Hypatia (novel)
Author | Charles Kingsley |
---|---|
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Publication date | 1853 |
Hypatia, or New Foes with an Old Face is an 1853 novel by the English writer Charles Kingsley. It is a fictionalised account of the life of the philosopher Hypatia, and tells the story of a young monk called Philammon who travels to Alexandria, where he becomes mixed up in the political and religious battles of the day. Intended as Christian apologia, it reflects typical 19th-century religious sentiments of the day. For many years the book was considered one of Kingsley's best novels and was widely read.
Plot
The plot revolves around
Themes
Hypatia has a strong
Kingsley expresses a view of the superiority of northern Europeans in his portrayal of the Goths in Alexandria as saviours of Christianity, who, although crude and violent, possess the necessary Teutonic values of hardiness and virility to counter the corrupt church.[2][3] This reflects a theme which Kingsley would later expound in a book and lecture series entitled The Roman and the Teuton.[4]
A further theme is the way Kingsley links religious insight with eroticism, a theme which is most overtly displayed in the climax of the novel with Hypatia stripped naked, being torn apart by monks under an enormous image of Christ.[5]
Publication
Hypatia was originally serialised in 1852 in Fraser's Magazine from January 1852 to April 1853, and it was then published in book form in 1853.[6] The book was translated into several European languages, and it was very successful in Germany.[7]
There have been several illustrated editions of the novel, including one with copious illustrations by William Martin Johnson;[8] a second with seventeen illustrations by Edmund H. Garrett;[9] a third with twelve illustrations by Lee Woodward Zeigler;[10] and a fourth with eight illustrations by Byam Shaw.[11] A German edition had illustrations by Rudolf Trache,[12] and an early Spanish edition had seven illustrations by Ramón Alabern and other artists.[13]
Reaction
For many years Hypatia was regarded as Kingsley's "most widely known and appreciated" novel,[7] with interest only dipping in later generations.[6] The book was said to have been Queen Victoria's favourite novel by Kingsley.[14]
The novel notably inspired the painting Hypatia by Charles William Mitchell (1885, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle) which depicts Hypatia, naked, cowering against an altar, facing her (unseen) murderers.[15] Another painting inspired by the novel was Arthur Hacker's Pelagia and Philammon (1887, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool) which depicts a naked Pelagia dying, watched by a cloaked, hooded Philammon.[16]
In Kingsley's era criticism of the novel was directed at his negative portrayal of the church in Alexandria and of Cyril in particular. It was this aspect of the novel, as well as its alleged indecency, which thwarted an attempt to bestow an honorary degree at
In the modern era criticism of the novel has focused on its
Adaptations
In 1859 a play based on the novel entitled The Black Agate, or, Old foes with new faces was performed at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.[19] The play was written by Elizabeth Bowers, who also played the part of Hypatia.[19][20] A more notable adaptation of the novel to the stage was G. Stuart Ogilvie's Hypatia, which opened at the
References
- ^ ISBN 0674437764
- ^ ISBN 0691149844
- ^ ISBN 1932265155
- ^ The Roman and the Teuton by Charles Kingsley at Project Gutenberg
- ^ Patrick Brantlinger, William Thesing, (2008), A Companion to the Victorian Novel, page 253 John Wiley & Sons
- ^ a b c d e Mary Virginia Brackett, Victoria Gaydosik, (2006), Companion to the British Novel, 18th and 19th Centuries, page 216
- ^ a b Catalogue of an exhibition of one hundred famous first editions in English and French Literature from 1 to 14 December 1909. Ernest Dressel North
- ^ Charles Kingsley, Hypatia; or, New Foes with an Old Face. Illustrated from Drawings by William Martin Johnson. 2 vols. 1894
- ^ Charles Kingsley, Hypatia. With seventeen illustrations by Edmund H. Garrett. 1897
- ^ Charles Kingsley, Hypatia. De luxe limited edition. New York, Taylor, 1899
- ^ Charles Kingsley, Hypatia. With 8 Illustrations by Byam Shaw. 1914
- ^ Hypatia – Christliche Erzählung aus dem fünften Jahrhundert. Mit zahlreichen Bildern von R. Trache.
- ^ Hipatia, ó, Los últimos esfuerzos del paganismo en Alejandría: novela histórica del siglo V. 1857.
- ^ David Anthony Downes, (1972), The Temper of Victorian Belief: Studies in the Religious Novels of Pater, Kingsley and Newman, page 65. Ardent
- ^ Michael A. B. Deakin, (2007), Hypatia of Alexandria: mathematician and martyr, page 163. Prometheus Books
- ^ Jeffrey Richards, (2009), The ancient world on the Victorian and Edwardian stage, page 171. Palgrave Macmillan
- ^ Philip Davis, (2004), The Victorians: 1830–1880, page 293
- ^ Margaret Drabble (ed.), The Oxford Companion to English Literature (2000), 6th edition, "Historical fiction", page 483. Oxford University Press. "The Victorians would have rated much higher than posterity the efforts of Edward *Bulwer-Lytton, whose The Last Days of Pompeii (1834) ranks as one of the handful of successful historical novels with a Graeco-Roman classical setting, along with Walter *Pater's eccentric *Marius the Epicurean (1855) and Charles Kingsley's ferociously racist Hypatia (1853)."
- ^ a b Catalog Record: The black agate, or, Old foes with new faces, Hathi Trust Digital Library, retrieved 30 January 2013
- ^ Amelia Howe Kritzer (1995) Plays by Early American Women, 1775–1850, page 373. University of Michigan
- ^ Walter Macqueen-Pope, (1948), Haymarket: theatre of perfection, page 337. Allen
- ^ William Archer, (1969), The theatrical 'world' for 1893, page 9. B. Blom
- ^ a b Nineteenth century theatre: NCT. (1993), Volumes 21–22, page 24. University of London
External links
- Hypatia – or New Foes with an Old Face by Charles Kingsley at Project Gutenberg
- Hypatia public domain audiobook at LibriVox