: Longmans,Green,andCo.,1903–12)

LWLTheLewisWalpoleLibrary,YaleUniversity,Farmington,Connecticut

ODNBOxfordDictionaryofNationalBiography(Oxford:UniversityPress, 2018),http://www.oxforddnb.com

OEDOxfordEnglishDictionary(Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,2018), http://www.oed.com

RARoyalAcademyofArts,London

RIBARoyalInstituteofBritishArchitects,London

‘Whoeverthoughtoflookingforamuseinanoldcastle?’

Introduction

GothicAntiquity,GothicArchitecture, GothicRomance

Intheearlymonthsof1802,theprominentBritishantiquaryanddraughtsman JohnCartersetoutfromhishomeinPimlico,London,forWalesinordertovisit, amongothersites,thevenerableremainsofGothicantiquityattheruinsofWhite Castle,Monmouthshire. ‘Iwhollygaveinto[sic]theimpulseofthemoment’,his subsequentaccountin TheGentleman’sMagazine related, ‘thatIwasanadventurousbeingofoldtimes,abouttoatchieve[sic]someperilousexploit.’¹Though armedwithnothingbuthispen,hisink,andhissketchbookfordrawing,Carter styledhimselfhere,aselsewhereacrossthehundredsofpseudonymousletters andcommentariesonarchitecturalandliterarymattersthathepublishedin TheGentleman’sMagazine between1797and1817,asaknightintheserviceof animperilledmaiden,thechivalroussuitortothevulnerable ‘heroine ’ that wasGothicarchitecture,andthescourgeofthe ‘MONSTER’,ashesawit,thatwas ‘ARCHITECTURALINNOVATION’.² ‘Antiquityamongusisagainthreatened, wounded,andreviled,’ hewouldlateremotivelyopine; ‘ShallI,then,herzealous votary,herconstantknight,remainunconcerned,inactive;sitdowninslothful ease;mysteelyguise,mypencil,andmypenthrownby,alllefttorust,anduseless grow?Forbidit,mylife’sdearesthope!’³Substitutingasuitofarmourfora ‘steely guise’,andtheweaponryoflances,swords,andmacesforasetofdrawing implements,Carter,likemanyaconservation-mindedantiquaryofhisday, regardedthemereactofobserving,documenting,andsketchingthematerial remainsoftheGothicpasttobeaseffectiveameansof ‘warfare’ asthechivalrous joustsandtournamentsoftheMiddleAges.

UponenteringtheruinsofWhiteCastlein1802,however,thisself-styled crusaderoftheGothicfaithisovercomebysentimentsofanaltogetherlessvaliant nature: ‘Mynerves...soontoldmeIwasnovalorousknight;and,fullofmodern

¹ ‘AnArchitect’ , ‘Pursuitsxliv’ , GM,72(1802),I,pp.22–4(p.22).AlthoughmostofCarter’ s correspondencein TheGentleman’sMagazine waspublishedanonymously,orundersuchpseudonyms as ‘AnArchitect’ , ‘AnEnglishman’ , ‘AnArtistandanAntiquary’,and ‘J.C.’,J.MordauntCrookhas providedanexhaustivelistofthosethatmaybesafelyattributedtoCarterin JohnCarterandtheMind oftheGothicRevival (London:TheSocietyofAntiquariesofLondon,1995),pp.80–90.

² ‘AnArchitect’ , ‘Pursuitslxvii’ , GM,74(1804),I,pp.28–31(p.30).

³ ‘AnArchitect’ , ‘Pursuitslxvii’,p.30.

GothicAntiquity:History,Romance,andtheArchitecturalImagination,1760–1840.DaleTownshend,Oxford UniversityPress(2019).©DaleTownshend. DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198845669.001.0001

fearandtrembling,IscrambleduptheheightIhadthussoughttogain.’⁴ A ‘ new fancy’ takingholdofhim,Carter ’sself-composureisundonebyvividimagesof phantoms,ghosts,andmonstersthatcrowdinuponhismind:

[S]obewilderedanddistractedasIwas,IpicturedtomyselfthatIsawholloweyedEnvy,pushedonbyanunwieldyArrogance,stalkingthroughthegloomy aperturetoendatoncemylaboursandmytroubles.Determining,however, (thusapparentlydeserted)to fightmyowncause,Iadvancedforwardtomeet thehideousspectres,when,aimingtoseizetheFuriesbytheirscalythroats, Ireceivedsuchadeath-dealingblowfromsomeunseenadversary,thatIfell senselesstotheground.⁵

Theserviceofchivalrousactionhasshadedintosomethingdarkerandconsiderablymorethreatening.Thoughheenterstheruinasaconstantknight,Carter leavesitinthemannerofaswooningheroineofGothicromance,fallingsenseless tothegroundonlytoberevivedbyhisguide’sswiftadministeringofarestorative cordial.

InthearchitecturaljournalismofJohnCarter,thiswasbynomeansanisolated incident.⁶ DescribinghisvisittoPortchesterCastle,Hampshire,inthesameyear, henotedthat ‘farothersensationsthanthosealliedwithAntiquarianpleasures tooktoofastholdofmyattention ’ asheenteredtheruin. ⁷ Amongthese ‘other sensations’,theexperiencesofhorrorandterrorareparamount,for,surveyingthe dungeonswithinthecastle,heisremindedofthe cachots,thenotoriousundergroundcellsoftheBastilleinpre-revolutionaryFrance,aninvoluntaryyoking togetherofarchitecturalandhistoricalassociationthatissufficienttorupturehis

‘Antiquarianpleasures’ witharangeofmoreintenseandunsettlingresponses: ‘Thehorrorsattendantonreviewoftheseobjects,whichtillashorttimeagohad beenthereceptaclesofthosewhohadforgottheirGodandKing,threwmysoul intoashudder;andmanyapangofdreadanddismaypursuedmeasIfoughtmy wayoutofthesecontaminatedmounds.’⁸ Asimilarsenseofdreadfulsublimity awaitedtheantiquaryatthethenruinedLlandaffCathedralnearCardiff,Wales, in1803.Enteringthechurchandanticipatingwithinitafewmomentsofquiet contemplation,heisinvoluntarilyovercomebywhathemistakestobeahostof spectralbeings. ‘Thenavesuddenlybecamethrongedbyanumberofpeople, ’ he recounts, figures ‘whowithloudandpiercingcrieshurriedinafranticmanner towardsme’ . ‘Thesightwasappalling’,heconfesses, ‘and,ifevermortalcreatures

⁴‘AnArchitect’ , ‘Pursuitsxliv’,p.23.

⁵‘AnArchitect’ , ‘Pursuitsxliv’,p.24.

⁶ Forafulleraccountofthis,seeDaleTownshend, ‘ArchitectureandtheRomanceofGothic Remains:JohnCarterand TheGentleman’sMagazine,1797–1817’,in GothicandtheEveryday: LivingGothic,ed.LornaPiatti-FarnellandMariaBeville(Houndmills:PalgraveMacmillan,2014) pp.173–94.

⁷‘AnArchitect’ , ‘Pursuitslix’ , GM,73(1803),I,pp.229–31(p.231).

⁸‘AnArchitect’ , ‘Pursuitslix’,p.231.

weremistakenforbeingsnotofthisworld,herewasaninstancethemostfearful andhideous.Iamundernohesitationindeclaring,thatIabsolutelytookthemfor acompanyofspectresassembledwiththeintentofinflictinguponmesome mentalderangement.’⁹ Collapsinginterror,ashedidintheruinsofWhiteCastle, CarteronlycomestoinCardiffafewdayslater,nonethewiserastohowhegot there.Asherealizes,hisintentionstoassembleatLlandaff ‘materialsforthe protectionofAntiquityagainstthathostofindividualswhoareeveronthealertto attackhermostpreciousremains’ havebeencompromisedby ‘theolddelusions workedupinmyimagination’.¹⁰

Briefthoughtheyare,Carter’sdescriptionsofhisexperienceatWhiteCastle. PortchesterCastle,andLlandaffCathedralin1802–3usefullydrawintofocusthe primaryconcernsof GothicAntiquity:History,Romance,andtheArchitectural Imagination,1760–1840:eighteenth-andearlynineteenth-centuryconceptualizationsoftheantiqueGothicpast;theantiquarianinterestinthatpast’sGothic architecturalremains;and,especially,the fiction,poetry,anddramathatwehave sincecometoidentifyasthe ‘Gothic’ inadifferentbutrelatedsenseofthatword. Asthereceivedliterary-historicalnarrativegoes,Gothicliterature,thewritingof supernaturalhorrorandterror,arosewith,andinthewakeof,thepublicationof HoraceWalpole ’ s TheCastleofOtranto inlate1764.Ofthesevariousmeanings conjuredupbytheterm ‘Gothic’,thenotionof ‘Gothicantiquity’ isperhapsthe mostdifficulttodefine,signifying,asitdid,amythical,vague,andsomewhat nebuloussenseofthenationalBritishpast,abroadhistoricalepochthatencompassedwhatmodernhistoriographyhascometoidentifyasthemedievalandthe Renaissanceorearlymodernperiods.ThisisthesenseinwhichCarterconceptualizedGothicantiquityandthearchitecturalrelicsthatitleftbehind:avanished British(thoughoftenmorenarrowlyEnglish)historythatstretched,roughly, fromthe fifththroughtothesixteenthcentury.AsAngusVinehasargued, ‘antiquity’ intheearlymodernperiodwasa fluidandsomewhatmalleable categorythatcouldfeasiblyimply,atonce,thedistantpastofancientRoman andGreekcivilizationaswellasthemorerecentpastofthepreviousgeneration.¹¹ Theeighteenthcenturywasheirtothissemanticimprecision:asSamuelJohnson’ s ADictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage (1755–6)definedit,thenoun ‘antiquity’ , derivedfromtheLatin antiquitas ,meantnothingmoreparticularthan ‘oldtimes, timepastlongago’,itspeople,itsworks,or,inamoreludicroussense, ‘old age ’.¹²

⁹‘AnArchitect’ , ‘Pursuitslxviii’ , GM,74(1804),I,pp.124–7(pp.125 6).

¹⁰‘AnArchitect’ , ‘Pursuitslxviii’,p.126.

¹¹AngusVine, InDefianceofTime:AntiquarianWritinginEarlyModernEngland (Oxford:Oxford UniversityPress,2010),pp.17–18.

¹²SamuelJohnson, ADictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage,2vols(London:PrintedbyW.Strahanfor J.andP.Knapton,andT.andT.Longman;C.HitchandL.Hawes;AMillar;andR.J.Dodsley, 1755–6),vol.1.

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