{"id":444,"date":"2016-05-03T12:06:38","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T20:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/?p=444"},"modified":"2016-05-03T13:58:28","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T21:58:28","slug":"ann-radcliffes-sublime-and-eastern-modes-of-transcendence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/ann-radcliffes-sublime-and-eastern-modes-of-transcendence\/","title":{"rendered":"Ann Radcliffe\u2019s Sublime and Eastern Modes of Transcendence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ann Radcliffe\u2019s Sublime: How Clarity-of-Mind Equates Eastern Modes of Transcendence in\u00a0A Sicilian Romance<\/em><\/a><\/h2>\n
By\u00a0Laura-Lee Bowers<\/em><\/h5>\n
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Marguerite Agniel in a Buddha position<\/em>, J. de Mirjian, c.1929<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ann Radcliffe was canonized at her passing in 1823. Her genius was recognized in her lifetime; she was made a legacy by her death. In Ann Radcliffe: Romanticism and the Gothic<\/em> Townshend and Wright assert she was \u201cone of the British nation\u2019s most creative voices\u201d (3). Her blend of Gothic and Romanticism made her the \u201coriginator of a literary school\u201d that continues today (3). The unifying theme Radcliffe identified in Gothic and Romantic fiction is embedded in the sublime experience. Alison Milbank explains that argument continues about whether Radcliffe was simply skillfully employing the existing tropes of the sublime, or whether she was originating something with her use of it. The most original factor concerning the sublime experience in A Sicilian Romance<\/em> is its developmental faculty; the most spiritually accomplished, angelic characters undergo extraordinarily high and prolonged degrees of sublimity. This portrays a subsequent addition to the existing tropes of the sublime. This effect can be explained by Eastern modes of transcendence\u2014namely meditation\u2014explaining how clarity of mind, or the effect of the sublime experience, promotes acuity and wellbeing through cognitive development.<\/p>\n

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\u25ca Read the rest in .pdf<\/a>, or below\u00a0\u25ca<\/p>\n

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Milbank explains two contradictory interpretations of Radcliffe\u2019s work: one understands her creations having \u201coriginating power\u201d and maintains she is \u201cas uncanny as her own literary productions\u201d; the other understands Radcliffe as simply employing a list of tropes associated with existing theories of the sublime (ix). The first class describes her as nothing less than an \u201cinspired prophetess\u201d (ix). The second class, according to Milbank, would have to ignore Radcliffe\u2019s \u201cresponse<\/em> to the nexus of ideas on psychology\u201d to defend their position (x, my emphasis). The psychological <\/em>response<\/em> to the sublime will be the focus of this paper.<\/p>\n

Robert Doran\u2019s Theory of the Sublime from Longinus to Kant<\/em> sharply engages a comprehensive theoretical history of the sublime (2015). <\/em>His work presents the concept of sublimity as \u201cthe most enduring and consequential aesthetics of modern thought\u201d (27). He focuses on \u201cdefining a secular concept of transcendence\u201d by turning to Longinus, Burke, Kant and others\u2014exploring the development of theoretical sublimity (27). Doran likens Longinus\u2019 \u201ctranscendence\u201d to a \u201cmystical religious experience\u201d (41). Whereas Burke grounds his sublimity in human terror, Longinus affirms the sublime involves \u201cbeing at once overwhelmed<\/em> and elevated<\/em>\u201d (41). <\/em>Burke agrees wholeheartedly that the effect overwhelms the mind. Being \u201coverwhelmed\u201d involves being \u201coverpowered\u201d by the source (OED<\/em>). This is a key element to my argument. One facet which all the theories of sublimity agree upon is that sublime experience suspends mental faculties; one aspect where all meditation practices meet is the suspension of thought.<\/p>\n

In Critique of Judgement <\/em>Kant calls the sublime a negative experience, explaining that lack of experience<\/em> is what makes the state freeing. This is a state of ultimate receptivity, explained in Eastern traditions, is being in touch with the infinite and eternal. Kant’s definition proposes that as long as reason is not satisfied, it is sublime. This is where the parallel to meditation is found. Meditation, throughout its many methods and uses, primarily transcends thought. Radcliffe herself discusses this state, and uses the word \u201cconfounding\u201d to describe the sublime affective force \u201cin which the mind can find nothing\u201d (Supernatural<\/em> 67). Kant explains, \u201cthe imagination\u201d enjoying a sublime state \u201cfeels itself to be unbounded precisely because of [the] elimination of the limits of sensibility\u201d as it perceives a \u201cpresentation of the infinite\u201d which \u201cexpands the soul\u201d (5:274). Expansion may suggest development, but no graduating effect is considered by Kant or the classic theorists.<\/p>\n

The Marquis\u2019 daughters are said to be \u201cthus lovely and thus veiled in obscurity\u201d at the onset of the narrative. They are \u201chappy for they knew not enough <\/em>of the world to seriously regret it.\u201d Although the girls are naturally inclined towards good character, we are told that \u201can expansion of mind <\/em>and refinement of thought\u201d was required of them \u201cwhich is the result of high cultivation\u201d (7, my emphases). The young nobles have the very best education. What could Radcliffe want cultivated beyond this? The count Vereza, the veritable knight in shining armour, is more developed than Julia and her sister at the onset. He is described as \u201cgraceful yet manly,\u201d and \u201chis countenance\u201d is said to \u201c[express] a happy union <\/em>of spirit, dignity, and benevolence\u201d accountable to his possessing a \u201csublimity of thought\u201d (11, my emphasis). He has a quality of sublimity, or clarity, of thought<\/em>; a union <\/em>of spirit, which is to say a free-flowing, intuitive, and open state.<\/p>\n

All of the characters in A Sicilian Romance<\/em> who endure the sublime and grow heightened from it share one common trait: they remain in control of themselves, receptive, whilst enduring. There is a complex irony at play within the response to the sublime. Although submission is required to attain the elevation of mind-spirit that the sublime offers, so is maintaining control. The sublime is differentiated from obscurity. Meditation is controlled improvement. This<\/em> is the cultivation\u2014the sublimity of mind, unity of spirit\u2014which Radcliffe prescribes for her characters. Radcliffe\u2019s sublime differs from that of the traditional theorists in that there is a permanence of virtues attained by embracing this state; it harkens to Eastern traditions. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, <\/em>through the example of Zen Buddhism, explains Eastern transcendence as \u201ca perfection of personhood\u201d attained through transcending thought\u2014methodically by meditation or a shocking, sublime, instant enlightenment (i).<\/p>\n

Doran explains that when one is mentally overpowered one gains the sense of divinity, \u201ce<\/em>kstasis<\/em>\u201d (41). To the Dalai Lama, this state of divinity is \u201cBuddah Nature,\u201d (n.p.). The eventual outcome of the sublime experience to Longinus is \u201ckairos<\/em>\u201d or the climactic moment of peak experience. Doran explicitly states that to interpret \u201ckairos<\/em>\u201d as a kind of fulfillment, would clearly contradict \u201cthe momentary meaning of the word\u201d (44). The difference between Longinus\u2019 transcendence and the Eastern outlook is the possibility of cognitive evolution.<\/p>\n

The Dalai Lama explains that \u201cthrough practice, a human being\u201d can perfect oneself through a \u201cpurification of one\u2019s own mental state\u201d (n.p.). Using meditation, \u201cdestructive things can be removed from the mind\u201d and \u201cthe highest <\/em>enlightened mental state\u201d can be achieved (n.p., my emphasis). The effect of transcendence to Longinus is the corresponding state of \u201chypsos<\/em>\u201d it imparts. \u201cHypsos<\/em>\u201d is translated by Doran as metaphorically surpassing \u201cone\u2019s mental capacity or state of mind, going beyond normal human limits\u201d to be closer to a \u201cdivine\u201d state (39). He says that to Longinus \u201chypsos<\/em>\u201d and the Latin \u201csublime<\/em>\u201d \u201care virtually identical.\u201d Both can be related figuratively to \u201can elevated thought or an elevated mind\u201d (39). The act of experiencing the sublime is elevating\u2014godly\u2014by Doran\u2019s explanation, and a source of divinity. Being in clarity is explained in the same terms by the Dalai Lama: \u201cto elevate.\u201d Both meditation and sublimity produce this heightened<\/em> mental state. This state does not necessitate immediate fulfillment, yet we seek it out; Eastern philosophy would argue it is developmental.<\/p>\n

Berkeley\u2019s Professor of Buddhist Studies Robert Sharf describes the state of \u201csamadhi<\/em>\u201d as the ultimate path in meditation, synonymous with equivalent end goals in other belief systems (935). Samadhi<\/em> is \u201cthe highest state of meditation, in which the distinctions between subject and object disappear and unity with creation is attained\u201d (OED<\/em>). There are two major bodies of meditative exercise: one promotes total receptivity, a state of no-mind, and is observation without reflection; the other is total concentration disregarding distraction. Most practitioners use both, often together.<\/p>\n

A mind full of activity is the opposite of clarity, and divided allegiances of spirit obfuscate unity. When the Duke and his men are seeking refuge in the woods they are described as \u201cbewildered<\/em> in the wilds,\u201d and this is when they hear the bell of a monastery\u2014a divine symbol of sanctity. They receive clarity<\/em> in bewilderment. Coming out of receptivity and surmising the idea to discern, divide, and direct towards\u2014 \u201cthe way they judged<\/em> led to the monastery\u201d \u2014they lose their way (Radcliffe 89, my emphases). Reason does not help\u2014it hinders them. Divisions of mind and spirit undo characters in this novel. When the Duke is wounded \u201cthe effect of his wound [is] heightened by the agitation of his mind,\u201d which proves a detriment to his health (95).<\/p>\n

In the dungeon, Ferdinand \u201cseem[s] to acquire the valour of despair,\u201d loaning him a high virtue in a time of sublime submission (99). In the woods, Madame is \u201cinsensibly<\/em> led on\u201d through the sublime landscape which \u201celevated <\/em>the mind of the beholder\u201d (104, my emphasis). When she hears Julia, the sound \u201cawaken[s] all<\/em> her attention,\u201d putting the sublime state to use, allowing her \u201ccaptivated \u2026 heart\u201d to be led towards that which called her like an \u201cenchantment\u201d (104-5, my emphasis). Madame Menon \u201cseemed without interest<\/em> and without motive<\/em> for exertion\u201d to find Julia (103, my emphasis).<\/p>\n

Milbank claims these occurrences depict \u201cweakness\u201d being \u201ctransformed into power,\u201d but the text explicitly demonstrates that it is more accurately receptivity and trust\u2014intuition\u2014which delivers Madame (xix). The Duke, with his firm, heady intentions, cannot find his way through the sublime landscape (93-94). Milbank explains that the \u201cDuke\u2019s refusal to accept a position of vulnerability makes him unable to benefit\u201d (xviii). I would clarify this statement by pointing out that the vulnerability the Duke lacks is receptivity. As Radcliffe demonstrates, the causality of being receptive, if done properly\u2014with agency\u2014 brings attainment.<\/p>\n

Edmund Burke recognizes \u201ccertain powers and properties\u201d of the sublime \u201cthat work a change<\/em> in the mind\u201d but he struggles to explain further (209, my emphasis). He explains how \u201cpain and terror\u201d that are not \u201ccarried to violence\u201d or threaten \u201cdestruction\u201d produce \u201cemotions [which] clear the parts<\/em>\u201d and \u201care capable of producing delight \u2026 tinged with terror,\u201d precisely because the mind enjoys being in clarity (217, my emphasis). The \u201chighest degree\u201d of sublimity is \u201castonishment<\/em>\u201d (217, Burke\u2019s emphasis): \u201cthat state of the soul in which all its motions are suspended,\u201d a description identical to meditation (130). Burke\u2019s definition requires a forced<\/em> mental pause. Seated meditation, however, can engage a state of sublimity willfully<\/em> (Sharf 935).<\/p>\n

The astonishment Burke describes (where the mind is so entirely full of one object that it cannot comprehend another) is akin to a focus oriented meditation. Burke defines \u201cgreatness of dimension\u201d or \u201cvastness\u201d as \u201ca powerful cause of the sublime\u201d (147). Sharf uses methods where concentration on the \u201cfour immeasurable states\u201d obliterate the mind\u2019s ability to perceive any measure and bewilder the practitioner into sublimity (941). \u201cAnother source of the sublime\u201d to Burke \u201cis infinity<\/em>,\u201d which can be mimicked by repetition: if \u201cwe repeat any idea frequently,\u201d just as in a \u201csuccession of noises,\u201d their echoes \u201cbeat\u201d and \u201croar in the imagination long after the first sounds have ceased to affect it,\u201d robbing the mind of its faculties by filling it with something meaningless (148-9). This is identical to Sharf\u2019s description of \u201crecitation\u201d practices where focus is given to repeating mantras over and over or \u201cbreathing\u201d meditations where you watch the breath ad-infitum until there is no thought left.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Lou, following a study of Richard Davidson, explains how \u201cmeditative practice can physically change brain functioning\u201d in progressive ways (a). Davidson\u2019s study focused on measuring gamma waves\u2014the \u201cmost important electrical brain waves\u201d\u2014of practitioners (2). Conducted on Tibetan monks recommended by the Dalai Lama, the study was controlled by students without meditation experience: \u201cThe meditation novices showed only a slight increase in gamma wave<\/a> activity while meditating, while some of the monks produced gamma wave activity more powerful and of higher amplitude than any previously reported<\/em> in a healthy person in the neuroscience literature\u201d (2, my emphasis). In the neuroscience paper \u201cBuddha\u2019s Brain,\u201d Davidson admits that \u201cover the course of meditating for tens of thousands of hours, the long-term practitioners had actually altered the structure and function of their brains\u201d (i). The progressive element in the novel is accurate according to neuroscience; Radcliffe is<\/em> a prophet.<\/p>\n

Julia arguably benefits most in the book. She is presented as someone who willfully indulges in the sublime experience. She seeks \u201csolitude in the woods\u201d when she is longing for Vereza (42). She takes her lute to her \u201cfavorite spot\u201d to enter the focused meditation which playing music requires, a \u201cfavorite\u201d spot implying she does so on a regular basis (42). Julia struggles, but inevitably follows her intuition\u2014she challenges her father and her betrothed. The other women in the book all allow their agency to escape them at critical points. Julia is not only a victim to sublimity, but also has agency, and develops fully due to the active way she engages; she employs the paradoxical combination of receptivity and control that Eastern transcendence requires.<\/p>\n

The developmental effects of exposure to sublimity, or clarity, continue to work regardless. When Hippolitus\u2019 sister eventually perishes, after enduring what she calls an unusual amount of terror, Julia tells us that her \u201ccountenance seemed to characterize the beauty of an inspired saint\u201d (123). When the Marchioness, after years of torture, thinks Julia and her mother would not escape the cell she, \u201cwith a placid resignation<\/em> which seemed to exalt her above humanity<\/em>,\u201d prays (182, my emphasis). The response<\/em> to the sublime is, as Milbank notes, the primary differentiating principle marking Radcliffe as a prophet. Everyone who endures sublimity is happy. However, Julia and Hippolitus\u2014those shown to express the virtues attained by, and the willingness to focus and grow from, sublime clarity\u2014are the only characters to earn a fairytale ending. Through embracing the ironic state of active receptivity, willing openness, focus on clarity, and practice\u2014one may achieve what Radcliffe calls \u201cmoral retribution\u201d where we are guaranteed \u201cthe surest claim to the protection of heaven,\u201d on earth (199).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/p>\n

Alison, Archibald. Essays on the Nature and Principles of Taste<\/em>. Edinburgh: JJG and G Robinson, London, 1789. Print.<\/p>\n

Burke, Edmund. \u201cA Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful.\u201d The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke Vol. I[-IV]<\/em>. Boston: John West, 75, Cornhill, and O.C. Greenleaf, 3, Court Street. 1806-[1807]. Print.<\/p>\n

Burwick, Frederick. \u201cAnn Radcliffe, Prose.\u201d The Encyclopedia of Romantic Literature.<\/em> Vol. A-G.<\/em> Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. 1091-1098. Print.<\/p>\n

Dalai Lama. \u201cThe Dalai Lama: \u2018On Buddha Nature\u2019\u201d The Buddha. PBS<\/em>, 9 Mar. 2010. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.<\/p>\n

Davidson, Richard, and Antoine Lutz. \u201cBuddha\u2019s Brain: Neuroplasticity and Meditation.\u201d IEEE<\/em> Signal Processing Magazine<\/em> 25.1 (2008): 174-76. US National Library of Medicine. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.<\/p>\n

Doran, Robert. Theory of the Sublime from Longinus to Kant. <\/em>Cambridge: University P, 2015. Print.<\/p>\n

Kane, Sarah Kim. \u201cThe Sublime, the Beautiful and the Picturesque in the Works of Ann Radcliffe.\u201d ProQuest Dissertation and Theses Global<\/em> (1999). Web. 14 Nov. 2015.<\/p>\n

Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Judgement.<\/em> Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2005. Print.<\/p>\n

Lou, Stephanie. \u201cMeditation and HD.\u201d HOPES<\/em>. Stanford.edu. Stanford University. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.<\/p>\n

Lutz, A., L. L. Greischar, N. B. Rawlings, M. Ricard, and R. J. Davidson. \u201cLong-term Meditators Self-Induce High-Amplitude Gamma Synchrony During Mental Practice.\u201d Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/em> 101.46 (2004): 16369-6373. Web. 10 Jan. 2016.<\/p>\n

Milbank, Alison. \u201cIntroduction.\u201d A Sicilian Romance<\/em>. Ann Radcliffe. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1993. Print.<\/p>\n

Nagatomo, Shigenori. \u201cJapanese Zen Buddhist Philosophy.\u201d Ed. Edward N. Zalta. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy<\/em> (2015). Stanford University. Web. 7 Jan. 2015.<\/p>\n

Radcliffe, Ann. A Sicilian Romance<\/em>. Ed. Alison Milbank. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1993. Print.<\/p>\n

Radcliffe, Ann. \u201cOn the Supernatural in Poetry.\u201d Gothic Horror: A Guide for Students and <\/em>Readers.<\/em> Ed. Clive Bloom. 2nd ed. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. 60-69. Print.<\/p>\n

\u201cOxford English Dictionary.\u201d Oed.com<\/em>. Oxford University Press. Web. 5 Dec. 2015.<\/p>\n

Sharf, Robert. \u201cMindfulness and Mindlessness in Early Chan.\u201d Philosophy East and West<\/em> 64.4 (2014): 933-64. Print.<\/p>\n

Townshend, Dale, and Angela Wright. \u201cCultural Contexts.\u201d Ann Radcliffe, Romanticism and the Gothic<\/em>. New York: Cambridge UP, 2014. Print.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ann Radcliffe\u2019s Sublime: How Clarity-of-Mind Equates Eastern Modes of Transcendence in\u00a0A Sicilian Romance By\u00a0Laura-Lee Bowers Ann Radcliffe was canonized at her passing in 1823. Her genius was recognized in her … Continue reading “Ann Radcliffe\u2019s Sublime and Eastern Modes of Transcendence”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":333,"featured_media":455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2016-issue","category-essays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/333"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":551,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions\/551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/compassrose\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}