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Romantic Progression: The Psychology of LiteraryHistoryWilliam J. GilmorePublished online: 13 Jul 2010.

To cite this article: William J. Gilmore (1975) Romantic Progression: The Psychology of Literary History, History: Reviews ofNew Books, 4:2, 32-33, DOI: 10.1080/03612759.1975.9946001

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32 Essentially a narrative, this book has

three failings: first, at no point are we given a serious analysis of de Valera’s rea- sons for keeping southern Ireland neutral during World War 11. Neutrality is simply taken as given and the manner in which neutrality served Irish national self-inter- est is ignored. Second, de Valera’s use of the Partition issue is not discussed. Mani- festly, his sometimes arguing that Ire- land’s being partitioned was the reason for Irish neutrality was propaganda, be- cause he turned down a firm British of- fer of national reunion if the Irish would join the Allies. More than anything else, one conjectures, de Valera’s harping on the Partition issue was an attempt to find a reason for neutrality that would be ac- ceptable to Irish Americans, who other- wise were shocked by his policy. Third, no analysis is given of the serious pos- sibility that de Valera used wartime cir- cumstances as an opportunity to intern his former allies (and embarrassing rivals), the members of the Irish Republican Army.

about Irish neutrality and this volume has the virtue of pointing the way.

There is a serious book to be written

D. H. AKENSON Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario

Leake, Chauncey D. An Historical Account of Pharmacology to the 20th Century (American Lecture Series) Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, Pub. 210 pp., cloth $12.50, paper $8.95

Publication Date: June 20,1975

One of the more important themes in the rise of the medical sciences is the his- torical development of pharmacology and toxicology. Dr. Chauncey D. Leake, former president of the American Society for Pharmacology and a scientist well known for his work on the blood effects of general anesthetic agents, has sought to present a general account of the ori- gins and growth of his chosen discipline from man’s first early use of drugs to the sophisticated pharmacological develop- ment of the 19th century. This is a broad and somewhat perilous task for an author to undertake, for it encompasses a broad span of time and the specialized learning of many ancillary disciplines.

Pharmacological knowledge fulfills a number of useful medical functions by diagnosing, preventing, curing, and alleviating diseases. Evolving over a long period of time, man’s early knowledge of drugs was based on his daily experience of seeing what would and would not im- prove his health among the many plants,

LC 74-13219

animals, and minerals which he encoun- tered. These empirical observations were recorded and maintained by the cultural traditions of that particular society. Early in their history most peoples learned of plant purgatives and bark antidiarrheals and other pharmacological treatments.

The empirical use of drugs is briefly traced in the cultures of China, India, Sumer, Egypt, and Central America; but, unfortunately, the areas are so diverse and the time spans so broad that the author does little more than chronicle a few characteristics of a particular society’s drug usage. In the classical world the most dedicated student of drugs and their application was the first-century author Dioscordes. His studies of more than 600 plants and other drug substances formed the basis for the materia medica of Western Europe for the next 1600 years.

In the 19th century, pharmacology began to benefit from the growth of chemistry as a specialized discipline, and the chemical constituents of drugs which had been used since antiquity began to be isolated. Clearly, this was a substantial step in pharmacology, for now dosage could be subjected more precisely to quantitative controls and physiological reactions could be more critically assessed Concomitant with the isolation of chem- ical components in traditional drugs, new procedures in chemistry made it possible to create chemical substitutes for drugs which were expensive or difficult to isolate from natural substances. These developments soon led to the search for new drugs which could be manufactured in the laboratory. With the aid of chem- istry, pharmacology became a modern science.

It is obvious that this volume was written by a man who loves his pro- fession, and it will serve as a brief, general, and, at times, cryptic introduction 10 the history of pharmacology. Unfortunately, the brevity of the study prevents the author from providing more than cursory remarks upon many important and in- triguing topics in the historical evolution of pharmacology. Students of the history of medicine and science will regret that the author did not use his considerable knowledge to prepare a more sustained treatment of an important subject.

PHILLIP D. THOMAS Wichita State University

Martindale, Colin Romantic Progression: The Psychology of Literary History New York: Halsted Press

Publication Date: May 1, 1975

When the reader is told flatly in the intro- duction that “we intend to offer the poet no special advantage over the laboratory rat” (p. 3, an extra measure of conten- tiousness may be expected throughout.

225 pp., $17.50, LC 14-26559

Martindale, Professor of Psychology at the University of Maine, does not disappoint us. The central aim of Romantic Progres- sion, the first book of a scholar combin- ing academic psychology and literary history, is to “develop and support a theory of artistic change which is couched in quantitative rather than qualitative terms,” and the author attempts thereby to specify precise “mechanisms of causa- tion” for changes in poetry. The base of evidence for content analysis consists of “randomly selected texts from twenty- one objectively selected French poets covering the period 1800-1940 and twenty- one objectively selected English poets writing between 1700 and 1840.” As Martindale defines his objective, “Explan- ation of changes in artistic form and con- tent and in the role of artist will be de- rived from changes in psychological pro- cesses.’’ (pp. 10-1 1) Although limited to poetry here, the theory is presented as relevant to other realms of literature and alternative art forms.

In both its methodology and its con- clusions Romantic Progression departs radically from previous interdisciplinary work. The essential psychological theory is classic Freudian with few references to newer psychoanalytic trends (post-Feni- chel). The theory is particularly disap- pointing in its lack of awareness of the highly relevant narcissistic line of inter- pretation. Martindale’s outdated under- standing of emotions, “drive derivatives, or modulated and rarified drives” (140ff.) overlooks a decade and a half of thought- ful research. On the other hand, use of behavioral literature is a welcome dimen- sion, thoughtfully employed and bolstered by statistical procedures of considerable refinement. Unfortunately, much knowl- edge is taken for granted concerning sev- eral specific procedures.

As for the conclusions, Martindale argues that his “psychological theory of literary change” posits that, “whatever else it must be, a work of art must be more original than previous productions.” As the level of autonomy of poets and their direct audience increases, other factors fade away so mat the “poet expe- riences a stronger pressure toward novelty and his audience exerts a lessened resis- tance to it.” (p. 11) A cycle is then set in motion entailing “the independence of changes in poetic content from changes in the larger society.” (pp. 174-175) The core of the thesis is that intrasystemic factors are more important in certain phases of the history of poetry and other arts than all factors external to the poet and his or her creative products. Art must change mainly because the artist forever attempts to create something new. A theory accounting for those psychologi- cal principles governing the process of creativity has been worked up from pre- vious scholars of the subject, and care- ful content analysis of various word and concept frequencies. The problem is pro- found, the methods innovative and bold,

History

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and the overall argument quite sophisti- cated. Martindale has written an interest- ing study, occasionally flawed but well worth reading.

WILLIAM J. GILMORE Stockton State College, New Jersey

Osborne, Milton River Road t o China: The Mekong River Expedition 1866-1 873 New York: W. W. Norton and Co.

Publication Date: September 22, 1975

In June 1866 six Frenchmen pushed up the unknown Mekong from Saigon, seek- ing the river’s source and a route to the fantasized China market. Milton Osborne, who has been officially and privately over the ground, has combed their unpublished papers and the other Western sources to give the reading public a dramatically con- vincing reconstruction of their vanished dreams. For all of their failings-and in 1975 we surely reject their obsession with the French mission civilizatrice-these six were genuine heroes. It is this human ele- ment, transcending the politics of Indo- china whether before or after these men and their laden bearers (wines, ammuni- tion, clean linen) passed this way, that Osborne wonderfully illuminates.

Within a month after the Frenchmen left Saigon with official French blessings and passports for ill-defined “kingdoms” in the outback (but not the all-important Chinese papers), the Mekong rapids made it thunderously clear that French com- merce must find some other way to China. Limited medical knowledge did not yet prohibit unboiled drinking water, so fever and delirium forced long delays. Still, they toiled ahead, even reduced t o bare feet, individually despairing or exhilarated. Through the drenching rains, in leech-be- slimed jungles, and in remote thatched river towns with their ubiquitous Chinese traders (even transvestites a t a festival in Bassac), they found persistent recollection or practice of ancient political prescrip- tions. Most galling t o these passionately French men was the British threat. At times they could see it: a t Mong Lin they grudgingly admired English cotton goods “printed in the preferred colors of t h e local purchasers and bearing Buddhist em- blems.” Britons might win the river race!

Finally, armed with Chinese papers, they entered that great empire, passing from bush into palpable orderliness. Dis- agreements in the 18-month-old mission forced abandonment of the Mekong source mania. The leader, Doudart de Lagree, succumbed in Yunnan t o a nameless fe- ver, but his remains were precariously borne through tag ends of the Moslem re- volt t o the Yangtze and so back t o

November/December 1975

249 pp., $8.95, LC 75-6814

L‘French soil” a t Saigon. Two years had passed. The source of the Mekong is still unknown.

Francis Garnier, de Lagrge’s former “second in command” soon hurled him- self into aggression on the Red River in 1873. Incredibly, he overcame crushingly outnumbering Vietnamese forces, but his arrogance finally led him into ambush where he was hacked t o bits, his heart torn from his living body, his head struck away. France later built o n his sacrifice, but never officially acknowledged the man, and this posthumous ignominy fed furious debate in France for generations.

But for all of that, and what has since occurred, Professor Osborne, in this beau- tifully illustrated and carefully researched volume, has truly revived the past, and we may adventure vicariously, scatheless and enriched.

JOHN L. RAWLINSON Hof stra University

Huang, Pei Autocracy at Work: A Study of the Yung-cheng Period, 1 723- 1 73 5 (Indiana University East Asian Series) Bloomington: lndiana University Press (for the International Affairs Center)

Publication Date: April 11, 1975

Professor Huang’s study of autocracy in 18th-century China will be a great help t o anyone wishing t o piece together the history of the early Ch’ing, or Manchu, dynasty. So much of what little attention is given t o this time is conferred upon the father and son of the Yung-cheng em- peror (each of whom ruled for 6 0 years) that this monarch has remained an un- familiar figure, taking up a few years of historical space and little more. I t is not that the Yung-cheng emperor suddenly becomes a lovable ruler under Professor Huang’s treatment; far from it. There is really nothing very appealing about the man. Huang shows him t o be a hard- nosed, secretive, and rather ill-humored despot whose suspicions of the people who served him are convincingly attributed t o the difficulties of being the son and successor of the K’ang-hsi em- peror.

The book is divided into four parts. The first establishes (at least t o Professor Huang’s satisfaction) the theoretical groundwork: China was an autocracy, and became more of one under Y ung- cheng. The second part takes Yung-cheng from boyhood t o his consolidation of power; the third describes the instru- ments of his autocratic rule; and the fourth, its effects. The chapters o n the Grand Council and the bureaucratization of the Manchu banner system come in the center of the book, and indeed they belong there for Professor Huang is a t his best in providing a detailed discussion of these important reforms. There can be no doubt that the Yung-cheng reign set

500 pp., $15.00, LC 73-16678

the Ch’ing dynasty upon a course of increasing centralization and monarchical 33 aggrandizement, the consequences of which are still visible.

Because of its repetitive emphasis on the nature of autocracy the book is per- haps intended for “cross-cultural’’ use by historians and political scientists outside the China field. My own feeling is that Professor Huang would have been better advised t o reverse the order of the title and subtitle and t o write more about the history of the period. But a reviewer has no business telling an author what he should have done; as it stands, the book argues successfully (if a little t o o fre- quently) the case that the Yung-cheng autocracy was of great importance in the history of the Ch’ing dynasty in particular, and of modern China in general.

ERIC WIDMER Brown University

Bodde, Derk Festivals in Classical China: New Year and Other Annual Observances during the Han Dynasty 206 B. C.-A. D. 220 Princeton: Princeton University Press

Publication Date: September 24, 1975

In his Festivals in Classical China Derk Bodde has achieved a careful and lively reconstruction of a n annual round of 22 important Han Dynasty festivals as these were reflected in contemporary literature. He has brought t o the task the skills gained in a long career of scholarship in Chinese studies in which he has made contributions o n political institutions, law, mythology, cosmology, and phi- losophy. The present work was also anticipated by his annotated translation of Tun Li-chen’s Annual Customs and Festivals in Peking.

of the periodicity of the festivals has enabled him t o provide his study with a clear temporal structure and to relate the festivals to Han cosmology. Festivals in CZassical China provides a firm base from which students of Chinese society and culture can work back into pre-imperial times or forward toward the present cen- tury. It is one of the great merits of this work that the author has already begun this task. Although he has retained his Han focus, he has identified Shang or Chou origins where possible; and the post-Han survival or disappearance of specific practices is often indicated. Since the full range of activities associated with the festivals is explored, this work with its excellent index will serve as a con- venient reference.

Bodde’s classification of the festivals into the “natural” (which were pre- imperial and presumably of folk origin) and the “institutional” (which were developed in response t o the ideological requirements of the changing political

439 pp., $17.50, LC 13-2483

The author’s painstaking investigation

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