“A woman’s flush of triumph lit her eyes”: Hardy, Darwin, and the Blush
Thomas Hardy’s third novel, A Pair of Blue Eyes, began appearing in serial form in September 1872; Charles Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals was published in November of the same year. Darwin provides a detailed study of the blush, which he views as unique to human animals;...
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| Publicado en: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/fathom, |
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| Formato: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lenguaje: | Anglais |
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FATHOM
2018
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| Acceso en línea: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:fathom_807 |
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openedition |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:fathom_807 https://doi.org/10.4000/fathom.807 urn:doi:10.4000/fathom.807 en https://journals.openedition.org/fathom/807 2018-04-23T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/gaiy All rights reserved “A woman’s flush of triumph lit her eyes”: Hardy, Darwin, and the Blush FATHOM Association française sur les études sur Thomas Hardy info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2270-6798 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/fathom Mallett, Phillip desire gaze Darwin (Charles) psychology expression blushing embodiment physiology Darwin (Charles) psychologie expression rougissement incarnation physiologie Thomas Hardy’s third novel, A Pair of Blue Eyes, began appearing in serial form in September 1872; Charles Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals was published in November of the same year. Darwin provides a detailed study of the blush, which he views as unique to human animals; Hardy’s novel offers a virtual typology of blushing. The three principal characters, Elfride, Stephen and Knight, blush or flush with pique, triumph, jealousy, perplexity, mortification, vexation, embarrassment, anger, gladness, and shame; their faces become red, vivid scarlet, an angry colour, vermillion, crimson, lily-white, pale, livid, cold, heated, and bright. Drawing on Darwin’s work, this paper asks what Hardy might have meant by a “flush of triumph”, and in particular, how a physical response (“flush”) relates to the mental one (“triumph”): whether one causes the other, is a function of the other, or a constituent part of the other. It then seeks to situate that discussion in regard to Havelock Ellis’s remark in 1883 that Hardy was “only willing to recognize the psychical element in its physical correlative”. Le troisième roman de Hardy, Les yeux bleus, fut publié en feuilleton à partir de septembre 1872. L’ouvrage de Charles Darwin sur L’expression des émotions chez l’homme et l’animal parut au mois de novembre suivant. Le scientifique y livre une analyse approfondie des mécanismes du rougissement, une réaction selon lui limitée à l’espèce humaine. Le roman de Hardy offre une sorte de typologie du rougissement. Elfride, Stephen and Knight, les trois personnages principaux, rougissent sous les effets de multiples émotions, telles que dépit, triomphe, jalousie, perplexité, humiliation, contrariété, embarras, colère, joie ou honte. Leurs visages apparaissent tour à tour rouges, écarlates, enflammés, vermillon, cramoisis, échauffés, brillants, ou encore blancs comme neige, pâles, livides, froids. Cet article se fonde sur l’ouvrage de Darwin pour interroger ce que signifiait pour Hardy un regard « enflammé par une lueur de triomphe » – et la manière dont une émotion (telle que le « triomphe ») se traduit sous forme de réaction physique (telle qu’un rougissement ou un regard enflammé) : le rapport de l’un à l’autre est-il de cause à effet, ou les deux réactions vont-elles de pair ? L’article relie ensuite ces analyses à la remarque faite en 1883 par Havelock Ellis, selon qui Hardy « se contentait là de reconnaître les déterminations psychiques dans leurs manifestations physiques ». |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
desire gaze Darwin (Charles) psychology expression blushing embodiment physiology Darwin (Charles) psychologie expression rougissement incarnation physiologie |
| spellingShingle |
desire gaze Darwin (Charles) psychology expression blushing embodiment physiology Darwin (Charles) psychologie expression rougissement incarnation physiologie Mallett, Phillip “A woman’s flush of triumph lit her eyes”: Hardy, Darwin, and the Blush |
| description |
Thomas Hardy’s third novel, A Pair of Blue Eyes, began appearing in serial form in September 1872; Charles Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals was published in November of the same year. Darwin provides a detailed study of the blush, which he views as unique to human animals; Hardy’s novel offers a virtual typology of blushing. The three principal characters, Elfride, Stephen and Knight, blush or flush with pique, triumph, jealousy, perplexity, mortification, vexation, embarrassment, anger, gladness, and shame; their faces become red, vivid scarlet, an angry colour, vermillion, crimson, lily-white, pale, livid, cold, heated, and bright. Drawing on Darwin’s work, this paper asks what Hardy might have meant by a “flush of triumph”, and in particular, how a physical response (“flush”) relates to the mental one (“triumph”): whether one causes the other, is a function of the other, or a constituent part of the other. It then seeks to situate that discussion in regard to Havelock Ellis’s remark in 1883 that Hardy was “only willing to recognize the psychical element in its physical correlative”. |
| author |
Mallett, Phillip |
| author_facet |
Mallett, Phillip |
| author_sort |
Mallett, Phillip |
| title |
“A woman’s flush of triumph lit her eyes”: Hardy, Darwin, and the Blush |
| title_short |
“A woman’s flush of triumph lit her eyes”: Hardy, Darwin, and the Blush |
| title_full |
“A woman’s flush of triumph lit her eyes”: Hardy, Darwin, and the Blush |
| title_fullStr |
“A woman’s flush of triumph lit her eyes”: Hardy, Darwin, and the Blush |
| title_full_unstemmed |
“A woman’s flush of triumph lit her eyes”: Hardy, Darwin, and the Blush |
| title_sort |
“a woman’s flush of triumph lit her eyes”: hardy, darwin, and the blush |
| publisher |
FATHOM |
| publishDate |
2018 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/fathom |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/fathom.807 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/fathom/807 |
| _version_ |
1877242045417914368 |