Conference paper

Magnanimality: Aristocratic Animals and the Great Chain of Being from Naturalism to Postmodernism

Manuela Neuwirth ; University of Graz

Abstract

Even though the lives of nonhuman animals and humans have always been linked, the study of these interactions has only received critical attention in the field of Animal Studies in recent decades. This seems surprising, considering the wealth of animal representations in human culture. The present paper takes this magnitude of animal portrayals literally to mean not only the great number of animal representations in literary and cultural texts, but the scale of these portrayals, presenting an analysis of what I call ‘magnanimality’, i.e. majestic animal metaphors.

In a New Historicist approach, I trace the philosophical theory of the Great Chain of Being – a concept of medieval Christianity suggesting a strict hierarchy of all life – in American texts ranging from the late 19th up to the late 20th century. Examining animal metaphors linked to aristocracy and nobility, I strive to answer the questions why and to what end a religious, pre-Enlightenment concept that seems at odds with American national narratives is repeatedly employed in contemporary literary and cultural texts. I use texts from different time periods and genres, e.g. E.T. Seton’s short story Lobo, the King of Currumpaw, Jack London’s novella The Call of the Wild as well as contemporary movies. I argue that the Great Chain of Being, applied to modern American texts, bridges the human- animal divide by elevating the individual nonrational being and forming a continuity between various species.

Keywords

Animal Studies; Anthropomorphism; Aristocracy; Great Chain of Being

Hrčak ID:

220859

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/220859

Publication date:

8.6.2019.

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