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ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN IDEALISMS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS: MAD SCIENTISTS AND CHANGING MASCULINITIES IN RAPPACCINI'S DAUGHTER AND THE BELL-TOWER

Year 2023, Volume: 10 Issue: 1, 132 - 149, 28.04.2023

Abstract

As America swiftly transformed from being a virgin land of untouched wilderness to an infernal of industrialism, the definition of ‘manhood’ also rapidly changed. Unlike its artisan or aristocratic ancestors, the newly emerged capitalist man in the antebellum period, or in Michael Kimmel’s words the ‘Marketplace Man’ derived his masculine authority from his ability to acquire, accumulate and consume. This newly emerged manhood of antebellum America utilized and disregarded the old conventional ways of being; like a chameleon, it quickly blended into the competitive and mercantile fabric of the Marketplace. Respectively, this article by analyzing two short stories written in the antebellum period, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Rappaccini’s Daughter (1844) and Herman Melville’s The Bell-Tower (1856), argues that the mad scientist figures in antebellum American literature are not only stereotypes but also masculine sexual personas through which the Marketplace Manhood is allegorized and criticized. In Rappaccini’s Daughter, the newly emerged masculine sexual persona of industrialized America is allegorized through two competitive marketplace mad scientists fervently seeking intelligence and progress. The competitive relationship between these two mad scientists, Rappaccini and Baglioni, deepens as their ravenous desire to eliminate each other becomes a signifier of ultimate manhood. This competitive relationship also demonstrates an emerging paradigm shift in the context of cultural discourses and changing masculinities, underlining the fact that acquisitive individualism became a vital sign of capitalist marketplace masculinity. Herman Melville’s short story The Bell-Tower, on the other hand, delves into the hierarchical relation between the Marketplace Man and the artisan group and also unfolds the technologizing of American society. The phallic tower that the protagonist Bannadonna builds exposes his desire to re-establish his masculine authority while the process of building the bell tower becomes the mechanism through which the capitalist man proletarianizes the artisan group. In short, by using Michael Kimmel’s triadic conceptualization of American Manhood, this article seeks to analyze Hawthorne’s Rappaccini’s Daughter and Melville’s The Bell-Tower in order to demonstrate how mad scientist narratives have enabled writers of the Antebellum era to allegorically respond and then expose the emerging masculinities of their period.

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References

  • Alexander, S. M. (2003). Stylish hard bodies: Branded masculinity in Men's Health magazine. Sociological perspectives, 46(4), 535-554.
  • Armengol, J. (2006). Rereading American masculinities: Re-visions of the American myth of self-made manhood in Richard Ford’s fiction. Revista de estudios Norteamericanos, 11, 63-80.
  • Bates, C. G. (2015).The early republic and antebellum America: An encyclopedia of social, political, cultural, and economic history. Routledge.
  • Benesch, K. (1997). Technology writ large: The machine body and the text in Melville's shorter narratives. Weber Studies, 14(3), 61-72.
  • Conser, W. H. (1993). God and the natural world: Religion and science in Antebellum America. University of South Carolina Press.
  • Fenton, C. A. (1951). "The Bell-Tower": Melville and technology. American Literature, 23(2), 219-232. https://doi.org/10.2307/2921325
  • Fisher, M. (1966). Melville’s “Bell-Tower”: A Double thrust. American quarterly, 18(2), 200-207. https://doi.org/10.2307/2711182
  • Franklin, H. B. (1995). Future perfect: American science fiction of the nineteenth century: an anthology. Rutgers University Press.
  • Gilmore, M. T. (2010).American romanticism and the marketplace. University of Chicago Press.
  • Greven, D. (2012). The fragility of manhood: Hawthorne, Freud, and the politics of gender. The Ohio State University Press.
  • Hawthorne, N. (2005). Rappaccini’s daughter. In Mosses from an Old Manse. Dodo Press. (Original work published 1844)
  • Holt, D. B., & Thompson, C. J. (2004). Man-of-action heroes: The pursuit of heroic masculinity in everyday consumption. Journal of consumer research, 31(2), 425-440. https://doi.org/10.1086/422120
  • Kaufmann, E. (1999). American exceptionalism reconsidered: Anglo-Saxon ethnogenesis in the “universal” nation, 1776–1850.Journal of American Studies, 33(3), 437-457. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021875899006180
  • Kimmel, M. (1996). Manhood in America: A cultural history. The Free Press.
  • Kimmel, M. (1994). Masculinity as homophobia. In H. Brod and M. Kaufman (eds.), Theorizing masculinities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Kimmel, M. (2002). The birth of the self-made man. The masculinity studies reader, 4(135), 13-42.
  • Kimmel, M. S. (2006). “Born to run”: Nineteenth-century fantasies of masculine retreat and re-creation (or the historical rust on Iron John). Men and masculinities: Critical concepts in sociology, 1, 115-
  • Lawler, D. (1988). Reframing Jekyll and Hyde: Robert Louis Stevenson and the strange case of gothic science fiction. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde after one hundred years, 247-61.
  • Marx, Leo. (1964). The machine in the garden. Technology and the pastoral ideal in America. Oxford University Press
  • Melville, H. (2009). The bell-tower. Short stories of Herman Melville. The Large Print Book Company. (Original work published 1856)
  • Schummer, J. (2006). Historical roots of the "mad scientist": Chemists in nineteenth-century literature. Ambix, 53(2), 99-127.
  • Toumey, C. P. (1992). The moral character of mad scientists: A cultural critique of science. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 17(4), 411-437.
  • Uroff, M. D. (1972). The doctors in "Rappaccini's Daughter". Nineteenth-Century Fiction, 27(1), 61-70.

İÇ SAVAŞ ÖNCESİ AMERİKAN İDEALİZMLERİ VE HOŞNUTSUZLUKLARI: RAPPACCINI'S DAUGHTER VE THE BELL-TOWER'DA ÇILGIN BİLİM ADAMLARI VE DEĞİŞEN ERKEKLİKLER

Year 2023, Volume: 10 Issue: 1, 132 - 149, 28.04.2023

Abstract

Amerika el değmemiş bakir bir vahşi doğadan hızlıca endüstriyalizmin cehennemine dönüşürken, Amerikan erkeğinin tanımı da hızla değişti. Zanaatkâr ve aristokrat atalarından farklı olarak, iç savaş öncesi Amerika’sında ortaya çıkmaya başlayan kapitalist erkek, ya da Micheal Kimmel’ın deyimiyle Piyasa Erkeği, eril otoritesini edinme, biriktirme ve tüketme yeteneğinden türetir. İç savaş öncesi Amerika'sının ortaya çıkardığı bu erkeklik eski yaşam biçimlerinden istifade etmiş ve yok saymıştır: tıpkı bir bukalemun gibi, Pazaryerinin rekabetçi ve ticari dokusuna hızla karışmıştır. Bu bağlamda, bu makalenin amacı, iç savaş öncesinde yazılmış olan Nathaniel Hawthrone’nun Rappaccini’s Daughter (1844) ve Herman Melville’in The Bell- Tower (1856) adlı öykülerini analiz ederek, iç savaş öncesi Amerikan edebiyatındaki çılgın bilim adamı figürlerinin yalnızca bir motif değil, aynı zamanda o dönemde ortaya çıkmakta olan Piyasa Erkekliğin alegorize edildiği ve eleştirildiği eril bir cinsel kişilik olduğu argümanını ortaya atmaktır. Rappaccini’s Daughter adlı öyküde sanayileşmiş Amerika'nın yeni ortaya çıkan eril cinsel kişiliği, akıl ve ilerleme peşinde koşan iki rekabetçi kapitalist bilim adamı üzerinden alegorize edilir. Bu iki bilim adamı Baglioni ve Rappaccini arasındaki rekabet, birbirlerini ortadan kaldırmaya yönelik açgözlü arzuları nihai erkekliğin bir göstergesi haline geldikçe derinleşir. İki bilim adamı arasındaki bu rekabetçi ilişki, kültür söylemleri ve değişen erkeklikler bağlamında bir paradigma değişimine işaret ederken edinimci bireyciliğin de hegemonik bir söylem olmaya başladığının altını çizer. Melville'in The Bell-Tower adlı öyküsü ise, kapitalist adam ile zanaatkâr grubu arasındaki hiyerarşik ilişkiyi irdeler ve Amerikan toplumunun teknolojikleşmesini de gözler önüne serer. Başkahraman Bannadonna'nın inşa ettiği fallik kule onun eril otoritesini yeniden tesis etme arzusunu açığa çıkarırken, çan kulesinin inşa süreci kapitalist erkeğin zanaatkâr grubunu proleterleştirdiği bir mekanizma haline gelir. Kısaca, bu makale, Michael Kimmel'ın Amerikan Erkekliği üçlü modelini kullanarak, Hawthorne'un Rappaccini's Daughter ve Melville'in The Bell-Tower adlı öyküsünü analiz etmeyi amaçlamaktadır, böylece çılgın bilim adamı anlatılarının iç savaş öncesi Amerikalı yazarların dönemin ortaya çıkmakta olan eril kimliklerine alegorik bir şekilde yanıt vermelerini ve daha sonra bunları açığa çıkarmalarını nasıl sağladığını göstermeyi amaçlamaktadır.

Project Number

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References

  • Alexander, S. M. (2003). Stylish hard bodies: Branded masculinity in Men's Health magazine. Sociological perspectives, 46(4), 535-554.
  • Armengol, J. (2006). Rereading American masculinities: Re-visions of the American myth of self-made manhood in Richard Ford’s fiction. Revista de estudios Norteamericanos, 11, 63-80.
  • Bates, C. G. (2015).The early republic and antebellum America: An encyclopedia of social, political, cultural, and economic history. Routledge.
  • Benesch, K. (1997). Technology writ large: The machine body and the text in Melville's shorter narratives. Weber Studies, 14(3), 61-72.
  • Conser, W. H. (1993). God and the natural world: Religion and science in Antebellum America. University of South Carolina Press.
  • Fenton, C. A. (1951). "The Bell-Tower": Melville and technology. American Literature, 23(2), 219-232. https://doi.org/10.2307/2921325
  • Fisher, M. (1966). Melville’s “Bell-Tower”: A Double thrust. American quarterly, 18(2), 200-207. https://doi.org/10.2307/2711182
  • Franklin, H. B. (1995). Future perfect: American science fiction of the nineteenth century: an anthology. Rutgers University Press.
  • Gilmore, M. T. (2010).American romanticism and the marketplace. University of Chicago Press.
  • Greven, D. (2012). The fragility of manhood: Hawthorne, Freud, and the politics of gender. The Ohio State University Press.
  • Hawthorne, N. (2005). Rappaccini’s daughter. In Mosses from an Old Manse. Dodo Press. (Original work published 1844)
  • Holt, D. B., & Thompson, C. J. (2004). Man-of-action heroes: The pursuit of heroic masculinity in everyday consumption. Journal of consumer research, 31(2), 425-440. https://doi.org/10.1086/422120
  • Kaufmann, E. (1999). American exceptionalism reconsidered: Anglo-Saxon ethnogenesis in the “universal” nation, 1776–1850.Journal of American Studies, 33(3), 437-457. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021875899006180
  • Kimmel, M. (1996). Manhood in America: A cultural history. The Free Press.
  • Kimmel, M. (1994). Masculinity as homophobia. In H. Brod and M. Kaufman (eds.), Theorizing masculinities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Kimmel, M. (2002). The birth of the self-made man. The masculinity studies reader, 4(135), 13-42.
  • Kimmel, M. S. (2006). “Born to run”: Nineteenth-century fantasies of masculine retreat and re-creation (or the historical rust on Iron John). Men and masculinities: Critical concepts in sociology, 1, 115-
  • Lawler, D. (1988). Reframing Jekyll and Hyde: Robert Louis Stevenson and the strange case of gothic science fiction. In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde after one hundred years, 247-61.
  • Marx, Leo. (1964). The machine in the garden. Technology and the pastoral ideal in America. Oxford University Press
  • Melville, H. (2009). The bell-tower. Short stories of Herman Melville. The Large Print Book Company. (Original work published 1856)
  • Schummer, J. (2006). Historical roots of the "mad scientist": Chemists in nineteenth-century literature. Ambix, 53(2), 99-127.
  • Toumey, C. P. (1992). The moral character of mad scientists: A cultural critique of science. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 17(4), 411-437.
  • Uroff, M. D. (1972). The doctors in "Rappaccini's Daughter". Nineteenth-Century Fiction, 27(1), 61-70.
There are 23 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Batıkan Demirtaş 0000-0003-1252-1818

Esra Coker Korpez 0000-0002-4983-6496

Project Number ---
Publication Date April 28, 2023
Submission Date March 16, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2023 Volume: 10 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Demirtaş, B., & Coker Korpez, E. (2023). ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN IDEALISMS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS: MAD SCIENTISTS AND CHANGING MASCULINITIES IN RAPPACCINI’S DAUGHTER AND THE BELL-TOWER. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 10(1), 132-149.
AMA Demirtaş B, Coker Korpez E. ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN IDEALISMS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS: MAD SCIENTISTS AND CHANGING MASCULINITIES IN RAPPACCINI’S DAUGHTER AND THE BELL-TOWER. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi. April 2023;10(1):132-149.
Chicago Demirtaş, Batıkan, and Esra Coker Korpez. “ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN IDEALISMS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS: MAD SCIENTISTS AND CHANGING MASCULINITIES IN RAPPACCINI’S DAUGHTER AND THE BELL-TOWER”. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 10, no. 1 (April 2023): 132-49.
EndNote Demirtaş B, Coker Korpez E (April 1, 2023) ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN IDEALISMS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS: MAD SCIENTISTS AND CHANGING MASCULINITIES IN RAPPACCINI’S DAUGHTER AND THE BELL-TOWER. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 10 1 132–149.
IEEE B. Demirtaş and E. Coker Korpez, “ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN IDEALISMS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS: MAD SCIENTISTS AND CHANGING MASCULINITIES IN RAPPACCINI’S DAUGHTER AND THE BELL-TOWER”, Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 132–149, 2023.
ISNAD Demirtaş, Batıkan - Coker Korpez, Esra. “ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN IDEALISMS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS: MAD SCIENTISTS AND CHANGING MASCULINITIES IN RAPPACCINI’S DAUGHTER AND THE BELL-TOWER”. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 10/1 (April 2023), 132-149.
JAMA Demirtaş B, Coker Korpez E. ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN IDEALISMS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS: MAD SCIENTISTS AND CHANGING MASCULINITIES IN RAPPACCINI’S DAUGHTER AND THE BELL-TOWER. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi. 2023;10:132–149.
MLA Demirtaş, Batıkan and Esra Coker Korpez. “ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN IDEALISMS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS: MAD SCIENTISTS AND CHANGING MASCULINITIES IN RAPPACCINI’S DAUGHTER AND THE BELL-TOWER”. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, vol. 10, no. 1, 2023, pp. 132-49.
Vancouver Demirtaş B, Coker Korpez E. ANTEBELLUM AMERICAN IDEALISMS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS: MAD SCIENTISTS AND CHANGING MASCULINITIES IN RAPPACCINI’S DAUGHTER AND THE BELL-TOWER. Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi. 2023;10(1):132-49.