Materializing the Flow of Emotion: The Interface Between Sound and Body in The Lifted Veil, Romola, and Daniel Deronda
Publication Date
11-16-2023
Document Type
Article
Organizational Units
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, English and Literary Arts
Keywords
George Eliot, Sound, (Anti)communitarian process, Emotion
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This article argues that the representations of hearing play an essential role in mediating emotion, sympathy, and (anti)communitarian process in Eliot’s fictional works. I look at moments when the interface between sound and body communicates socialization or marginalization: in The Lifted Veil (1859), sound highlights the vulnerability and passivity of the individuals as opposed to the external world; in Romola (1862–63), while Baldassarre’s resistance to sound reveals his isolation, Romola’s vibration to sound communicates a more complex relationship between individual and community—though sound symbolizes historical changes that transform her into an outlier, it also connects her with her community by evoking the past. Eliot’s last novel, Daniel Deronda (1876), indicates the limitations of hearing and exposes the boundary of sympathetic vibration—by using hearing to foreshadow, legitimize, and manipulate the characters’ destinies, Eliot touches the mythical origin of emotion and puts it at the center of (anti)communitarian process.
Copyright Date
11-16-2023
Rights Holder
The Pennsylvania State University
Provenance
Received from author
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by The Pennsylvania State University. User is responsible for all copyright compliance. This article was originally published as:
Gao, M. (2023). Materializing the flow of emotion: The interface between sound and body in The Lifted Veil, Romola, and Daniel Deronda. George Eliot - George Henry Lewes Studies, 75(1), 45-57. https://doi.org/10.5325/georelioghlstud.75.1.0045
Language
English (eng)
Extent
13 pgs
Publication Title
George Eliot - George Henry Lewes Studies
Volume
75
First Page
45
Issue
1
Last Page
57
ISSN
2372-191X
Recommended Citation
Gao, M. (2023). Materializing the flow of emotion: The interface between sound and body in The Lifted Veil, Romola, and Daniel Deronda. George Eliot - George Henry Lewes Studies, 75(1), 45-57. https://doi.org/10.5325/georelioghlstud.75.1.0045