British literary decadence and religion【翻译】

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to thank the many people without whom this project could never have been
completed. Thank you to Florence Boos, whose dedicated mentorship and encouragement has
guided me from the very first days of my graduate program. Thank you also to Teresa Mangum,
Jeff Cox, and Lori Branch for their support through coursework and the comprehensive exam, in
which they encouraged me to explore the ideas that took form in this dissertation. Thank you to
Jennifer Buckley for her wonderful feedback on drafts of these chapters. And thank you to all
these committee members for their support and suggestions throughout the many stages of this
dissertation.
This project depends on manuscripts and other material from the William Andrew Clark
library at UCLA, the Huntington Library, and the Burns Library at Boston College. Thank you to
each of these libraries for visiting privileges, and thank you to the University of Iowa English
department for travel funding for research.
Finally, I could have never completed this project without the support and encouragement
of my family. To these individuals, my love and thanks.
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ABSTRACT
Throughout British decadent literature, authors creatively experiment with religion. While part of
this experimentation is a matter of how authors represent religious subjects or syncretized religious
traditions, a much more foundational level of this experimentation seeks to redefine “the religious”
altogether. Collectively, the authors in this study seek to redefine “religion” as focused around
community, ritual, and aestheticism over creed or dogma. This new definition resonates with the way
many twentieth-century sociologist, theologians, and psychoanalytic theorists have discussed the nature
and role of religion in Western society, and I rely on these thinkers throughout my methodology.
Also central to my methodology is my suggestion that the primary lens through which critics
often read British decadence is the lens of experimentation and redefinition. It has been well established
that British decadents creatively experimented with their representations of gender and sexuality, their use
of genre, and their incorporation of Western philosophy, yet their treatment of religion—specifically the
Western religious traditions which appear in their works—has been largely unexamined. This project
argues that the British decadent authors’ creative treatment of religion is central to their works and to their
broader experimental project.
In my first chapter, I suggest that the experimental work that Pater does with philosophy,
art theory, and genre has its roots in the experimental work he does with religion. Pater espouses
a syncretic approach to religion which sees Christianity as the most recent, and most evolved,
link in a series of conversant religious and philosophical traditions. At the same time, he opposes
the institutionalization of religion as well as any violence that might take place in its name. In my
second chapter, I claim that Oscar Wilde’s destabilization of language—separating words from
their denotative meanings—lays the groundwork for his separation of religious ideology from the
aesthetic and communal elements of religion. My third chapter argues that decadent religion, as
imagined by Pater and Wilde, was not always easily integrated into religious life. I suggest that
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the sadomasochistic imagery seen throughout some of Francis Thompson’s works signifies a
larger conflict between his attraction to decadence and his devotion to Catholicism. In the final
chapter, I consider Vernon Lee, a woman writer who spent much of her life in Continental
Europe. I claim that her position on the fringes of British, male, decadent society allowed her a
unique vantage point, from which she repeatedly examined the decadent religious project even as
she valued a secular, moral humanism over that project.
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PUBLIC ABSTRACT
British decadence is known for its experimentation, recreation, and redefinitions. The late
nineteenth and early twentieth century was a time when homosexuality was becoming a defined
identity, when previous limitations of genre were disregarded, and when gender expectations
were being questioned. This dissertation claims that British decadent authors such as Walter
Pater, Oscar Wilde, Francis Thompson, and Vernon Lee similarly worked to redefine what was
considered “religion.” Through their works, they argued that religion should be less concerned
with dogma or creed and more concerned with inclusive communities built around aesthetic
experiences. In my first chapter, I suggest that Walter Pater works toward this new definition by
viewing Christianity as the most recent, and most evolved, link in a series of Western religious
and philosophical traditions. At the same time, he opposes any violence that might take place in
the name of religion. In my second chapter, I claim that the way that Oscar Wilde separates
words from their denotative meaning lays the groundwork for his separation of religious
ideology from the aesthetic and communal elements of religion. My third chapter argues that the
sadomasochistic imagery seen in works by the Catholic decadent poet Francis Thompson
signifies a larger conflict between his decadence and his Catholicism, something which
challenges the feasibility of Pater and Wilde’s concept of decadent religion. Finally, I suggest
that Vernon Lee—a woman writer who spent much of her life outside of Britain—repeatedly
calls into question the value of Pater, Wilde, and Thompson’s religious ideas.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXPERIMENTATION AND RELIGION: AN INTRODUCTION ................................................ 1
CHAPTER 1: WALTER PATER’S QUEST AGAINST A “FROZEN ORTHODOXY” ............ 27
CHAPTER 2: OSCAR WILDE AND RELIGIOUS NAMING ..................................................... 67
CHAPTER 3: FRANCIS THOMPSON AND RELIGIOUS FETISHISM .................................. 104
CHAPTER 4: VERNON LEE’S RELIGIOUS RUINS ................................................................ 139
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 173
BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 181

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