Abstract

Arguably the dominant aesthetic of the west, the sublime was also central to Modernism. In part, this is because it could be invoked to support Modernism's reactionary, elitist, patriarchal values. Despite its ideological baggage, however, the sublime has also been an important aesthetic to many women poets. This dissertation explores how Emily Dickinson, H. D. and Gertrude Stein developed strategies that retain the energy and inspiration figured by the sublime while at the same time redefining its meaning and demands. ;Chapter one traces the sublime from the eighteenth century to the present day, exploring its participation in the structure Emmanuel Levinas discovers in western ontology, and in what Roland Barthes calls the myth of "classic humanism." Then it discusses the oedipal psychoanalytic model that gives this sublime its form. Chapter two considers how, by focusing on other elements of psychoanalytic theory, the minority discourse of post-colonials and women suggest ways to join the sublime to more liberatory goals. It concludes by discussing the radical sublimes of Sappho and the Bluestockings, whose constructions of desire reflect both the intersubjective model of women's development and the semiotic structure that would restrict women to the role of sublime object. ;Chapters three, four and five continue this discussion by exploring the sublimes of Emily Dickinson, H. D. and Gertrude Stein, respectively. In each of these poets, the sublime is characterized by an "intense sociability," where the ontological presuppositions of the traditional sublime are revised. Dickinson constructs an "empathetic" sublime that defies closure into the ontological ghettos of subject and object. H. D. describes sublime inspiration in terms of an intersubjective space where self and other meet. Stein focuses on the difficulties of language in order to discover what she calls "real conversation," a delicate exchange between beings. From their own necessity to make the sublime hospitable to others, these writers work to fashion a more just relation between the subject of the sublime and the object of his or her knowledge