The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction by Dorothy Scarborough
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The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction
By
Dorothy Scarborough, Ph.D. Instructor in English in Extension, Columbia University
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G. P. Putnam's Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press 1917
COPYRIGHT, 1917 BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
To GEORGE AND ANNE SCARBOROUGH
PREFACE
The subject of the supernatural in modern English fiction has beenfound difficult to deal with because of its wealth of material. Whilethere has been no previous book on the topic, and none related to it,save Mr. C. E. Whitmore's work on _The Supernatural in Tragedy_, themass of fiction itself introducing ghostly or psychic motifs is simplyenormous. It is manifestly impossible to discuss, or even to mention,all of it. Even in my bibliography which numbers over three thousandtitles, I have made no effort to list all the available examples ofthe type. The bibliography, which I at first intended to publish inconnection with this volume, is far too voluminous to be included here,so will probably be brought out later by itself.
It would have been impossible for me to prosecute the research workor to write the book save for the assistance generously given by manypersons. I am indebted to the various officials of the libraries ofColumbia University and of New York City, particularly to Miss IsadoreMudge, Reference Librarian of Columbia, and to the authorities ofthe New York Society Library for permission to use their pricelessout-of-print novels in the Kennedy Collection. My interest in Englishfiction was increased during my attendance on some courses in thehistory of the English novel, given by Dr. A. J. Carlyle, in OxfordUniversity, England, several years ago. I have received helpfulbibliographical suggestions from Professor Blanche Colton Williams,Dr. Dorothy Brewster, Professor Nelson Glenn McCrea, Professor JohnCunliffe, and Dean Talcott Williams, of Columbia, and Professor G. L.Kittredge, of Harvard. Professors William P. Trent, George PhilipKrapp, and Ernest Hunter Wright very kindly read the book in manuscriptand gave valuable advice concerning it, Professor Wright going overthe material with me in detail. But my chief debt of gratitude is toProfessor Ashley H. Thorndike, Head of the Department of English andComparative Literature in Columbia, whose stimulating criticism andkindly encouragement have made the book possible. To all of these--andothers--who have aided me, I am deeply grateful, and I only wish thatthe published volume were more worthy of their assistance.
D. S.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, April, 1917.
CONTENTS
PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER I.--THE GOTHIC ROMANCE 6 II.--LATER INFLUENCES 54 III.--MODERN GHOSTS 81 IV.--THE DEVIL AND HIS ALLIES 130 V.--SUPERNATURAL LIFE 174 VI.--THE SUPERNATURAL IN FOLK-TALES 242 VII.--SUPERNATURAL SCIENCE 251 VIII.--CONCLUSION 281
The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction
INTRODUCTION
The supernatural is an ever-present force in literature. It colors ourpoetry, shapes our epics and dramas, and fashions our prose till we areso wonted to it that we lose sense of its wonder and magic. If all theelements of the unearthly were removed from our books, how shrunken invalue would seem the residue, how forlorn our feelings! Lafcadio Hearnin the recently published volume, _Interpretations of Literature_, says:
There is scarcely any great author in European literature, old or new, who has not distinguished himself in his treatment of the supernatural. In English literature I believe there is no exception from the time of the Anglo-Saxon poets to Shakespeare, and from Shakespeare to our own day. And this introduces us to the consideration of a general and remarkable fact, a fact that I do not remember to have seen in any books, but which is of very great philosophical importance: there is something ghostly in all great art, whether of literature, music, sculpture, or architecture. It touches something within us that relates to infinity.[1]
[1] The word _ghostly_ is used here in its earlier sense signifying spiritual.
This continuing presence of the weird in literature shows the populardemand for it and must have some basis in human psychosis. The nightside of the soul attracts us all. The spirit feeds on mystery. Itlives not by fact alone but by the unknowable, and there is no highestmystery without the supernatural. Man loves the frozen touch of fear,and realizes pure terror only when touched by the unmortal. The hintof spectral sounds or presences quickens the imagination as no othersuggestion can do, and no human shapes of fear can awe the soul asthose from beyond the grave. Man's varying moods create heaven, hell,and faery wonder-lands for him, and people them with strange beings.
Man loves the supernatural elements in literature perhaps because theydignify him by giving his existence a feeling of infinity otherwisedenied. They grant him a sense of being the center of powers more thanearthly, of conflicts supermortal. His own material life may be howevercircumscribed and trivial yet he can loose his fancy and escape thepetty tragedies of his days by flight beyond the stars. He can widenthe tents of his mortal life, create a universe for his companionship,and marshal the forces of demons and unknown gods for his commands. Tohis narrow rut he can join the unspaced firmament; to his trivial hoursadd eternity; to his finite, infinity. He is so greedy of power, andhas so piteously little that he must look for his larger life in dreamsand in the literature of the supernatural.
But, whatever be the reasons, there has been a continuity of theghostly in literature, with certain rise and fall of interest. There isin modern English fiction, as likewise in poetry and the drama, a greatextent of the supernatural, with wide diversity of elements. Beginningwith the Gothic romance, that curious architectural excrescence thatyet has had enormous influence on our novel, the supernatural is foundin every period and in every form of fiction. The unearthly beings meetus in all guises, and answer our every mood, whether it be serious orawed, satiric or humoresque.
Literature, always a little ahead of life, has formed our beliefsfor us, made us free with spirits, and given us entrance to immortalcountries. The sense of the unearthly is ever with us, even in themost commonplace situations,--and there is nothing so natural tous as the supernatural. Our imagination, colored by our reading,reveals and transforms the world we live in. We are aware of unbodiedemotions about us, of discarnate moods that mock or invite us. We goa-ghosting now in public places, and a specter may glide up to give usan _apologia pro vita sua_ any day in Grand Central or on Main Streetof Our-Town. We chat with fetches across the garden fence and pass thetime of day with demons by way of the dumb-waiter. That gray-furredcreature that glooms suddenly before us in the winter street is not achauffeur, but a were-wolf questing for his prey. Yon whirring thing inthe far blue is not an aeroplane but a hippogriff that will presentlyalight on the pavement beside us with thundering golden hoofs to bearus away to distant lovely lands where we shall be untroubled by theprice of butter or the articles lost in last week's wash. That sedatemiddle-aged ferry that transports us from Staten Island is a magicSending Boat if only we knew its potent runes! The old woman withthe too-pink cheeks and glittering eye, that presses August bargainsupon us with the argument that they will be in style for early fallwear, is a witch wishful to lure away our souls. We may pass at willby the guardian of the narrow gate and traverse the regions of theUnder-world
We might have more psychal experiences than we do if we would onlykeep our eyes open, but most of us do have more than we admit to theneighbors. We have an early-Victorian reticence concerning ghostlythings as if it were scandalous to be associated with them. But thatis all wrong. We should be proud of being singled out for spectralconfidences and should report our ghost-guests to the society columnsof the newspaper. It is hoped that this discussion of comparativeghost-lore may help to establish a better sense of values.
In this book I deal with ghosts and devils by and large, in animpressionistic way. I don't know much about them; I have no learnedtheories of causation. I only love them. I only marvel at theirinfinite variety and am touched by their humanity, their likeness tomortals. I am fond of them all, even the dejected, dog-eared ghoststhat look as if they were wraiths of poor relations left out in therain all night, or devils whose own mothers wouldn't care for them. Itgives me no holier-than-thou feeling of horror to sit beside a vampirein the subway, no panic to hear a banshee shut up in a hurdy-gurdy box.I give a cordial how-do-you-do when a dragon glides up and puts his pawin mine, and in every stray dog I recognize a Gladsome Beast. Like usmortals, they all need sympathy, none more so than the poor wizards andbogles that are on their own, as the Scotch say.
While discussing the nineteenth century as a whole, I have devotedmore attention to the fiction of the supernatural in the last thirtyyears or so, because there has been much more of it in that time thanbefore. There is now more interest in the occult, more literatureproduced dealing with psychal powers than ever before in our history.It is apparent in poetry, in the drama, the novel, and the shortstory. I have not attempted, even in my bibliography, to include allthe fiction of the type, since that would be manifestly impossible.I have, however, mentioned specimens of the various forms, and havelisted the more important examples. The treatment here is meant tobe suggestive rather than exhaustive and seeks to show that there isa genuine revival of wonder in our time, with certain changes in thecharacterization of supernatural beings. It includes not only thethemes that are strictly supernatural, but also those which, formerlyconsidered unearthly, carry on the traditions of the magical. Much ofour material of the weird has been rationalized, yet without losingits effect of wonder for us in fact or in fiction. If now we study ascience where once men believed blindly in a Black Art, is the resultreally less mysterious?