Journal Article

Die gebogene Nase

Fischer, Pascal

2012

Overview

The article sheds light on the various meanings ascribed to the convexly shaped nose in Anglophone literature and culture from the late 18th to the late 19th centuries. Starting from the scholarly discussion about the alleged Je wish - ness of Dracula’s aquiline nose in Bram Stoker’s novel, the study turns to the central figure of Matthew Lewis’s The Monk, who is characterized by the same physiognomic feature. A consideration of several other narrative texts from the Gothic as well as sentimental traditions shows that the curved shape of the nose was on the one hand associated with physical and mental strength, a commanding personality and noble descent and on the other with the stereotypical image of the shrewd and greedy Jew. These two dominant evaluative schemas, which are usually discrete, but can occasionally overlap and are sometimes questioned, also appear in the pseudo -scientific physio gnomic studies of the 19th century. Their laboured distinctions between Roman and Jewish noses betray the attempt to deny the Jews the positive appraisal generally assigned to the aquiline nose. In view of these findings, the article argues for regarding this type of nose as a complex semiotic sign in novels like Dracula.

• Publisher: Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG
• Subject: British & Irish literature / Gothic fiction / Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818) / Literary devices / Nose / Novels / Stoker, Bram (1847-1912)