The Making of the English Canon

Author(s): Jonathan Brody Kramnick

Reviewed work(s):
Source: PMLA, Vol. 112, No. 5 (Oct., 1997), pp. 1087-1101
Published by: Modern Language Association
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TheMakingof the EnglishCanon
JONATHANBRODY KRAM-
NICK, assistantprofessorof
Englishat RutgersUniversity,
New Brunswick,is theauthor
of The Makingof theEnglish
Canon: PrintCapitalism and
theCulturalPast, 1700-1770
1998).
(forthcoming,
Broq'Kramnick
Jonathan
HAT ARE theoriginsoftheEnglishcanon?The answerto
VY thisquestionis deceptivelysimple:Spenser,Shakespeare,
andMiltonachieveddecisivestatusin themid-eighteenth century, the
momentwhenthetermsoftheirreceptionweresetforyearsto come.'
These authorswerefirstrepresented as a literarytrinity and firstde-
scribedwithconsistencyas "transcendent," "sublime,"and "classic"
in criticismwritten duringthe1740s through the1760s.To makethis
simpleargument, however, one mightwishto suggesttwofurther and
complicatingpoints:first, thattheelevationof oldervernacularau-
thorsduringthemid-eighteenth century confronted andrevisedearlier
literary-historicalmodelsin whichmodernliterature improvedon the
worksofthepastand,second,thatthemid-eighteenth- century revision
ofliterary history froma shiftin theperception
resulted ofcultural con-
sumption. The canonicalformofEnglishliterary history emergedas a
reversalofan earlierunderstanding ofcultural change.Thisreversal oc-
curredamida transformative tensionbetweenallegedlyhigh-cultural
andmass-cultural worksandbetweenthesocialworldstheyweretaken
to emblematize.
The now familiarinsightof recenttheoriesof eighteenth-century
printculturelocatesinthebooktradea newrelation tothepast,to ratio-
nality,andtocommunity.2 In opposition
to an archaicorGothicpast,the
presentdefineditselfas refined andpolite,as a publicsphereofprivate
subjects,andas a nation.Butthemakingofthecanonwasnotsimplyan
expressionofprintrationalism orofnationalist sentiment. Rather, print
commoditiesand theirreadersproducedovertimea retrospective in-
vestment in thepast.This endowment was, in turn,a compounditem,
elaboratedin positionsoftentakenin oppositionto one another.Seen
fromone perspective, thepastwas an objectofirrecoverable loss,a loss
thatradiateda Gothiccharm.Seen fromanother, thisGothicnimbus
onlyobscuredthepast'sessentialcontinuity withthepresent, a continu-
ityextending intoEngland'simaginedfuture. In theseantagonistic ver-
sionsofthepast,mid-eighteenth-century criticsattempted to fashiona
newunderstanding ofculturaltransformation.One lastingmonument of
thisattempt was thefixingof literaryhistoryand oftheliterary canon
1087
1088 TheMakingoftheEnglishCanon
forthemodemage. In thefollowing pages,I trace
the formationof the canon throughthe initial
momentof progressand refinement to themid-
century moment ofdeclineandroughness. Bridging
thesetwomodelsis an important discussionamong
criticsaboutthedifferent statusofcommodity and
aestheticvalueandabouttheprofessional condition
itself.
ofcriticalactivity
I echelonsof themercantile
Likeall culturaldevelopments, theformation ofthe
Englishliterarycanon intoits canonicalform-
Spenser,Shakespeare,and Milton-was at once a
reaction toimmediate concerns anda longandcom-
plicatedprocess of abstraction. Mid-eighteenth-
century criticsmadetheirown history, as itwere,
buttheydid notmakeitjust as theypleased.The
termsandnarratives ofmid-century criticism were
shaped by previousgenerations of thinking about
theproblemof literarychange.Restorationand
early-eighteenth-century criticslike ThomasRy-
mer,John Dryden,and Joseph Addisonmadea great
dealofthesuccessiveimprovement ofmodern writ-
erson theiruncouth ancestors. English as both a lan-
in
guageanda literature, thisaccount, culminated
withsuchlate-seventeenth-century poetsas John
DenhamandEdmundWaller,whose"smoothnum-
bers"signified thearrivalofEnglishverseatmodern
regularityand of theEnglishlanguageat polite
speech. In Rymer'sparadigmaticformulation,
"Chaucerfoundan Herculeanlabouron hishands;
anddidperform toadmiration [but]ourlanguagere-
tain'dsomething ofthechurl;something ofthestiff
andGothish didstickuponit,tilllongafter Chaucer.
. In QueenElizabeth'stimeitgrewfinebutcame
notto an headand spirit, didnotshineandsparkle
till Mr. Wallerset it running"(27). "Nothingis
brought intoperfection atthefirst,"echoedDryden
in the1700prefacetotheFables;"we mustbe chil-
dren before we grow into men. . . Even after
a Fair-
Chaucer,therewas a Spenser,a Harrington,
fax,beforeWallerandDenhamwerein being;and
ournumberswerein theirnonageuntiltheselast
appeared"(281).
Smoothenunciation and uniformityof measure
mayappearto be curiousingredients forliterary
canonformation, butone needonlyglanceat the
conditions ofearly-eighteenth-century Englandto
see theirlogic.Readersaccustomed totheaccounts
ofJurgen HabermasandTerryEagletonandbefore
themofIan WattandRichardAltickwillbe famil-
iarwiththesetting ofliterarycultureduringthepe-
riod:thecoffeehouse, thesalon,theclubroom,and
thelike.3Viewedon thewidestsociologicaloptic,
thissemiofficial cultureof politespeechbrought
togetherthereformedaristocracyand theupper
bourgeoisieintowhat
contemporaries giddilyreferred to as the "beau
monde."Habermashasthissituation in mindwhen
he nominates early-eighteenth-century Englandas
the"modelcase" fortheemergenceof thepublic
sphere.The significance of "rationaldiscussion,"
he argues,lay in the separationof the private
sphereofeconomicproduction andthepatriarchal
familyfromthesphereofestablished politics,a de-
velopmentthathe, like Hegel and Marx before
him,viewsas singularto thecapitalistepochand
as first
instantiated in England(27). Accordingto
Habermas's"basic blueprint," thisprizingapart
of civilsocietyfromthestateendowedtastewith
newimportance as thevehicleof sociableaffilia-
tion.4One neednotacceptthefullnarrative ofthe
public sphere,then, to appreciatethe way in which
thebroadlysocial projectof abstracting "polite"
languageresultedin a ratherstrident fetishization
ofgrammatical correctnessandmetrical regularity.
As early-eighteenth-century printcultureglanced
at theworksofthepast,itretroactively barbarized
old writers,whoseversification was "gothic"and
diction"impolite,"whosepuerilelanguagetrou-
bledthematureflowering ofthepublic.
ReadersfamiliarwithTheStructural Transfor-
mationofthePublicSpherewillrecallhowAddi-
sonandSteele'sSpectatorenjoysa specialplacein
theHabermasiannarrative. The periodical'sinter-
weavingofaesthetic discussionwithwidelytopical
matters representsforHabermasthedualprojectof
broadening thescope ofliterary cultureandrefin-
ing thetasteof the new readingpublic.5In this
accounttheemergent booktradewas warmlyem-
bracedby Addisonand his followers,criticswho
foundinprintculturea formofsociability notlim-
itedbyaristocratic entitlement.Suchis at leastthe
cruxof Addison'sfamousclaim,in Spectator10,
to havebrought philosophy downfromtheheavens
 Brody
Jonathan Kramnick 1089

andintopolitesociety:"I shallbe ambitious

tohave on wit,on thepleasuresoftheimagination, andon
itsaidofme,thatI havebrought philosophy outof thevirtuesof Miltondesigneda politemodernity
closetsandlibraries,schoolsandcolleges,to dwell by separatingit froma "gothick"prehistory (1:
in clubsandassemblies,at tea-tablesandincoffee- 271; no. 63). Here thepresentnotonlyproduced
houses" (Addison and Steele 1: 44). Addison's its own past,of whichit was thenecessaryand
nominationof himselfas themodernSocratesis healthydescendant, butfashioned thatpastina way
inseparable,in his ownestimation, fromhisbeing thatwouldpersistintothefuture: whenceenchant-
"possessedoftheartofprinting" andfromthesale ment,superstition, themythic,theGothic,and
ofhiswriting: "mybooksellertellsmethatthede- so forth.
mandforthesemypapersincreasesdaily,"Addi- This narrativeof literaryimprovement, one
sonboasts;"myloose tractsandsinglepieces"are mightsay,followedthecourseof whatBenedict
"retailedtothepublick,andeverypagesubmitted to Andersonhas denominated printcapitalism.An-
theTasteofforty orfiftythousand Readers."In lay- derson's thesisis nowwell known: one ofthefirst
ingthegrounds forrational
discourse,thecommerce fullycapitalized commodities,printassembled
in printallowedmodernEnglishcultureto surpass vernacular languagesandaudiencesintonations-
eventheculture oftheancients: "imagined communities"bound by language,
andcustom.Atthislevelofanalysis,An-
territory,
Hadthephilosophers andgreat menofantiquity,who derson's argumentwould appear to explain the
tookso muchpainsinorder toinstruct
mankind, and early eighteenthcentury'smodel of the canon:
leavetheworldwiserandbetter thantheyfoundit; progressto nationalrefinement. Yet it would be
hadthey, I say,beenpossessed oftheartofprinting, morecorrect to saythatthenarrative ofrefinement
thereis noquestionbutthey wouldhavemadesuchan andthecanonitbequeathed(DenhamandWaller)
advantage ofit,indealingouttheir
lecturestothepub- set the termsforthe mid-century'scritiqueof
lick.Ourcommon printswouldbe ofgreatusewere refinement and forthelastingcanonical trinity
theythuscalculated todiffusegoodsensethrough the (Shakespeare,Spenser,andMilton).At thispoint,
bulkofa people, toclearuptheir ani- the nationalcanon could, in Anderson'swords,
understandings,
matetheir minds withvirtue, thesorrows
dissipate of "loom out of an immemorialpast" (11). In edi-
a heavyheart, orunbend themindfrom itsmorese- tions,treatises,and essayswritten in thedecades
vereemployments with innocent
amusements.
immediately following1688,criticsoftenclaimed
thatEnglish poetryand the English language
The commodityexchangeof printedgoods is at reachedtheirapexinthepresent, a moment ofmil-
one withthe standardizationand refinement of itarytriumph, politicalstability,
andeconomicex-
the social activityAddison termsconversation: pansion.In additionto celebrating contemporary
"Knowledge,insteadof beingboundup in books style,thismodernizing perspectiveprompted ac-
and keptin librariesand retirements, is thusob- tiverevision orrewritingofolderworks;roughlan-
truded upon the publick; . .. it is canvassed in guage,indecorousbawdiness,and violencewere
everyassembly,and exposed upon everytable" censoredto suitthereadinghabitsofpolitesociety.
(1: 507-08;no. 124).ForAddisonandothers, itwas Dryden's"translation"of Chaucer was butone
also theprominence of "gentle"readersfromthe instanceof a movementthatincludedAddison's
"femaleworld,"whose leisurelydomesticity put essays on Milton(1711), JohnHughes's ortho-
"so muchtimeon theirhands"thatauguredthe graphically "improved" editionof Spenser(1715),
manneredelegance of modernEnglish culture Pope's laboriouslyregularizedand sanitizededi-
(1: 47; no. 10).6 This setthestageforsubsequent tionof Shakespeare(1725) and "versification" of
calls fora "masculine"canon. Of equal impor- Donne (1735), and RichardBentley'snotorious
tance,theopeningup of theculturalproductfora ParadiseLost(1727). In all theseversionsofliter-
nationof readersdarkenedthe past,whentexts aryhistory, thepastnessof theauthor,thetext,or
were read only by the literatiand whenwriters theperiodat largewas an issueinsofaras ithadto
composedin an obscureidiom.Addison'sessays be overcome.
1090 TheMakingoftheEnglishCanon
II
As criticsbegan to rethinktheconsequencesof
widespreadreadingand thecommodification of
books,an affirmative relationtothecultural market
becameincreasingly difficult
to sustain.The print
relationsand formsof literacythat,in theearly
yearsoftheeighteenth century,bespoketherefine-
mentof nationaltaste were now regardedwith
somedismay.This senseofculturalcrisis,in turn,
impelleda transformation ofcriticaltheory.
As the
very"commonprints"Addisonsaw as thecon-
ditionof a politeand rationalnationbecame the
condition ofan unstableconsumer theem-
culture,
phasison decorousease gavewayto a revaluing of
difficult obscurity.To thedegreethatlinguistic dif-
ferencestill distinguished ancientfrommodern
Englishliterature, itonlyconfirmed formanymid-
eighteenth-century criticsthevaluabledistanceof
olderwriters frommarketsociety.The consequent
transformation in thenarrative and methodof li-
teraryhistorywas ratherdrastic:Spenser,Shake-
speare,and MiltonreplacedDenhamand Waller;
philologyreplacedmodernization; and thenarra-
tiveofimprovement becamea narrative ofdecline.
Yet itwouldbe wrongto say thatthemid-century
simplybrokefromthenormsof the Augustans.
Rather, theearliermodelofliterary historical
devel-
opment-progress towardrefinement-was turned
on itshead;thepastcrystallized bytheAugustans
was dialecticallypreservedbytheirsuccessorsas
the radiantsheenof pre-enlightened, vernacular ing"-by whichhe meanswithout"knowledgein
highculture.
Whydidprintrationality bringabouta nostalgia struction"-Shakespeare "cannotbe readwithany
forantiqueformsand language?In a suggestive
gloss on WalterBenjamin,Habermasdescribes
howthepublicspherebrought
abouta certaincri-
sis at itsverymeridian:
Cultureproductsno longerremainedcomponents
of
theChurch'sand court'spublicityof representation; temporary readers,Uptonrepeatedly
thatis precisely
whatis meantbythelossoftheiraura
of extraordinarinessand by the profaningof their idealofpolitespeech.In fact,he argues,theweight
once sacramentalcharacter.The privatepeople for
whom the culturalproductbecame available as a
commodityprofaneditinasmuchas theyhadto deter-
mineits meaningon theirown (by way of rational
communicationwithone another),verbalizeit,and
thusstateexplicitly
whatpreciselyin itsimplicitness
forso longcouldassertitsauthority. (36-37)
Benjamin'snarrative, in thisanalysis,is ultimately
groundedin thesocialrelationsof artistic produc-
tions-the change in producersand consumers
overtime.The important pointforthecurrent argu-
mentis notso muchtheimplicitly Whiggishstory
of art'sdemocratization, however, as thecounter-
narrative of theaura's phoenixlikerebirthas the
aesthetic.The affirmativecultureofthemarket led
to a skepticalcritiqueofthecirculation ofcultural
goods.Literary culturebecamean objectofcritical
discussionandso formed a publicsphereofprivate
subjects,butas a result,its sacramental aurawas
debasedbycirculation andconsumption. Farfrom
disappearing in modernculture, theaurais in fact
its product.Habermas's analysis thus may be
rewritten to covertheemergenceof theEnglish
canononlyby shifting theperspective to themo-
mentin the 1740s and 1750s when the earlier
emphasis on polite conversationbequeatheda
compensatory revaluingofthepast.
Whereas Dryden and Addison attemptedto
overcomethedifficult vulgarityof thepast,mid-
centurycriticsfoundthelinguisticdistanceand
aestheticdifficulty of Shakespeareand Spenser
(and on occasionChauceras well) important ele-
mentsof whatmade these writerscanonical. In
Critical Observations on Shakespeare (1748), for
example,JohnUptonwritesthat"withoutlearn-
ancientcustomsandmanners, ingrammar andcon-
degreeofunderstanding ortaste"(ix, 137).Thisem-
phasison theoldnessofShakespeare'slanguage-
thedistanceofitscadenceandrhythms-led Upton
to devotea thirdofthetreatiseto analyzingShake-
speare'smeteranddefending itsoriginalscansion.
Alienating thetextfrom the very languageofcon-
suggeststhat
thehistoryofEnglishis notan ascenttothemodem
placedon sociability
produced a distorted
accountof
thenationalcanon:
The misfortune seemsto me to be, thatscarce any-
one pays a regardto whatShakespearedoes write,
 Jonathan Kramnick
Brody
but they are always guessing at what he should
write;norin anyotherlightis look'd on, thanas a
poor mechanic;a fellow,'tis true,of genius,who
says,now and then,verygood things,butwild and
uncultivated;and as one by no meanspropercom-
pany forlords, and ladies, maids of honour,and
courtpages,'tillsomepoetor other,whoknowsthe
worldbetter,takeshimin hand,and introduces him
in thismoderndresstogood company. (16)
A rational approach to the artifactsof the literary
past consists in acknowledging theirperiodicity.
This periodizing move then bestows a kind of
high-culturalaura on literarytextsas theyfade into
English antiquity.The rejectionof the modernizing
narrative,thatis, values older works to the degree
thattheyare difficult to assimilateintothe commu-
nityof modernreaders.
As Upton examines how earlier criticism tai-
lored Shakespeare forthe public, he notes the so-
cial composition of thatpublic, its confinementto
the elite classes: "lords, and ladies, maids of hon-
our, and courtpages." Upton neitherlongs forthe
restriction of thataudience norcelebratesits demo-
cratic overcoming.Rather,he argues thatthe cate-
goryof audience itselfhas become a problem.This
is a crucial move forthe mid-century'svarietyof
historicistor "scholarly"criticism.7The public has
forgottenhow to read older texts; the national
canon needs to be secured by specialist critics.As
is common in such critiques,the representationof
cultural degradation is provocatively gendered:
"How farthe corruptionof even our public diver-
sions may contributeto the corruptionof our man-
ners, may be an inquiry not unworthythe civil
magistrate,"Upton avers; "mattersof these con-
cernmentsare now leftto the managementof our
women of fashion; and even our poets, whose end
is profitand delight,are exceedinglycautious how
they incur the censure of these fair umpires and
critics" (17). The culture of refinementto which
Upton respondshas transformed froma genteelpo-
liteness to a female conspiracy,a public managed
by women and bearingof "death and destructionto
the little taste remaining among us" (1 1). In this
light,Upton continues, "it seems no wonder,that
the masculine and nervous Shakespeare, and Mil-
ton should so littleplease our effeminatetaste.And
1091
themoreI considerourstudiesand amusements,
thegreater is thewondertheyshouldeverpleaseat
all" (15). Shakespeareand Miltonare strikingly
embodied,notjust manlybutalso nervous,their
distancefrommodernity reifiedin thestrength and
resiliencyoftheircorporalfibers.ButUptonmay
be understood, as well,tobe suggesting "nervous"
in themodernsenseof anxiety:Shakespeareand
Miltonlookto thepresentand see theireclipseby
effeminate massculture.The pastviewedfromthe
present proleptically worriesoveritsdemise.
As criticsbecameincreasingly concernedwith
theslack effeminacy of theculturalmarket, they
oftenturnedto theallegednonrelation of Shake-
speare'sidiomto thespeechhabitsof thepublic
sphere.In a series of articlesin theAdventurer
(1753) on Shakespeare'sThe Tempestand King
Lear, forexample,JosephWartonarguesthathis
period'scorruption of literaryvalue and misread-
ingofliterary history
arebothproducts ofculture's
dissemination duringtheAddisonianperiod.8He
characterizes theprojectoftheAdventurer, in fact,
as a rejoinder totheSpectator'scelebration ofprint
commodities andofthereadingpublic:
Addisonremarks thatSocrateswas said to have
brought philosophydownfromheavento inhabit
amongmen:"AndI,"sayshe,"shallbe ambitious to
haveitsaidofme,thatI havebroughtphilosophy out
ofclosetsandlibraries,
schoolsandcolleges,
todwell
inclubsandassemblies attea-tables,
andincoffee-
houses."Butthispurpose hasinsomemeasure been
defeatedbyitssuccess;andwehavebeendriven from
oneextreme withsuchprecipitation,
thatwehavenot
stoppedin themedium, butgoneon to theother.
hasbeendivested ofthepeculiarities
Learning ofa
collegedress,thatshemight mixin publicassem-
blies;butbythismeansshehasbeenconfounded with
ignoranceandlevity. (21:289-90;no.139)
The "engagedand easy" manneroftheSpectator
had theunforeseeneffectof degradingthevery
learningandtastewithwhichitintended to please
thepublic(21: 288). Addisonis rightto suggest
thattheprintmarkethas madeculturalgoods ob-
jects of conversation,
butthisprocesshas turned
back on itself;"insteadof learninghavingele-
vated conversation,conversationhas degraded
learning"(21: 290).
1092 TheMakingoftheEnglishCanon
One striking feature
ofWarton's responsetoAd-
disonis thatWarton makespointedreference tothe
"literary,"a termand problemnotdefinedby the
Spectator."I would notbe thoughtsolicitousto
confine theconversation evenofscholarstoliterary
subjects,but onlyto preventsuch subjectsfrom
beingtotally excluded"(21: 291). In themovefrom
AddisontoWarton, "philosophy" changesto "liter-
arysubjects,"and "literarysubjects"becomes a
categoryat once in crisisand withan importantly
educativeeffecton thepublic:"It seemstherefore
thatto correctthetasteof thepresentgeneration,
literarysubjectsshouldbe againintroduced among
thepoliteand gay,withoutlabouringtoo muchto
disguisethemlikecommonprattle" (J.Warton21:
290). Warton'sdesire"to superintend themorals
andtasteofthepublic"placesspecialemphasison
theliterary as thecategoryfallenvictimto Addi-
son'spublicizing ofculturalproducts. Whatmakes
literarysubjectsliterary is theiralterityto "polite
assemblies"and"domestic theircapac-
familiarity,"
ityto correctoverly"polite"and "domestic"taste
(21: 287). We knowwhatliterature is byknowing
whatitis not;"thetinselofa burletta has moread-
mirers thanthegoldofShakespeare" (21: 291).
One experiencesShakespeare'sgoldenliterari-
ness in his particularlycompressedand transfig-
uredlanguage.Lear'sexclamation on havingfound
Kent in the stocks("O me, myheart!myrising
heart!"[Lear2.4.116])showshow
by a singleline,inexpressibleanguishof his mind,
and thedreadfulconflictof oppositepassions with
whichitis agitatedare moreforciblyexpressed,than
by the long and labouredspeech,enumerating the
causes of his anguish,thatRowe and othermodern
tragicwriterswouldcertainlyhaveputintohismouth.
Nature,Sophocles, and Shakespearerepresentthe
feelingoftheheartin a different
manner, bya broken
hint,a shortexclamation,
a wordora look.
(21: 127;no. 116)
ForWarton, thepastandthepresenteach maintain
a particular
typeof"speech";theone is defined
by
lyricalcompression,theotherby publicexpatia-
tion.ThisreversalofAddison'smodeldoes notso
muchabandontheprojectoftheSpectator, then,as
extendsome of itsfundamental premisesto their
ultimatenegation.Accordingto Addison,thelan-
guageofthepublicspherewas thesameas thatof
canonical authors,indeedwas formedby them.
Warton'ssubsequentformulationretainstheprob-
lemoflanguagebutdividesthelinguistic intotwo
irreconcilable
modes.Publicconversation andlit-
erarylanguage oppose each other,as the prose
essay does thelyricpoem. This divisionhad no
smalleffecton theemergentcategory"literature"
and on theEnglishcanon.9Aftercompletingthe
essayson Shakespeare,WartonpublishedAnEssay
on the Writingsand Genius of Alexander Pope
(1756), whichcast a despairingglanceat modern
composition(in particularat whatit took to be
Pope's overlydidacticandpre-aesthetic satire)and
contrastedthiswriting withthegreatworksofthe
past.The Essay beginswitha summationof En-
glishliteraryhistory:"Our EnglishPoets may,I
think,be disposedin fourdifferent classesandde-
grees.In thefirst
class I wouldplaceouronlythree
sublimeandpatheticpoets:Spenser,Shakespeare,
Milton"(vii). Warton'sthinkingthroughof the
problemofculturalchange,literary language,and
printcapitalismculminated in one ofthefirst
rep-
resentationsoftheEnglishcanonas a trinity.
III
Literarylanguagein thevernacular, accordingto
thistrinitarian
reading,is mostcommonly foundin
theworksof thepast.Oldertexts,whosecustom-
arymodesofexpression defiedmodernsociability,
particularly
suitedthelyricalnegativity
Warton as-
sociatedwithhighculture.Considertheshifting
reputationof Spenseroverthecourseoftheeigh-
teenthcentury.10From1715to 1751onlyone mod-
ern editionof The Faerie Queene existed,and
unlikeShakespeareor Milton,Spensergenerated
fewtreatisesoressays.The 1750sand 1760ssaw a
conspicuousincreasein the volumeof Spenser
criticism,
however, alongwitha revivalofSpenser-
ian poetics. In Observationson theFairy Queen of
Spenser(1754-62), ThomasWarton, theyounger
brotherofJosephandone of Spenser'smoreassid-
uous champions,arguedthatan appreciationof
Spenser's workdemandeda singularlylearned
ascesis, includinga familiarity
withtheremote
worldof Spenser'ssources.A readerofolderwrit-
 Jonathan Kramnick
Brody 1093

ers, accordingto Warton,"bringsto his worka fairyregion,andareall highlypleasingto theimagi-

mind intimatelyacquainted withthose books, nation.It is truethathis uncouthand unfamiliar
whichthoughnowforgotten, wereyetin common languagedisgustsand detersmanyreaders:butthe
principalreasonforhisbeingso littleknown,and so
use andhighreputeaboutthetimein whichthese
seldomtakenintohand,is theconvenient opportunity
authorsrespectively wrote,and whichtheyconse-
of readinghimwithpleasureand facilityin modern
quentlymusthave read" (2: 264). Readingis, in imitations.For whentranslation, and suchimitations
short,demanding. As Wartonwas fondofremind- fromChaucermaybe justlyso called,at lengthbe-
ing his audience,he was a fellowof TrinityCol- come substituted as themeansof attaining a knowl-
lege and,bythepublicationof thesecondvolume edge of anydifficult and ancientauthor,theoriginal
of his Essay, Oxford'sprofessorof poetry(see notonlybeginsto be neglectedand excludedas less
Vance; Pittock). Warton'sacademic authority easy,butalso to be despisedas less ornamental and
restedin his adaptationof classicalphilologyand elegant.Thusthepublictastebecomesimperceptibly
itsmethodsofsourcecriticism andtextualanalysis vitiated,whilethegenuinemodelis superseded, and
graduallygives wayto theestablishment of a more
to vernacular He maderecourseto an older
texts.11
specious,butfalseresemblance. Thus,toomanyread-
formof textualstudiesto elevateEnglishwriting
ers[are]happytofindthereadiestaccommodation for
andstakea positioninthefieldofletters. theirindolenceandtheirilliteracy. (1: 197-98)
Warton'sassertionof a professional prerogative
tentatively reversed Addison's inaugural gesture,
This recovery of older English literaturecrystal-
bringingliterature back from the "tea-tables and
lizes a series of oppositions inheritedfromAddi-
. .. coffee-houses"to the"closets and libraries,
son and elsewhere: original/translation, difficulty/
schoolsandcolleges."Yetthephilologicalturnin
ease, ancient/modern,literate/illiterate. Warton's
mid-century criticismcapitalizedon theveryun-
novelty is to suggest that in each case the first
derstanding ofthepastitendeavored to supersede.
term'shavinggivenway to the second is thecondi-
CriticslikeThomasWartonpreservedtheearlier
tion of degraded taste and indolentreaders. Liter-
wearinessof olderworksas an aestheticsofunap-
acy in thispassage is a scholarlyfacilitywitholder
proachablepastness.This dialecticis exhibited
languages-not simplythe abilityto read, but the
withperhapsno greater saliencethanin thetrajec-
abilityto read well. And readingwell gives one ac-
toryof thewordGothicas itmadeitswayfroma
cess to the high-culturalworks of the past. The
termof abuseforolderEnglishcultureto thecon-
twinproject of revivingSpenser and revisitinghis
summateexpressionof thatculture'svalue. For
sources turnson the axis of the older Gothic ro-
whileitis no doubttruethatthegothicizing ofthe
mance, a genre with an importantaesthetic pedi-
pastrepresented a fundamental rethinking ofEn-
gree; such "romances . . . were the source from
glishculturalhistory, itis no less thecase thatthis
which young readers especially, in the age of fic-
history dependedon thepriorestablishment of an
tionand fancy,nourishedtheSUBLIME" (1: 188).
enlightened and politemodernity againsta misty
Warton's cultivated retreat from the public
and obscureantiquity. Considerthewayin which
sphereintotheuniversitywas thuselaboratedanal-
Warton, likeUpton,challengedthemodelof liter-
ogously in the preferenceforGothic and sublime
aryhistory represented by Dryden's"translation"
difficultyover beautiful and sociable ease. These
ofChaucer:
institutionaland aesthetic positions were thenre-
combined in his preference for the Elizabethan
I cannotdismissthissection a wish,thatthis
without
courtover themodem market.In Warton'sscholar-
neglected whomSpenser
author, proposed as thepat-
ship, the plot of The Faerie Queene is continually
ternofhisstyle,andtowhomheis indebted formany
nobleinventions,should studied.
be moreuniversally decoded as courtintrigue.This reading advertises
Thisis atleastwhatonemight inanageofre-
expect the scholar's historicalknowledge and emphasizes
searchandcuriosity.. . Hisoldmanners,hisroman- thatthepoem was writtenfora small audience cen-
ticarguments, hiswildnessofpainting,
hissimplicity tered on the queen. The determinatelocation of
andantiquity ofexpression, us intosome
transport Spenser's poem in Elizabeth's "theaterof romantic
1094 TheMakingoftheEnglishCanon
gallantries"shapes its formalconstitutionas an al-
legory,and it is throughallegory,Wartonsuggests,
that modern readers may get a sense of just how
distant The Faerie Queene is fromcontemporary
culturalproducts(2: 89). That "allegorical poetry,
throughmany gradations,at last received its ulti-
mate consummationin theFairy Queen" signals an
overall decline in literaryachievementafterSpen-
ser, as the center of cultural production moved
fromthe court to the market(2: 112). "Afterthe
Fairy Queen," Warton writes,"allegory began to
decline," and with it went the Gothic romance as
well (2: 110).
A poetrysucceeded,in whichimagination gave way
to correctness,
sublimityofdescriptionto delicacyof
sentiment, and majesticimageryto conceitand epi-
gram. . . The nicerbeautiesof happyexpression
werepreferred to thedaringstrokesofgreatconcep-
tion.Satire,thatbane of thesublime,was imported
fromFrance.The musesweredebauchedat court,and
politelife and familiarmannersbecame theironly
themes.The simpledignityof Miltonwas eitheren-
tirelyneglected,or mistaken
forbombastandinsipid-
ity,by therefinedreadersof a dissoluteage, whose
tasteandmoralswereequallyvitiated. (2: 111-12)
The importationof satireand the cult of versifica-
tion during Charles II's reign persisted into the
next centuryin disguised formas the literatureof
"polite life and familiar manners" (that is, as the
modern forms of satire and the novel). The pas-
sage's concluding paradox-in which a "dissolute
age" is at one with"refinedreaders"-may thusbe
explained withreferenceto the entiremode of lit-
erary production Warton criticizes, in which the
Gothic age of restrictedproductionhas given way
to the refinementof the market,and the aesthetic
power of the sublime to the enervated politeness
of sentiment.
The mid-eighteenth-century Spenser revivalre-
ceived its mostelaborateand baroque expressionin
Richard Hurd's Letterson Chivalryand Romance
(1762). Like Warton,Hurd complains thatSpenser
is unread by moderns:"The Faery Queene, one of
the noblestproductionsof modernpoetry,is fallen
into so general neglect,thatall the zeal of its com-
mentatorsis esteemed officiousand impertinent,
and will never restore it to those honours it has,
once forall, lost" (49). In Hurd's ratherinstrumen-
tal lament,the waning of Spenser's audience dur-
ing the eighteenthcenturyis the condition forhis
criticalrevivalas highculture:
PoorSpenserthen
-"in whosegentlespright
Thepurewell-headofPoesiediddwell"
must,foroughtI can see, be leftto theadmiration
of
a few letteredor curiousmen: while the manyare
sworntogether togiveno quarter tothemarvelous.
(150)
Spenser's oblique relationto thereadingpublic en-
sures his "honours" as they are now returnedto
him by thechampionsof a vanquishedpast.
As withThomas Warton,Hurd's literarynostal-
gia is tied to a vision of premodernsocial institu-
tions.In a prefatory discussion to theLetters,Hurd
bemoans the passing of "the weightand influence
of the old nobility,who engaged the love, as well
as commandedthevenerationof thepeople":
The artsofa refined
sequestered luxurywerethenun-
known.... The preeminence ofrankandfortune was
noblysustained:the subordination of societypre-
served:and yettheenvy,thatis so aptto attendthe
great,happilyavoided.... In themeantime,ruralin-
dustryflourished:
privateluxury was discouraged:and
in bothwaysthatfrugalsimplicity of life,ourcoun-
try'sgraceandornament in thosedays,was preserved
andpromoted. (49-50)
In thiselegiac rememberingof an organicpast, the
"feudal system"(99) amountsto a sanctifiedhier-
archyfreefrombourgeois "envy" and the modern
public-privatedistinctionalike. The presentholds
a "disenchanted" relationto the past (154). Liter-
ary historyis a privileged narrativeforrepresent-
ing the conditionof modernityafterthe loss of the
feudal world:
At lengththemagicof theold romanceswas per-
fectlydissolved.Theybeganwithreflecting an image
indeedofthefeudalmanners. .. . Thenextstepwas to
haverecoursetoallegories.... Butreason,in theend,
(assistedhoweverbyparty, andreligiousprejudices)
drovethemoffthe scene, and would endurethese
 Jonathan Kramnick
Brody
lyingwonders,neither in theirownpropershape,nor
as maskedinfigures.
Henceforth, thetasteofwitandpoetrytooka new
turn:Andfancy,thathad wantedit so long in the
worldof fiction,was now constrained, againsther
will,to allyherselfwithstrict ifshewouldgain
truth,
an entrance intoreasonablecompany.
Whatwe have gottenby thisrevolution, you will
say,is a greatdeal ofgood sense.Whatwe havelost,
is a worldof finefabling;theillusionof whichis so
grateful tothecharmedspirit;that,in spiteofphiloso-
phyand fashion,Faery Spenserstillrankshighest
amongthepoets;I meanwithall whoeithercomeof
thathouse,orhaveanykindnessforit. (153-55)
Hurd's counterenlightenment presents a compre-
hensive historyof literatureand social relations.
Once magic and belief flee the modem world,they
take withthem"fancy" and "fiction"and leave in-
stead the desolationof "stricttruth."The inevitable
supersession of "feudal manners" by consumer
capitalism entails the equally insuperable waning
of the aura, as the twin forces of rationalityand
commodityexchange root out the last vestiges of
the premodernworld and dissolve its various ani-
misms. So much the betterfor the reputationof
Spenser. As soon as the aura is buried, it is also
disinterredand endowed with the nostalgic half-
life of the aesthetic.The aestheticin such formula-
tions amounts to what Benjamin would later call
the "profane cult of beauty,"a secular attemptto
reinventthesacred worldby substituting in itsplace
a numberof new categories: here,the sublime and
the Gothic, but also fancy,fiction,wonder,trans-
port,and literatureitself.These categories emerge
in Hurd,as elsewhere,througha necessarilybelated
and maudlin attemptto experience "what we have
lost," both the "finefabling" of poets like Spenser
and theirorganic feudal world. Disenchantmentis
thusone withreenchantment as thepast now shines
withthe "charmedspirit"drainedfrommodernity.
Reenchantingthe past provides of course a refuge
fordisgruntledmodems,whose anomie may at least
be temporarilyrelieved throughreading and aes-
theticexperience. But it also redefinesthe cultural
fieldof thepresent,at once devaluingculturalprod-
ucts writtenafterwhatHurd calls "the greatrevolu-
tion in moderntaste" and constitutinga domain of
restrictedculturewithinthe vernacular(108). The
1095
Gothicism oftheGothic-its"nobility"-means not
onlythatSpenser"rankshighest" butthatthisrank-
ingis preserved
bya literary
elect,the"fewlettered
andcuriousmen."
Hurd'svertiginous nostalgiatakesaim notsur-
prisinglyat modernliteraryforms.Comparehis
accountofSpenserian Gothicism tohispassingref-
erenceto themodem novel in A Dissertationon the
Idea of UniversalPoetry(1766). In thatstudyHurd
asks,"whatare we to thinkof thosenovelsor ro-
mances, as theyare called, thatis, fables con-
structedon some privateand familiarsubject,
whichhavebeenso current, oflate,throughall Eu-
rope?"His answeris tart:
As theyproposepleasurefortheir
end,andprosecute
inthewayoffiction,
it,besides, without
though metri-
cal numbers, and generally,
indeed,in harshand
rugged prose,oneeasilyseeswhattheirpretensions
are,andunder whatideatheyareambitioustobere-
ceived . . . yetas theyare whollydestituteof mea-
suredsounds(to say nothingof theirnumberless
theycan,atmost,
defects) beconsideredbutas hasty,
andabortive
imperfect, poems. (7)
The "pretensions" ofthenovellie in itsattempt to
usurpthe space occupiedby theolderromance,
whichstandsin greater reliefwhencontrasted with
itsfallendescendant. The vulgarityofthenovel,its
inabilityto be properly"poetic,"references in so-
cial termsthegenre'sculturalcommonality. What
mayhaveprovokedthiscuriousdigressionon the
novel?Hurd'sliterary historychallengedthemod-
ernisthostilityto olderEnglishtextsandthechar-
acteristic
genresofmodernwriting-adualproject
unitedinitsrethinking oftheprintmarket.
IV
The virtueof Hurd'slittlebook is thatit demon-
strateswithrelative"zeal" how thereputation of
SpenserandShakespeareandtheidea ofliterature
theyepitomizedwereproductsof a prolongedand
pronounced cultural
crisis.Thatcrisiswas reflected
and transformed in Johnson'sprefaceto Shake-
speare(1765),one oftheeighteenth century'smost
famousactsofcanonformation. The prefacegives
us theopportunity
oncemoretoposethequestionof
1096 TheMakingoftheEnglishCanon

nationalliteraryhistory,to considerthe conversion criticalpersonality wereeach overdetermined by

of theearliermodel of progressivenationalisminto theshifting perception ofcommodity culture.(We
a retrospectiveGothicismand thenagain intoa his- can perhapsquicklygrasphoweachofthesestylis-
toricalnationalismfoundedon reading. ticticswouldfunction in thiscontext:theLatinate
Johnson's career, like thatof many others,be- heavinessofthelanguagewrenched theprosefrom
gan witha calculated position takingin relationto the sprightly sociolectof coffeehouseparlance,
his predecessors. Whereas criticism had once evenas theperiodicbalancingsoughtto add in its
soughtto be the expressionof sociable refinement, placeJohnson's ownbrandoforder;thisorderwas
he suggested, it ought to withdraw,slightly,from thencompletedat thelevelofcontent byan exact-
the public sphere. Rambler 23 (1750), forexam- ingpiety).12 In anycase, theposturing heretakes
ple, examines just how different Johnson'sproject whatwas evenbythena familiar shape:publicde-
is fromthatof the Spectator. The essay's conceit mandsareexperienced as a cloying,"female"pres-
is thatthe Rambler's distance frompublicity and ence, the solutionto whichis a rejectionof the
refinementhas, paradoxically, caused a stirin the politemodeforthatofa "serious,solemndictator."
public itself: It is in themodeofthedictator, then,thatJohnson
pronouncesa summary endto thenarrative ofre-
My readershaving,fromtheperformances ofmypre- finement: "tasteand grace,purityand delicacy,
decessors,establishedan idea ofunconnected essays mannersand unities,soundswhich,havingbeen
... wereimpatient of theleast deviationfromtheir once uttered by thosethatunderstood them,have
system.... SomewereangrythattheRamblerdidnot, beensincere-echoed without meaning, andkeptup
liketheSpectator,introducehimselfto theacquain-
tothedisturbance oftheworld,bya constant reper-
tanceofthepublicbyan accountofhisownbirthand
of his adventures,
cussion from one coxcomb to another" (3: 127).
studies,and enumeration and de-
scriptionofhisphysiognomy. Otherssoonbegantore- Overthecourseofthe1750s,however, Johnson's
markthathe was a solemn,serious,dictatorialwriter, thinking about theroleof criticismin relationboth
without orgaiety,
sprightliness andcalledoutwithve- to the literary
past andto itspublictransformed im-
hemenceformirth andhumour. Anotheradmonished portantly. In theparodicfigureof Dick Minimin
himto have a special eye uponthevariousclubs of Idler 60 (1759), forinstance,Johnsonbringsto-
thisgreatcity,and informedhimthatmuchof the getherthenarrative ofpoliterefinement andthatof
Spectator'svivacitywas laid out upon such assem- Gothicdescentintoa singlecriticalerror. Thepaper
blies.He has beencensuredfornotimitating thepo- beginswiththeprototypical sceneof literary his-
litenessofhispredecessors,havinghithertoneglected toryas modernization:
to taketheladiesunderhisprotection,
andgivethem
rulesforthejustoppositionofcoloursandtheproper
ofruffles Of all thegreatauthorshe nowbeganto displaythe
dimensions andpinners.... (3: 128-29)
characters,layingdownas an universalpositionthat
all had beautiesand defects.His opinionwas that
The public warily responds to a formof criticism Shakespeare,committing himselfwhollyto theim-
thatseems to come at an unusuallyoblique angle to pulseofnature,wantedthatcorrectness whichlearn-
its essential concerns and essential sociability.Yet ingwouldhavegivenhim.... He blamedthestanza
the Rambler's suspicion of its public is not meant ofSpenser,andcouldnotbearthehexameters ofSid-
to signal a retreatfrom publication; as Johnson ney.DenhamandWallerhe heldthefirst reformers of
mentionsover and again, his essays were produced Englishnumbers.... (2: 186)
fora marketof readerswhose demands shaped his
"weekly labour" (128). Rather,it is the curiously The caricaturedrehearsalofthestocktermsofcrit-
antipublic publicity,the professed refusal to curb ical cultureregistersa certaincrystallization
of
styleor contentto meet the expectationsof his au- refinement afteritsdominanceas a modelforun-
dience, that places Johnson in the thick of mid- derstanding thepastandthepast'srelationto the
centurycriticism.The calculated involution,moral presenthas alreadyexpired.Modernrefinement is
posturing, and periodic bravura that formed his itselfantique.But,as Johnsoncontinues, thepar-
 Jonathan Kramnick
Brody
odyalso subsumestheantithetical
positionofmid-
In thesecondpaper,Minim
historicism.
century
wishesforsomestandard
often oftaste,
forsometri-
towhich
bunal, mayappealfrom
merit caprice,
preju-
dice,andmalignity....Whenhe is placedinthechair
ofcriticism,
hedeclaresloudlyforthenoblesimplic-
inopposition
ityofourancestors, tothepetty refine-
ments,andornamentalluxuriance.Sometimes heis
sunkindespair,
andperceivesfalsedelicacygaining
ground,andsometimes brightenshiscountenance
witha gleamofhope,andpredicts therevivalofthe
truesublime.... (2: 190-91)
ThatMinimcan movefromtherefinement ofnum-
bersto the"sublime"refusalof"pettyrefinements
and ornamentalluxuriance"demonstrates less a
similaritybetweenthesetwopositionsthantheir
emergence as clearopposites:refinement andGoth-
icism.The professionaltrickof Johnson'sexas-
peratedaccountingof criticism'sfavoriteterms
-refinement andrecession,politeness andthesub-
lime-is to makeitappearas ifhe weresomehow
outsidetheinstitutionhe mocks.
Johnson'sdouble critiquedid not leave him
withoutan accountof publiccultureand literary
history.In fact,he rejectedGothicismand refine-
mentbecauseof theirinabilityto providesuchan
account.As is well known,Johnson'sremarkson
literary
workswereoftenshapedbyan overarching
agon betweenthegeneraland theparticular, the
grandandthesmall,theexemplary andthesingu-
lar,thespeciesandtheindividual.13 As a theory of
canonicity, thepreference forgeneralformsturns
on theirtranscendence oftemporally orgeographi-
callycurbedtastes,a transcendence boundup with
a revisedunderstanding of culturalconsumption.
Thistheory underlay manyofJohnson's seemingly
idiosyncraticjudgmentsin theyearsleadingup to
his editionof Shakespeare.Severaltimesin the
Ramblerseries,forinstance, Johnson takesskepti-
cal notice of the Spenser revival as a curious
instanceof literarynostalgia."The imitationof
Spenser,"heobservesinRambler121,"bytheinflu-
ence of some menof learningand genius,seems
likelyto gainupontheage" (4: 285). Whatis dis-
turbingaboutthisinfluence, Johnson continues, is
thatSpenser'slanguagerepresents nothing so much
1097
as thefailureto be abstract:"His stylewas in his
owntimeallowedto be vicious,so darkenedwith
old wordsand peculiaritiesof phrase,and so re-
motefromcommonusage,thatJonsonboldlypro-
nounceshim 'to have writtenno language"' (4:
285). In another Rambler,Johnson calls Spenser's
linguisticeccentricity a "mingleddialectwhichno
humanbeingevercouldhavespoken"(3: 202-03;
no. 37). Thepointineithercase is thatthelanguage
failstobe usedcontinuously enoughforittobe rec-
ognizableto readers.The assertionis notsimply
thatSpenseriandictionhas no use; itis rather that
theuse is toonarrow, fixedtotheparticular moment
ofproduction, ofsingular mingling. "A studiedbar-
barism," Spenser'sidiomcanonlybe reproduced by
hisepigones,neverreconsumed byhisreaders(3:
203; emphasisadded).Andso Spenserianism is just
nostalgia,a relationto thepastshornof anyvital
connectionto thepresent:"thestyleof Spenser
mightby longlabourbe justlycopied; butlifeis
surelygivenus forhigherpurposesthanto gather
whatourancestors havewiselythrown away,andto
learnwhatis of no value butbecause it has been
forgotten" (4: 286; no. 121).
The finalreferenceto value in thispassage is
telling.The nameforculture's exchangevaluehere
is memory, the accretionof particularuses into
a generalmediumof recollection.In contrastto
SpenserandtheSpenserians,twinfiguresof nos-
talgia,Johnson beginsto establisha versionofthe
pastsecuredbyconsumption. Accumulated actsof
readingfabricate (or remember) a canonicalentity
namedShakespeare.Forthisreason,perhaps,the
prefaceis notableforthevolatilestridency of its
openingpages. Above all otherEnglishauthors,
Johnsonbegins,Shakespearedeservestheacco-
ladesofantiquity:
Thatpraisesarewithout reasonlavishedon the
dead,andthatthehonours dueonlytoexcellence are
paidtoantiquity,
is a complaint likelytobe always
continuedbythose,who,beingabletoaddnothing to
hopeforeminence
truth, from theheresiesofpara-
dox;orthose,who,beingforced bydisappointment
uponconsolatory
expedients, arewillingtohopefrom
whatthepresent
posterity agerefuses andflatter
them-
selvesthat
theregardwhich is yetdeniedbyenvy, will
beatlastbestowedbytime.
1098 TheMakingoftheEnglishCanon
Antiquity, likeeveryotherqualitythatattractsthe
noticeofmankind, has undoubtedlyvotariesthatrev-
erenceit,notfromreason,butfromprejudice.Some
seem to admireindiscriminatelywhateverhas been
long preserved,withoutconsideringthattimehas
sometimesco-operatedwithchance;all perhapsare
morewillingto honourpastthanpresentexcellence;
andthemindcontemplates geniusthrough theshades
of age, as theeye surveysthesun throughartificial
opacity. (Johnson 7: 59)
Johnson'sconsiderationof the honorspaid to older
worksis suggestivelyfraught. The magisterialopen-
ing paragraph-an eighty-seven-wordsentence-
sets the tone and terms for the neater and more
clipped periods thatfollow. The immenseeffortof
hypotaxisbreathingthroughthe sentencedisplays
Johnson'scharacteristic attemptto restrain,through and prescriptiveveneration."As historymoves at
styleitself,the culturalproblemswithwhich he is
concerned.The problemheremightbe termedpast-
ness as such. Afterthe syntacticupheaval of the
opening paragraph,the balanced listingof therea-
sons thepast may radiatea certainundeservedaura
has a certain calming effect.But what is ushered
in by these smaller units is a pronounced sense of
Shakespeare's distance from eighteenth-century
readers.As one looks backwardto the culturalpast
one mustgaze through"theshades of age."
Johnson'sattemptto workaroundthe aura of the
past takes fromit, however,a crucial term:Shake-
speare,like Homer,resides in antiquity.This place-
mentof Shakespeare in antiquityleads to whatwill
become a singularlyinfluentialtestof canonicity,
the testof time:
To worksof whichtheexcellenceis notabsoluteand
definite, butgradualand comparative;to worksnot
raiseduponprinciplesdemonstrative and scientifick,
butappealingwhollyto observation
and experience,
no othertestcan be appliedthanlengthof duration This is no doubt why his criticismis so ofteniden-
andcontinuance ofesteem.Whatmankindhavelong
possessedtheyhaveoftenexaminedand compared, ism rooted in the sense thatreading older cultural
and if theypersistto value thepossession,it is be-
cause frequent comparisonshaveconfirmed opinion
in its favour.... Demonstrationimmediatelydisplays
itspower,and has nothingto hope or fearfromthe
fluxof years;butworkstentativeand experimental and so on). The membersof the readingpublic are
mustbe estimatedbytheirproportion to thegeneral
and collectiveabilityof man,as itis discoveredin a
longsuccessionofendeavors. (7: 60)
There is an inevitablegap betweenthe writingof a
literarywork and its ascendancy to high cultural
permanence.This gap is literary-historical timeit-
self,which mustpass forthe verdictof generations
and ages to hold. As subsequentreadersimmersed
in differentlife worlds, with newfound passions
and distinctinterests,repeatthepreferenceof their
ancestors,theyconfirmearlier opinions of a writ-
er's greatness; theyetch in stone thejudgment of
earlierperiods. The accolades of successive gener-
ations designate Shakespeare an English classic:
"The poet of whose works I have undertakenthe
revisionmay now begin to assume the dignityof an
ancient,and claim theprivilegeof establishedfame
its inexorablepace, it cleaves the aesthetic("works
tentativeand experimental") fromthe empirical
(works"demonstrative and scientifick")and throws
forththe occasional genius whose "literarymerit"
(7: 61) shines "throughthe shades of ages." What
distinguishes literaturefromscience and philoso-
phy here is less premodernenchantmentthan the
immutable "general nature" and universal appeal
that withstand the buffeting tides of readers. "The
sand heaped by one flood is scatteredby another,
but the rock always continues in its place. The
stream of time, which is continually washing the
dissolutefabricksof otherpoets,passes withoutin-
jury by the adamant of Shakespeare" (7: 70). The
pointof thismemorableimage is thatliteraryworks
require a certain deferralbefore theybecome ca-
nonical. It is only afterthefactthatone can be sure
thatShakespeare is not partof the sand and dross
kickedup by history.
For Johnson,the collective body of readerswas
the agent and frameworkof literaryendurance.
tifiedwithEnglish culturalnationalism,a national-
artifactsjoins one to a communitystretchingback
into an immemorialpast. The reader thus is com-
mon not in his or her social statusbut in his or her
lack of particulartraits(of class, region, gender,
alike in theiridentification withShakespeare'schar-
 Brody
Jonathan Kramnick 1099

acters;"Shakespearehas no heroes;his scenesare systems abstract fromtheparticular usesofa given

occupiedonlyby men,who act and speak as the artifact andcanonizelastingforms ofgenerality.
readerthinkshe shouldhimselfhave spokenor
acted on the same occasion" (64). Widespread The different positionsoftheWartonsand Up-
readingdepersonalizesindividualtastesintothe ton,HurdandJohnson represent a commoneffort
generalmediumof literature. Literatureabstracts to stabilizeor at theveryleast to comprehenda
consumption intoa perennialidentification with culturalcrisisof broadand significant scope: the
masculinecharacterraisedto aestheticlaw. The long-term transformation ofthereadingpublicand
canon,in turn,restson thestabilityof historical theprintmarket. It was thenthattheliterary canon
repetition,on one reader'sreadinglike a genera- tookon itsmodemconstitution. No rewriting oflit-
tionofreaders,on theslidingof readrngintothe eraryhistory comparable to whatmid-century crit-
adamantine densityofEngland'spast. ics performed on DenhamandWallerwouldoccur,
How mightJohnson be situatedwithin thelarger in thattimeor ours.By Johnson'smoment,criti-
emergence oftheEnglishcanon?Johnson's idea of cismpiecedtogether theGothicaccountofsublime
readingoccasionsa tacitshiftin theunderstanding pastnesswiththemodemaccountofpolitereading.
oftheculturalmarket. Manymid-eighteenth-centuryThe Englishcanonjoins theseantithetical mod-
criticsviewedthereadingpublicas thesourceof els: receptionsecuresvalue,butonlyovertime.
degradedtaste.The growthof thereadingpublic The antiquityof thenationalliterature, in other
ranparallelto thedeclineofliterature. Whereasan words,dependson theconstancyof itsrereading.
exclusivepublic centeredon the courthad pro- In thetendential suturing ofantiquity to consump-
duced a robustnationalliterature, thepotentially tion,mid-eighteenth-century criticismresponded
boundlesspublicfoundedon themarkethad pro- to theproblemoftheculturalmarket byinstituting
ducedtheenervated literatureofpolitenessandthe a lastingcontradiction: canonicalworksare both
novel.In thissense,theaesthetics oftheparticular difficult and pleasurable,necessarilyold and al-
in JosephWarton'sessays on Shakespeareborea ways new. This notionof theclassical workof
strictaestheticanalogyto theparticularity of the courseno longerappeals to criticismand rightly
culturalfield.As longas authorswrotefora small seemstheartifact ofa pastage. The canon'sanach-
audiencetheirworksremainedin theliterary lan- ronismin thetwentieth centuryshouldnot,how-
guageoftheconcrete. As soonas authors wrote"to ever,obscureitsoriginsintheeighteenth. The dusk
satisfytheladies and thebeaux,"theirlanguage ofthecanonthrows lighton itsmaking.
descendedto theexpatiatory proseof themarket
(Adventurer 21: 124; no. 113). The effectof this
literaryhistorywas to imaginethepastin almost
mythicalterms.Johnsonis fullyin thistradition
whenhe declaresShakespeareto be "an ancient." Notes
Popularityjoins to valuewiththesoberingballast
ofhistoricaltime.The return toreadingas thecon- 'On eighteenth-centurymodelsof literaryhistory,see Wel-
ditionof nationalcanon formation entails,how- lek; Wasserman.On literaryhistoryand canonformation, see
ever,a rethinking of whatreadingaccomplishes. Guillory;Reiss;Ross; Weinbrot; Patey.
Thatis, readingis nowunderstood accordingto an 2Recentworkon eighteenth-century literary
studieshas been
importantlyinfluenced
bythehistoriography ofprintandbythe
analogybetweencultureandtheeconomy.Justas modelsof JuirgenHabermasand BenedictAnderson.Studies
economicconsumption leads to theabstraction of thatfocuson themakingofliterary cultureinparticular
include
exchangevalue,culturalconsumption leads to the Kernan;Klancher;Laugero;andWoodmansee.
abstractionof aestheticvalue.The one definesthe 3Habermas'sseminalanalysisof theEnglishpublicsphere
valueof a commodity in termsofitsexchange,its proceedsfroma readingof Watt'sand Altick'sstudiesof the
eighteenth-century
readingpublic.
convertibilityintothemediumofmoney;theother 40n thehistoryof theEnglishbook trade,see, e.g., Black;
definesthevalue of a textin termsof itssurvival, Feather("Commerce"andBookTrade);Ferdinand; Foot;Harris;
itsconvertibility
intothemediumofliterature. Both Myersand Harris(Development,Economics,and Spreading);
1100 TheMakingoftheEnglishCanon

Plant.On thehistory ofliteracy,see Cressy("Levels"and"Liter- Ferdinand, C. Y. "Local DistributionNetworksin Eighteenth-

acy"); Schofield;Stone.Fora recentdiscussionofJohnson and Century England."MyersandHarris,SpreadingtheWord
literacy,see DeMaria. 25-40.
5See Habermas27-102. For one applicationof Habermas's Foot,Mirjam."Some Bookbinders'PriceLists of theSeven-
thesistothehistory ofEnglishcriticism, see Eagleton. teenthand Eighteenth Century."Myersand Harris,Eco-
6Nonetheless Addisongreeted femaleliteracy withnotableam- nomics124-75.
bivalence; see,forexample, Spectator 15onfemalesociability Guillory,John.CulturalCapital: The Problemof Literary
(Ad-
disonandSteele1:66-69) and37 onfemalelearning (1: 152-59). CanonFormation. Chicago:ChicagoUP, 1993.
7On thedevelopment ofscholarly criticism, see Jarvis;Levine.
Habermas,Jurgen. TheStructural Transformation ofthePub-
8Warton wrotetwoessayson TheTempest (Adventurer, nos. lic Sphere.Trans.Thomas Burger.Cambridge:MIT P,
93, 97) andthreeon KingLear (nos. 113,116,122). 1989.
90n theemergenceof literature, see Ross; Williams;Lau- Harris,Michael."A Few ShillingsforSmallBooks: The Expe-
gero.Fortheargument thatthecategory preexists theeighteenth riencesof FlyingStationerin theEighteenthCentury."
century, see Terry. MyersandHarris,SpreadingtheWord65-80.
'0Ontheeighteenth-century reception of Spenseranditscul-
Hurd,Richard.A Dissertation on theIdea of UniversalPoetry.
turalcontext, see Wurtsbaugh; Kramnick. London,1766.
''In thisrespect,Wartonfollowedthemodelof theShake- . Letterson ChivalryandRomancewithThe ThirdEliz-
speareeditorLewisTheobald,thefirst in a longlineofclassicists abethanDialogue. Ed. EdithMorley.1911. New York:
toturntoEnglishtexts.Thetransposition ofmethod fromclassi- AMS, 1976.
cal to Englishtextsreplicatestheformation of thevernacular Simon.Scholarsand Gentlemen:
Jarvis, Shakespearean Textual
canonon themodeloftheancientsevenas itis an important de- Criticismand the Representationof ScholarlyLabor,
velopment inthatformation. See Jarvis;Kinney;Levine;Pfeiffer. 1725-1769.NewYork:OxfordUP, 1995.
'2On Johnson's style,see Wimsatt. Johnson, Samuel.TheIdlerand theAdventurer. Ed. W. J.Bate,
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able historicalnuancebybothLynchandReinert. 1969. Vol. 2 of TheYale EditionoftheWorksofSamuel
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