Abstract:

This essay examines two prominent literary narratives and tropes at the turn of the nineteenth century that constellate around the seduction plot and the hermit narrative. These two ostensibly discrete narrative forms have a curious history as they play out in the printed iterations of the Elizabeth Wilson and William Wilson stories, two siblings whose lives were marked by differing forms of tragedy. By bringing together a tale of seduction, execution, and hermitic living, I show how the account of Elizabeth Wilson's execution for infanticide shifted from being a seduction plot to a frame tale for a hermit narrative about her brother. This narrative turn moves from an account that focuses on the policing of female sexuality to instead emphasize the curious life of a man who refuses social intercourse. But that shift actually signals something more complicated about how the early Republic sought to instill ways of feeling about gender and deviance.

摘要：

本文探讨了十九世纪之交围绕诱惑情节和隐士叙事的两种著名的文学叙事和比喻。这两种表面上独立的叙事形式有着一段奇怪的历史，因为它们在伊丽莎白·威尔逊和威廉·威尔逊故事的印刷版本中上演，这两个兄弟姐妹的生活都充满了不同形式的悲剧。通过将诱惑、处决和隐士生活的故事结合在一起，我展示了伊丽莎白·威尔逊因杀婴而被处决的叙述如何从一个诱惑情节转变为一个关于她哥哥的隐士叙事的框架故事。这种叙事的转变从关注女性性行为的监管转向强调拒绝社交的男人的好奇生活。但这种转变实际上标志着早期共和国如何寻求灌输对性别和越轨行为的感受方式的更复杂的事情。