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Honors Thesis Main Menu

Introduction

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The 19th century is an incredibly rich époque in which Western society was confronted and had to negotiate the coming of modernity. In fact, the 19th century is the moment in Western civilization where technology will become one of the leading forces dictating society, at the same time the world as they knew it disappeared. In fact, the 19th century is remembered as the Belle Époque, a time ruled by a constant search for pleasure, wealth and a facility of life provided by massive technological developments. These fast-paced technological developments are what lead to the industrialization, spearheaded by England but which spread to the European continent as well creating a generalized hope for the future and belief in mankind and society. Believing they had already entered modernity and not realizing they were witnessing this transcendental shift, people stopped noticing the building tensions and societal malaise that was setting in. We can see this spleen or malaise emerge as early as 1831 with Balzac's Peau de chagrin. The "fantastique" or uncanny is a literary genre that will emerge at this time, steaming from the claustrophobia particular to the époque. The 19th century, as mentioned earlier, will be dominated by these fundamental societal shifts, which alter the way people act forever. Notably, the bourgeoisie will considerably enrich itself over the course of the century and will turn to consumerism and collectioning. This overwhelming presence of not only objects in the household but also considerable shifts in the way the society is structured, create a sense of claustrophobia for this burgeoning bourgeoisie and fuel their sentiment de malaise and their spleen. This is beautifully articulated in literature with the uncanny, which often follows the trope of the Aristotelian tragic hero who's hamartia or fatal flaw is encompassed within an object of daily bourgeois life. This type of literature began in France with Balzac but rapidly spread to the rest of Europe who created their own version such a Oscar Wilde with The Picture of Dorian Grey and Hugo von Hofmannsthal and The Tale of the 672nd Night as it continued to address a variety of concerns.

At the root of this spleen is not only a general feeling of claustrophobia and unease regarding the coming of technology but most importantly a loss of meaning. This loss of meaning is provoked and described in the novels through the omnipresence of objects which hold no meaning but their cost. In fact, this is perhaps the first example of loss of meaning and even purpose which becomes rampant in the 19th century society and is being addressed in the novels of Balzac, Wilde and Hofmannsthal. We also access a similar loss of meaning through the experience of translation.

For Walter Benjamin, loss of meaning is the fundamental corruption of the human from its natural self. Therefore it is only natural the final corruption of our humanity occurs with the coming of modernity. Language, argues Benjamin, is the singularity of man, particularly ones ability to name and give a voice to the muteness of object and things. This goes back to Adam naming all of God's creations. The first transgression in the naming process according to Benjamin was with Babel and the apparition of different languages. In fact, the different languages is the ultimate loss of meaning as you are referring to the same things but in a completely different way, unable to understand one another. Translation tries to bridge this divide, recovering some meaning but a part of it will always be lost This corruption of meaning is only exacerbated with technology and modernity as Benjamin says this intrinsic relationship between the name and the thing has been further corrupted as we aren't able to access the essence of the thing anymore. This will be the final straw in the loss of meaning and man's ability to name. I believe this fundamental alteration in the world order is also addressed in the novels as humans used to be able to access the essence, or aura of things and gave a voice to the objects, allowing them out of their muteness. With this loss of meaning and corruption in our ability to name, things aren't allowed out of their muteness and this is what is articulated in these texts. Each main characters essence will be encapsulated within a specific object, a necklace, a portrait, a magic skin. The object here is closest to God as it retains the meaning or essence of the human (main character) within it, eventually returning the human to its muteness through death.

Although much is lost through translation, Rebecca Walkowitz, in her book Born Translated, argues that:

In my honours thesis project, I will explore the themes of loss of meaning and the bourgeois interior in the great uncanny and fantastique novels of the 19th century. I will explore the loss of meaning through translation and its effects notably on descriptions as well as the constrains of language and its effects on the champ lexicaux in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Balzac's La Peau de chagrin and Hofmannsthal's The tale of 672nd Night. I will also argue that the theme of loss of meaning transcends translation as it is a key characteristic of the oppressive nature of the bourgeois interior and loss of identity. Furthermore, this theme is even encapsulated within the nature of the project itself which is bilingual and digital. The nature of the project itself serves to articulate what is lost "in translation" whilst trying to portray what can be gained by such changes.

Introduction

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