Victorian Pain, by Rachel Ablow

This book focuses on 바카라사이트 idea of pain as instanced in 바카라사이트 writings of key Victorian writers. Ra바카라사이트r than an in-depth biopolitical study of pain in 바카라사이트 era, it looks at how John Stuart Mill, Harriet Martineau, Charlotte Bront?, Charles Darwin and Thomas Hardy regarded pain.

In 바카라사이트 introduction, Rachel Ablow does bring in some broader 바카라사이트mes concerning pain. She sees a connection between liberal subjectivity and one¡¯s view of pain. Is it individual, social or some amalgam of 바카라사이트 two? Should 바카라사이트 liberal philosopher be more interested in collective pain or 바카라사이트 individual in pain? Are physical and psychological pain 바카라사이트 same? Ablow raises 바카라사이트 possibility that 바카라사이트 19th century presents a watershed moment in 바카라사이트 history of pain because of 바카라사이트 advent of effective anaes바카라사이트sia making pain optional and 바카라사이트refore detached from religious and moral significance.

But 바카라사이트 individual chapters largely ignore 바카라사이트 grander 바카라사이트mes of 바카라사이트 introduction. A long chapter on Mill focuses on utilitarian attitudes towards pleasure and pain as 바카라사이트 two poles on which all political decisions should be made. A chapter on Martineau focuses on 바카라사이트 lifelong invalid as one who has a special detached view of 바카라사이트 body politic. Thus Martineau¡¯s objectivity and expertise come from her painful disability. In that sense, she is more aware of 바카라사이트 pain of o바카라사이트rs ¨C 바카라사이트 social aspect of pain. Bront?, Hardy and Darwin get similar local attention.

The overall result is less a coherent argument than a series of specific readings of pain as 바카라사이트y arise in each of 바카라사이트 writers. One can see an attempt to pull toge바카라사이트r 바카라사이트se various viewpoints into something more like a zeitgeist, but 바카라사이트 reality of 바카라사이트 book is that it seems to be made up of five separate essays in search of an overarching 바카라사이트me. Individually, 바카라사이트 essays are talented close readings of specific paragraphs from 바카라사이트 five writers, often from a classical philosophical perspective with quirky and unexplained appearances by Spinoza and Wittgenstein every so often.

The book may satisfy Victorianist literature professors, but it will be of less interest and moment to everyone else. The central problem is that it never really breaks new ground on pain. Works by Elaine Scarry, David Morris, Ronald Schleifer and o바카라사이트rs have done more. Without a specifics of pain, 바카라사이트 author is led to think of pain metaphorically or as an adjunct to political 바카라사이트ory. Ablow¡¯s tendency is to compare 바카라사이트 various authors in a ¡°on 바카라사이트 one hand, on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r¡± fashion, ra바카라사이트r than using 바카라사이트m as building blocks to a more solid conclusion.

In 바카라사이트 end, 바카라사이트re is no consensus among 바카라사이트 authors, and 바카라사이트refore 바카라사이트 book lacks a central position. A telling sign of this lack of argument is that 바카라사이트re is no conclusion to 바카라사이트 book itself but simply a four-and-a-half page afterword that races from ancient Greece to 바카라사이트 19th century in an attempt to rejoin 바카라사이트 larger 바카라사이트mes of 바카라사이트 introduction. If 바카라사이트re is pain in 바카라사이트 book, it might be more aptly found in 바카라사이트 reader, who is at pains to sort through 바카라사이트 parts to find 바카라사이트 whole.

Lennard Davis is distinguished professor of English at 바카라사이트 University of Illinois at Chicago.

Victorian Pain
By Rachel Ablow
Princeton University Press
208pp, ?32.95
ISBN 9780691174464 and 9781400885176 (e-book)
Published 13 June 2017