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REGARD FOR THE OTHER egard for the Other AUTOTHANA Rouss I DE GRAPHY QUINCEY, AND DELAIRE, WILDE E. S. FORDHAM BA U, BURT UN IVER S ITY New York 2009 PRES S Copyri ght © 2009 Fordham U ni ve rsity Press AJI rights reserved. 0 part of this publica tio n may be reprod uced, sto red in a retrieva l system, Or tra nsmitted in any form or by any means-electro ni c, mechani cal, photocopy, recording, or any other-exce pt for brie f quota tions in printed reviews, without the prior permission ofth e publisher. Fordh am U nive rsity Press has no rcsponsibili ty for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for exte rna l or third -party Intern et websites referred to in thi s publica ti on and does not guarantee th at any content o n sllch websites is, or wiJI remain, accurate or appro priate. Library of Congress Cata loging-in-Publication Data Burt, E. S. Regard fo r th e other : autotha natography in Ro usseau, De Qu in cey, Baudelaire, and Wilde / E.S. Burt.-Ist ed. p. cm. Includes bibli ographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8'3'-)090-7 (doth , aiL paper)ISB 978-0-82)2-)091-4 (pbk. ,alk. pape r) I . Authors-Biography- H istory and criticism. 2. Autobiogra phy. 3. Other (philosophy) in literature. 4. Self in li te ranlre. 5. ldentity (Psychology) in literature. 6. D ea th in literature. 7. Baudelairc, Charles, IS2 I- IS67-Criti cis1l1 and interpretation. S. Roussea u, Jean -Jacques, ] 712- 177S- Criticislll and interpretation. 9. Dc Quincey, T homas, 1785- 1859-Criticism and interpretation.. 10. \Vilde , Oscar, 1854-1 900-Critic islll and interp retation. 1. T itle. PN452. B872009 8°9'·9);92-dc22 2009008 224 Printed in the United States of Ameri ca II 10 09 ; 4 3 2 I First ed itio n CONTENTS List ofAbb,-eviMio1ls VIl A ck1lowiedg'lllC1lts IX Introduction_ A Clmch of Brothers: A1terity and Autothanarography I. AUTOBIOGRAPHY INTERRUPTED I. 2_ 3- Developments in Character: "The Children's Punishment" and "The Broken Comb" Regard for the Other: Embarrassment in the Quntrie,lle p,-omeunde The Shape before the Mirror: Autobiography and the Dandy in Baudelaire 33 61 83 II. WR ITING D EATH, WITH RE GARD TO THE OTH ER 4S- 6_ Hospitality in Autobiography: Levinas cbez De Quincey Eating with the Other in Les Pm-ndis nnificiets Secrets Can Be Murder: H ow to Write the Secret in De hojmuli_, 109 Notes Works Cited 221 140 18 5 255 26 3 Iudex v A BBREVI AT IO NS AE AP C CL DP EC GD HAH OC OE PDG Autre1JlCut fju'etJ'e ou au-deill. de Fessellce Al1:ijicial Parat/i.fes COlnSpOlltiallce Complete Letters De Profil1ldis Tbe Epistemology of tbe Closet Tbe Gift of Deat/; de I'autre bOlll1Jle Oeu.vres completes (Baudelaire or Rousseau) T/;e COllfessious of lIU Euglisb Opium-Eater Tbe Pict/we of D01'iou G"ay HfI'}Jlfl11ismf! In this book I have used the customary italic to indicate emphasis. Where the word or passage requ iri ng emphasis 'lppeared within materi al that was already in ita lic for another reason, boUl italic indi ca tes emphasis. VII acknowledgments Because this book had two widely separated periods of gestation, with one piece dating from an early monograph on Rousseauian autobiography that never saw light of day, I am overdue with thanks to some of those friends and colleagues who generously read, commented on, encouraged, or otherwise contributed to the writing of some part of this book. I have of each contributor a distinct and grateful memory: Tim Bahti, David Carroll, C