• Paterian Cosmopolitanism: Euphuism, Negativity, and Genre in Marius the Epicurean

    Author(s):
    Dustin Friedman (see profile)
    Date:
    2009
    Group(s):
    Late-Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century English Literature, LLC Victorian and Early-20th-Century English, TC Philosophy and Literature, TC Sexuality Studies
    Subject(s):
    Cosmopolitanism
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Victorian, Aestheticism, Gender
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/f6yn-sc33
    Abstract:
    In this essay, I argue that Walter Pater’s description of "Euphuism" in Marius the Epicurean (1885) relies upon the insights of idealist philosophy in order to articulate a theory of what Rebecca Walkowitz calls “cosmopolitan style.” Specifically, Pater draws upon a disparate number of cultural discourses in his articulation of Euphuism while simultaneously subjecting those discourses to an intensely self-reflexive process of questioning and scrutiny, performing what G. W. F. Hegel famously called “the labor of the negative” upon his own theory of literary style. By doing so, Paterian Euphuism fundamentally disrupts the logic that underlies any cultural category that threatens to become solidified or essentialized. In Marius, these categories not only include Arnold and Tylor’s racial thinking, but also the literary form of the historical novel.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. Date:
    Spring/Fall 2009
    Journal:
    The Pater Newsletter
    Volume:
    55/56
    Page Range:
    31 - 49
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    2 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

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