Gothic Metaphysics

Jodey Castricano

Description

Gothic Metaphysics is a radical departure from Freudian-centred criticism of Gothic literature. It aims to explore our modern dilemma in the time of the Anthropocene, by bringing to light the role of Gothic since its inception in 1764 in holding space for a worldview familiar to certain mystical traditions – such as alchemy, which held to the view of a living cosmos yet later deemed ‘uncanny’ and anachronistic by Freud. In developing this idea, Gothic Metaphysics explores the influence of the Middle Ages on the emergence of Gothic, seeing it as an encrypted genre that serves as the site of a ‘live burial’ of ‘animism’, which has emerged in the notion of ‘quantum entanglement’ best described by Carl G. Jung and physicist Wolfgang Pauli in the theory of synchronicity linking alchemy with quantum mechanics. This relationship finds itself in dialogue with the Gothic’s long-held concern for the ‘sentience of space and place’, as described by renowned Gothic scholar Fredrick Frank. The volume Gothic Metaphysics is multi-valent and explores how Gothic has sustained the view of a sentient world despite the disqualification of nature – not only in respect to the extirpation of animism as a worldview, but also with regard to an affirmation of consciousness beyond that of human exceptionalism.

Chapter 1: Gothic Metaphysics: From Alchemy to the Anthropocene
Chapter 2: Occult Subjects: Parapsychology and the Foreign Body in Psychoanalysis
Chapter 3: There Is No Occult-Free Zone: Transgenerational Emergence
Chapter 4: An Other-Valued Reality: Animism and Literature
Chapter 5: Ghost Dance
Chapter 6: Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and the Strange Question of Trans-Subjectivity
Chapter 7: Learning to Talk with Ghosts: Canadian Gothic and the Poetics of Haunting in Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach
Chapter 8: EcoGothic and the Anthropocene: The Ecological Subject
Chapter 9: Afterwor(l)ds: All My Relations
Bibliography

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Métaphysique
• Literary Criticism
• Romance
• Gothic

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786837950
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Gothic Metaphysics
00 Prelims 2021_10_26.indd 1 26-Oct-21 12:56:18 PMseRies pReFace
Gothic Literary studies is dedicated to publishing groundbreaking
scholarship on Gothic in literature and flm. the Gothic, which has
been subjected to a variety of critical and theoretical approaches,
is a form which plays an important role in our understanding of
literary, intellectual and cultural histories. the series seeks to promote
challenging and innovative approaches to Gothic which question
any aspect of the Gothic tradition or perceived critical orthodoxy.
Volumes in the series explore how issues such as gender, religion,
nation and sexuality have shaped our view of the Gothic tradition.
Both academically rigorous and informed by the latest developments
in critical theory, the series provides an important focus for scholarly
developments in Gothic studies, literary studies, cultural studies and
critical theory. the series will be of interest to students of all levels
and to scholars and teachers of the Gothic and literary and cultural
histories.
seRies eDitoRs
andrew smith, University of sheffeld
Benjamin F. Fisher, University of Mississippi
eDitoRiaL BoaRD
Kent Ljungquist, Worcester polytechnic institute Massachusetts
Richard Fusco, st Joseph’s University, philadelphia
David punter, University of Bristol
chris Baldick, University of London
angela Wright, University of sheffeld
Jerrold e. hogle, University of arizona
For all titles in the Gothic Literary studies series
visit www.uwp.co.uk
00 Prelims 2021_10_26.indd 2 26-Oct-21 12:56:18 PMGothic Metaphysics
From Alchemy to the Anthropocene
Jodey Castricano

UNiVeRsity oF WaLes pRess
2021
00 Prelims 2021_10_26.indd 3 26-Oct-21 12:56:18 PM© Jodey castricano, 2021
all rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material
form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic
means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of
this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner.
applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce
any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales
press, University Registry, King edward Vii avenue, cardiff cF10 3Ns.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
isBN 978-1-78683-794-3
e-isBN 978-1-78683-796-7
the right of Jodey castricano to be identifed as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the copyright,
Designs and patents act 1988.
typeset by eira Fenn Gaunt, pentyrch, cardiff, Wales
printed by cpi antony Rowe, Melksham, United Kingdom
00 Prelims 2021_10_26.indd 4 26-Oct-21 12:56:18 PMContents
acknowledgements ix
1Gothic Metaphysics: an introduction 1
2occult subjects: parapsychology and the Foreign Body
in psychoanalysis27
3 there is No occult-free Zone: transgenerational
emergence 69
4 an other-valued Reality: animism and Literature 107
5 Ghost Dance 121
6 shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and
the strange Question of trans-subjectivity 135
7 Learning to talk with Ghosts: canadian Gothic and
the poetics of haunting in eden Robinson’s Monkey
Beach 1538ecoGothic and the anthropocene: the ecological
subject171
9 afterwor(l)ds: all my Relations 193
Notes 203
Bibliography247
index267
00 Prelims 2021_10_26.indd 5 26-Oct-21 12:56:18 PMI do not know whether the things I have told you are of value to you, and I
am sorry that I repeat things. I have also done this in my books, I always
consider certain things again, and always from a new angle. My thinking is,
so to speak, circular. This is a method which suits me. It is in a way a new
1kind of peripatetics.
(c. G. Jung)
2That is not what I meant at all: / That is not it, at all.
(t. s. eliot, ‘the Love song of J. alfred prufrock’)
Something’s beginning is always a particularly magical point, the opening
into a world that’s new. There – this book has already begun, which means
the magic has been done. And, now, all that’s needed is to fnd the words to
3fll the abyss between beginning and end.
(peter Kingsley)
1 c. G. Jung, quoted in sonu shamdasani, Jung and the Making of Modern Psychology: The
Dream of a Science (New york: cambridge University press, 2003), p. 16.
2 t. s. eliot, ‘the Love song of J. alfred prufrock’, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/
poetrymagazine/poems/44212/the-love-song-of-j-alfred-prufrock.
3 peter Kingsley, Catafalque: Carl Jung and the End of Humanity, vol. 1 (n.p.: catafalque press,
2018), p. 7.
00 Prelims 2021_10_26.indd 7 26-Oct-21 12:56:18 PMACknowledgements
truth be told, this acknowledgements page reaches back decades
to those friends, colleagues and interlocutors – human and
nonhuman – whose generative thinking and ways of being in the world
have encouraged me to keep on. Because i tend towards spatial
thought, please imagine this eclectic page takes the form of a
multidimensional Venn diagram that connects all beings – including
non-humans – who over the years taught me what i needed to
know, even when i didn’t want to learn. thank you.
i want to acknowledge frst and foremost that this book was
completed while living and working upon the unceded, ancestral
territory of the syilx people of the okanagan Nation.
i am grateful to so many past and present: most recently to my
talented and truly intrepid editor, Kel pero, for helping me chart a
constellation of thoughts into Gothic Metaphysics and for raising
my spirits when the going got tough. a bundant thanks to s arah
Lewis, head of commissioning at the University Wales press, whose
quiet patience over years encouraged and enabled me to compete
this book. Likewise to the series editors andrew smith and Benjamin
Fisher, who supported the initial proposal and its subsequent
morphings. special mention goes to Martin Bressani for inviting me to
participate in ‘architecture and the environmental tradition: the
atmospheric in British architecture from 1750 to 1850’, a
sshRcfunded project that had me thinking of Gothic architecture and
affective presence. thanks, too, to the Faculty of creative and
critical studies for support in the form of a Book publication Grant.
Deep gratitude goes to those from the early days to the present,
even though some remain in spirit only: my parents, David and
Norine castricano; Mary Gerolin, my grandmother, who knew
the value of a good story; Joan Roberts, Mercedes F. Duran and
00 Prelims 2021_10_26.indd 9 26-Oct-21 12:56:18 PMAcknowledgements
susan clarke, some of my dearest friends. My gratitude goes also
to Margaret eady, whose faith from the beginning confrmed there
was a path and that i could take it. i am also deeply thankful for
those whose friendship and love meant putting in good miles, in
all weather, on the road together. some are theorists, literary scholars,
dancers, poets, critical thinkers, artists, astrologers, activists, singers
of songs, magicians; all are golden: Janet Macarthur, anderson
araujo, amanda snyder, shona harrison, Jessica stites Mor, sharon
thesen, Jennifer Gustar, Karis shearer, Margaret Reeves, Miriam
Grant, cynthia and Bruce Mathieson, sonnet L’abbé, Barb Rhodes,
Debby helf, carlene Dingwall, Raven sinclair, sherry Robinson,
Lorraine Weir, Joe hetherington, annie Monod, Maureen Mores.
to Joel Fafak, Julia Wright, Jason haslam, Jim Weldon and emmy
Misser, thank you for your friendship and wicked-good scholarship.
My thanks to Michael treschow, friend, colleague and head of
the Department of english and cultural studies, who opened space
for me to think and write when it really counted, and to Bryce
traister, Dean of the Faculty of creative and critical studies, whose
support and encouragement made all the difference.
i am also grateful for the guidance of corinna stevenson and
Wes Gietz, whose teachings over the past fve years showed me the
wisdom of council and the sweat lodge, the four-fold path of the
vision quest, including the days and nights spent in solitude on the
land, all of which inform my thinking in this book. and to those
big-hearted questers with whom i spent many, many hours at
Ravenwood in circle, sharing meals, sharing stories, fnding our
way: Raz Ruby singh, Dawn King, catherine howe, Wade smith,
Rachel Boult, claudia tressel, helen p attinson, chantal Lysyk,
Jessica Dorzinsky and isabelle Laplante. i also owe more than
gratitude to Muriel McMahon and Nelia tierney, guides in dreams,
alchemy and the work. Last but never least, i also give thanks to
the four-legged knowledge-keepers with whom i have shared this
long journey: Ned, Lupin, tc, Leroy, arthur, Felix, Willie, harley,
Max1, and, Little Bush Man, simon. today i live with and learn
from Blue, the silver tabby, eddie, Burmese of black cat nation,
s tevie of Nicks, Norwegian Forest c at, siamese fame-point o llie,
the youngest, a cat with a wicked sense of humour, and, of course,
Max, whose chi-corgi capacity for joy is boundless.
x
00 Prelims 2021_10_26.indd 10 26-Oct-21 12:56:18 PMAcknowledgements
all of these beings, humans and other animals named herein,
have taught me the deepest meaning of kinship. in lighter moments,
they remind me that unless the house is on fre, to not take myself
too seriously.
xi
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Gothic Metaphysics: An Introduction

A New Kind of Peripatetics: Transmissions of the Unsayable
We stand at the crossroads of change in the history of Western
consciousness, and the decisions we make concern survival on this
planet. On one hand, we have egocentric individualism, and on
the other, an extreme collectivism. Both have become defcient,
even as our current worldview rests on the premise of our separation
from and mastery of nature, in which nature is treated as an obj