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Origins of the Monologue: The Hidden God (review)

Origins of the Monologue: The Hidden God (review) Book Reviews W David Shaw, Origins of the Monologue: The Hidden God (Toronto: Univ. . of Toronto Press, 1999). Pp. xii + 250. $50.00. With his remarkably broad and deep learning, his thorough understanding of Victorian philosophy, and his fine ear for poetic language, W. David Shaw has long been among the very best critics of Victorian culture and, especially, of Victorian poetry. His new book continues the exploration of Victorian agnosticism undertaken in The Lucid Veil and Victorians and Mystery, returning to what he calls, after Foucault, a "common `episteme' of learned ignorance or informed Socratic humility before the unknown" (p. 197), and finding in this epistemic uncertainty the sources of the complex ironies of the dramatic monologue. As in his previous books, Shaw draws heavily on the philosophical agnosticism of H. L. Mansel and Sir William Hamilton to give philosophical shape and substance to this episteme, and in this case he draws especially on them for his defining figure, the "hidden God" lurking "behind such logically contradictory attributes as the Absolute, the Infinite, and a First Cause" (p. 3). As Shaw seems uncomfortably aware, however, this God hides so effectively that his presence even in Shaw's http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Victorian Poetry West Virginia University Press

Origins of the Monologue: The Hidden God (review)

Riede, David G.
Victorian Poetry , Volume 38 (2) – Jan 6, 2000
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Publisher
West Virginia University Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 West Virginia University.
ISSN
1530-7190
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Abstract

Book Reviews W David Shaw, Origins of the Monologue: The Hidden God (Toronto: Univ. . of Toronto Press, 1999). Pp. xii + 250. $50.00. With his remarkably broad and deep learning, his thorough understanding of Victorian philosophy, and his fine ear for poetic language, W. David Shaw has long been among the very best critics of Victorian culture and, especially, of Victorian poetry. His new book continues the exploration of Victorian agnosticism undertaken in The Lucid Veil and Victorians and Mystery, returning to what he calls, after Foucault, a "common `episteme' of learned ignorance or informed Socratic humility before the unknown" (p. 197), and finding in this epistemic uncertainty the sources of the complex ironies of the dramatic monologue. As in his previous books, Shaw draws heavily on the philosophical agnosticism of H. L. Mansel and Sir William Hamilton to give philosophical shape and substance to this episteme, and in this case he draws especially on them for his defining figure, the "hidden God" lurking "behind such logically contradictory attributes as the Absolute, the Infinite, and a First Cause" (p. 3). As Shaw seems uncomfortably aware, however, this God hides so effectively that his presence even in Shaw's

Journal

Victorian Poetry – West Virginia University Press

Published: Jan 6, 2000

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