THE THEMES OF REANIMATION AND IMMORTALITY IN MARY SHELLEY'S SHORT STORIES

Abstract

According to most critics, this clear predilection stemmed from the author's experience of loss and mourning, and from her parallel wish to defeat death and heal the pain of loneliness and despair through writing. [...]in her seminal introduction to the 1996 Pickering & Chatto edition of Mary Shelley's novels, Betty Bennett (1996:xlix) contributed to undermining the inextricable and exclusive connection between the writer's life and her output, by elucidating that "her major works [were] designed to address civil and domestic politics". Following in the steps of the late scholar, Graham Allen (2009/10:21) exposed the limits of what he calls "biographism", remarking that a certain "blindness to the political and, it must be said, philosophical dimensions of Mary Shelley's works often comes from an over-concentration on biographical readings". [...]as A. A. Markley (1997:98) emphasised, another meaningful aspect of her literary personality which has not been adequately acknowledged or investigated is her "wit and ability as a humorist", which clashes against the customary image of Mary Shelley as a doleful widow, and the pitiful mother of illfated children. [...]far from adhering to the editor's policy of cultivating beauty and physical perfection, the author adopted a confrontational stance against this hedonistic and self-indulgent attitude, perfectly embodied in the main female character of The Mortal Immortal.

Headnote

Abstract: Mary Shelley always showed a deep interest in the themes of réanimation and immortality, closely connected with her biographical experience and her political and social engagement. This paper aims at exploring this subject in her short stories, mainly focusing on "Valerius, the Reanimated Roman", "The Mortal Immortal", and "Roger Dodsworth: The Reanimated Englishman".

Keywords: Immortality, Mary Shelley, political and social engagement, réanimation, short stories

1. Introduction: The themes of Reanimation and Immortality beyond "biographism"

Beginning with her debut novel, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818), Mary Shelley often displayed a keen interest in the themes of réanimation and immortality, frequently featured even in her later output, including the three brief narratives this paper will focus on, namely Valerius, the Reanimated Roman, Roger Dodsworth, the Reanimated Englishman, and The Mortal Immortal. According to most critics, this clear predilection stemmed from the author's experience of loss and mourning, and from her parallel wish to defeat death and heal the pain of loneliness and despair through writing. Up until recently, therefore, a considerable number of scholars have actually opted for an essentially biographical interpretation of Mary Shelley's works, thus overlooking the social and political messages skilfully embedded in her plots. Just to mention a few of the most noteworthy examples, Richard Garnett ( 1891 :vii), who first collected her short stories in 1891, noticed that the writer was so deeply affected by "the death of her infant son in 1819" that "she could never again command the energy which had carried her so vigorously through Frankensteinconsequently, in his opinion, all the literary endeavours undertaken after her masterpiece were characterised by "that creeping languor which relaxed the nerve of her more ambitious productions" (Garnett 1891 :xi). Even Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar (1985:241-252), in their reading of The Mortal Immortal, viewed the tale as quintessential^ autobiographical, since it was supposedly influenced by Mary Shelley's anguished feeling of being the only survivor among her family members and cherished friends, a subject she had already dealt with in her 1826 novel entitled The Last Man. To quote a fairly recent critical contribution, in her 2006 essay on Roger Dodsworth, the Reanimated Englishman, Elena Anastasaki (2006/07:27) contended that the author's striking fascination for the return from the dead developed from her "ardent desire to bring a loved one back to life, starting with her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, who died shortly after giving birth to her".

The powerful influence of the writer's eventful existence on her art is unquestionable; nonetheless, it cannot be regarded as the only parameter of analysis. Hence, in her seminal introduction to the 1996 Pickering & Chatto edition of Mary Shelley's novels, Betty Bennett (1996:xlix) contributed to undermining the inextricable and exclusive connection between the writer's life and her output, by elucidating that "her major works [were] designed to address civil and domestic politics". Following in the steps of the late scholar, Graham Allen (2009/10:21) exposed the limits of what he calls "biographism", remarking that a certain "blindness to the political and, it must be said, philosophical dimensions of Mary Shelley's works often comes from an over-concentration on biographical readings". Moreover, as A. A. Markley (1997:98) emphasised, another meaningful aspect of her literary personality which has not been adequately acknowledged or investigated is her "wit and ability as a humorist", which clashes against the customary image of Mary Shelley as a doleful widow, and the pitiful mother of illfated children.

Given what has been argued so far, this paper sets out to explore the themes of réanimation and immortality in the three aforementioned short narratives, striving to overcome the restrictive boundaries of "biographism". As it will be shown, the author's serious social commitment, her profound political engagement, her strong belief in the educational power of history, as well as her ironic perspective on contemporary morals and manners are among the most significant and thought-provoking features of the stories.

2. Valerius, the Reanimated Roman

Written in 1819, during the Shelleys' first stay in Italy, this unfinished narrative chronicles the vicissitudes of Valerius, a Roman consul mysteriously revived in nineteenth-century Rome. Observing in amazement the decay and degradation of his native city, Valerius laments the miserable lot of "fallen Italy", besides expressing his utmost contempt for the "wretched Italians, who usurp the soil once trod by heroes" (Robinson 1976:333). After wandering through the ruins of what used to be the Empress of the world, he finds shelter in the Coliseum, "the only worthy asylum for an antient [s/c] Roman" (Robinson 1976:336). His loneliness and dejection are only soothed by a young English lady, Isabell Harley, who often visits him together with her child. Following a strictly biographical interpretation, Mary Shelley and her little son Will-Mouse may be easily recognised in these two comforting figures; furthermore, as Miranda Seymour (2000:229) underlined, Isabel Baxter Booth, the writer's childhood friend, might have served as a model for her namesake character. As Seymour herself (2000:229) points out, however, the short story was composed immediately after the Austrian Emperor's brief sojourn in Rome during the Holy Week, an occasion which stirred emotions of contempt, disgust, and hatred in the author. In fact, in a letter to Maria Gisborne, on April 9th 1819, she described Emperor Frances II's arrogance, while he roamed the streets of the Eternal City, preceded by an officer, "who rudely pushe[d] the people back with a drawn sword"; in her words, "[my] English blood would, I am afraid boil over such insolence" (Feldman and Scott-Kilvert 1995:256n). The invention of the "reanimated Roman", therefore, turns into a political tool that enables Mary Shelley to shake the conscience of the enfeebled Italians. The resurrected consul seems to be entrusted with a vitalizing mission: by remembering the lost glories of Rome, by uncovering its dormant values, he pours forth his "last awakening call to Romans and to Liberty" (Robinson 1976:336). After all, as Rachel Woolley (2001:91) elucidated, "the presence of the past", in the writer's works, "is not commemorative but functional. [...] The use of memory, for Shelley, makes the past active in the present". What is more, the author's own words of encouragement and passionate love for her adoptive country are uttered by Isabell Harley, who still believes the enslaved Italians can draw new energy and strength from the holy relics of history, despite their humiliation at the hands of foreign tyrants:

I worship the spirit of antient [sz'c] Rome and of those noble heroes, who delivered their country from barbarians [...] Rome is fallen, but she is still venerated [...] When a stranger resides within their bounds, he feels as if he inhabited a sacred temple - sacred although defiled. [...] It seems to me that, if I were overtaken by the greatest misfortunes, I should be half consoled by the recollection of having dwelt in Rome. (Robinson Ed. 1976:340-42)

3. Roger Dodsworth, the Reanimated Englishman

This complex narrative, joining the characteristics of an essay to those of a short story, was probably composed in September-October 1826, following an ongoing debate on the peculiar personage of Roger Dodsworth, a Seventeenth century English gentleman. As it was publicly believed, he had remained buried under an avalanche for over 170 years, only to be resuscitated by a certain Dr. Hotham, who had noticed his perfectly preserved frozen body in a cave on Mount St. Gothard. This piece of news (obviously, a hoax) was first published in Journal du Commerce de Lyon on June 28th 1826, and it was immediately translated into English, and reprinted in prominent British newspapers, such as the London New Times, the Morning Chronicle, the Manchester Guardian, the Sun, the Edinburgh Scotsman, and the Tory weekly magazine John Bull (Robinson 1975:22). Even William Cobbett, a renowned journalist and pamphleteer, and the Irish poet Thomas Moore contributed to the hoax, by confirming the authenticity of the story, while adding new whimsical details to it. Cobbett declared that a similar réanimation of a frozen ice-skater had occurred in the county of Westmoreland, that winter (Robinson 1975:22). Moore (1833:700) wrote a poem, printed in the London Times on July 14th, in which Roger Dodsworth, "a good-obsolete man, / who has never of Locke or Voltaire been a reader", was portrayed as a staunch conservative. Moreover, some articles allegedly penned by Roger Dodsworth himself appeared in John Bull and the New Monthly Magazine, between September and November 1826.

Mary Shelley submitted her Roger Dodsworth to Cyrus Redding, the editor of the New Monthly Magazine, who nevertheless decided to discard it (the narrative would be first published in 1863, in his collection of reminiscences entitled Yesterday and To-day). The story summarises the events of which Dodsworth was the protagonist, followed by a hypothetical dialogue between the "youthful antique" (Robinson 1976:44) and his rescuer, and a short account of the probable second death of the reanimated gentleman (just 12 days after his recovery), a death caused by his inability to adjust to modem times. Even in this case, far from merely participating in the hoax, Mary Shelley wished to spread a message of social reform, thus effectively managing to awaken not just her character but, metaphorically, also her countrymen. The author fully embraced the ideas expressed by her father, William Godwin, in his 1797 essay Of History and Romance; like him, she also believed that the study of history, "among those pursuits which are most worthy to be chosen by a rational being", could help develop a "sagacity that can penetrate into the depths of futurity" (http://www.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/godwin.history.html). It is not surprising, therefore, that a wide section of her story is devoted to metempsychosis, and to the benefits mankind could derive from the memory of past lives:

Pythagoras, we are told, remembered many transmigrations of this sort, as having occurred to himself [...] It would prove an instructive tool for kings and statesmen, and in fact for all human beings, called on as they are, to play their part on the stage of the world, could they remember what they had been. [...] We may suppose that the humble would be exalted, and the noble and the proud would feel their stars and honours dwindle into baubles and child's play when they called to mind the lowly stations they had once occupied. (Robinson 1976:49)

Mary Shelley seems to foster a more sensible and committed search for a usable past, and she also employs irony as a strategy to achieve her purpose. As Rachel Woolley (2001:89) emphasised, through the ludicrous depiction of the antiquarian society, the writer aims at ridiculing the way history, devoid of its meaning and deprived of its mission, "has become spectacle, a pastime, an investment, and a commodity":

The antiquarian society [...] had already begun, in idea, to consider what prices it could afford to offer for Mr Dodsworth's old clothes, and to conjecture what treasure in the way of pamphlet, old song, or autographic letter his pockets might contain. (Robinson 1976:43)

Furthermore, the satiric device of introducing a naive observer belonging to another epoch allows the author to covertly criticise the Crown. Indeed, counting on Roger Dodsworth's ignorance of the rather difficult political situation during the reign of George IV, Dr. Hotham can artfully exalt and exhibit the (feigned) benevolence of the King and his associates, thus producing a humorous effect on the readers, who certainly know the truth: "The king, God bless him, spares immense sums from his privy purse for the relief of his subjects, and his example has been imitated by all the aristocracy and wealth of England" (Robinson 1976:46).

4. The Mortal Immortal

This tale, published in 1834, is narrated from the point of view of Winzy, Cornelius Agrippa's assistant, who decides to tell the story of his never-ending life on his 323rd birthday. Attempting to heal his pangs of love, he had drunk a magic concoction, which had turned out to be the elixir of immortality. Hence, the bliss of winning the lady of his heart, the beautiful Bertha, soon became a curse, as she rapidly aged and died, while he was doomed to look forever young and live in everlasting loneliness.

Both Diane Long Hoeveler and Marie Roberts have offered a biographical interpretation of the story: the former has highlighted the fact that the writer "experienced her life as a sort of curse to herself and the ones she loved" (Long Hoeveler 1997:160); the latter is prone "to identify Bertha with the ageing Mary Shelley, who was continually confronted by a spectre of Shelley as a timeless vision of perpetual youth and immortal genius" (Roberts 1992:62). Nevertheless, it is important to remember that the story was written specifically for The Keepsake, a successful and fashionable literary annual designed to adorn any lady's boudoir, a sort of "cultural fetish", as Sonia Hofkosh (1993:206) defined it, a precious commodity which was marketed "as [a] tasteful gif[t], [an] object[t] to be coveted and admired" (Sussman 2003:165). The appearance of luxury and elegance of The Keepsake was so important that contributors were asked to create their stories to accompany pre-existing engravings and illustrations (O'Dea 1997:65-66). Mary Shelley was assigned the picture of "Bertha", a charming girl descending a staircase to meet an elderly woman (her benefactress, in the tale) attended by a page. Given the characteristics of the gift-book and its readership, it could be argued that the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft actually wished to warn young ladies against the dangers of relying solely on their ephemeral bodily attractiveness. Accordingly, far from adhering to the editor's policy of cultivating beauty and physical perfection, the author adopted a confrontational stance against this hedonistic and self-indulgent attitude, perfectly embodied in the main female character of The Mortal Immortal. Bertha is, therefore, poked fun at and held as a negative model: "she was somewhat a coquette in manner" (Robinson 1976:221), vain and frivolous, but once her looks began to fade, she turned into a "mincing, simpering, jealous old woman" (Robinson 1976:228), who, in Winzy's words, "sought to decrease the apparent disparity of [their] ages by a thousand feminine arts-rouge, youthful dress, and assumed juvenility in manner" (Robinson 1976:228). She even bought a gray wig for him, but to no avail.

5. Conclusion

As I have tried to demonstrate, Mary Shelley's works deserve to be analyzed beyond any form of "biografism"; her assumed loneliness, her aspiration to reanimate her personal and collective past, as well as the beloved members of her family are just a few of the many strands that compose the rich texture of her writings.

References

References

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