The Death of Death Culture - Brompton Cemetery

                               

Reading through Deborah Lutz's The Dead Still Among Us, I was profoundly struck by the commentary regarding the disappearance within Western culture of consistently honoring and remembering the dead through relics, which she calls "death culture."  Lutz's commentary struck me because of the truth behind it, in no way is holding onto remains of the dead normal or common within Western culture, most houses in modern times don't have an earn, rather the dead are placed in a cemetery, with there visitation varying by family..  As Lutz states, "Rarely would a lock of hair be kept by, or to be worn as jewelry, nor did one dwell on the deathbed scene, linger upon the lips of the dying to mark and revere those last words, record the minutiae of slipping away in memorials, diaries, and letters."  While obviously common practice continues to be a funeral for the deceased, after that there are few artifacts kept, very different from the Victorian era.  This became immediately obvious to me at the Brompton Cemetery, specifically looking at the many different meanings attached to different designs of tombstones.  Examples of this include a broken column meaning a person who passed in the prime of their life, a pile of rocks with an anchor symbolizing hope, cut flowers meaning someone who dies very young, and many more.  Complex and meaningful tombstones are very much a relic of Victorian past, no longer common in Western society.  Lutz argues that separating oneself from acknowledged or remembering the moment of death for someone close may actually have an averse affect, as "one misses the moment when life becomes narrative, when the meaning of life is concluded and illuminated in its ending."  This is very contrary to the modern sentiments of many, who hold beliefs that they would rather remember those close to them when in the prime of their life, as opposed to while sick on their death bed.  However, to Lutz point, doing so may disallow those on their death bed the opportunity to impose memorable last words or lessons.  For me personally, I do not take a strong side on this, as I think it is completely circumstantial and dependent on each individual to take whatever actions they feel are best for themselves and/or their family.  That said, there is a very clear difference in the way the dead are remembered now versus in the Victorian era, something that was brought to life while walking the Brompton Cemetery, and something I found extremely interesting, as it granted a viewpoint I had never considered before. 

While I find many of Lutz's ideas to be profoundly interesting, I do believe in some instances her opinions become a bit radical in nature.  One specific instance is Lutz's acknowledgement of Walter Benjamin's opinion that "the turning away from death [goes] hand in hand with the disappearance of the art of storytelling."  I find this notion to be quite unsubstantiated, as storytelling is an art which takes a wide variety of different forms, touches on many different subjects, and reaches different people in different ways.  To make a blanket statement that the loss of "death culture" in the 20th century resulted in a widespread drop in the quality of story's being told, to me personally, has no credence.  Further, simply looking at historical facts, millions and millions of stories, whether they be in written, film, or verbal form, have been created, sold, bought, cherished, and critically acclaimed over the 20th and 21st centuries.  While I do understand that the element of death, and lessons learned from it, are huge and important parts of many stories, I do not believe storytelling can be relegated to one notion being its end all be all element. 

Source: Lutz, Deborah. “The Dead Still Among Us: Victorian Secular Relics, Hair Jewelry, and Death Culture.” Victorian Literature and Culture, 2010.

Orientalism and Design

On the trip to the Frederic Leighton house much was discussed about the decor and interior design of the property. One of the highlights of the house was the emphasis on orientalist design. A centerpiece of the house was an imitation “Islamic Court” room present with tiles, pillars, and structural architecture indicative of middle eastern interiors. “Orientalism” is a style of design that highlights Victorian fascination with the East and many other parts of the outside world during the time period. The Leighton house’s Islamic Court features materials, images, and decor that was highly unique and uncommon in England at the time. One can see expensive tiles native to the Middle East, images of birds not found in the West and and indoor fountain which wouldn’t have been common or practical in the UK climate. In fact, Orientalism was popular in everything from literature and theatre to design and fashion during the Victorian era. It is clear that most Victorians were fascinated with Orientalist themes as they were so foreign to their own and represented a new and unique look that was difficult (and expensive) to replicate. In addition, there are clearly some political reasons why orientalism rose to prominence during the time period. England and the United Kingdom were at the peak of their imperialist empire and had territories in all regions of the globe. Thus, the adoption of Eastern designs could be viewed as an extension of England’s imperialism and influence in the current global environment. It is very interesting to see such complex themes appearing in the design of someone’s home. This made the Leighton house a very intriguing experience for me.

Citations:

Demerdash, Nancy. “Orientalism.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, 2016, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/intro-becoming-modern/a/orientalism.

Innovation and Industrialization in the Victorian Age

Innovation and Industrialization in the Victorian Age

Our March 25th visit to the Science Museum in South Kensington, along with the two H.G. Wells readings, allowed to me further understand the age of innovation in the Victorian Age and, more broadly, the industrialization of the 1800's. 

H.G. Wells describes both the potential disasters and triumphs associated with science and innovation, respectively, in "The Argonauts of the Air" and "Under the Knife." In "Argonauts of the Air," Wells closely follows the work of the inventor Monson, and his process in constructing a flying machine. While building the flying machine, which requires Monson to put all of his money into the invention, he faces much backlash from the public due to the overwhelming skepticism of the feasibility of the machine. When Monson and the engineer he worked with throughout the development process have completed the machine, it comes time to test it; the flying machine ends up crashing in South Kensington near the Royal College of Music.

While Wells explores the time and money that can amount to disaster in science and innovation, he also showcases the potential for science to triumph in “Under the Knife.” This short story delves into the mind of a patient, who experiences nightmares about the potential tragic situations that might result from his upcoming surgery. While the paranoia of the patient shows the potential disaster of medicine, the ending of the story, and the fact that patient survives the surgery and is in better health because of it, makes the case that science and innovation can do wonders for the world.

The interesting juxtaposition of the two H.G. Wells stories made me think closely about the Victorian understanding of science while at the Science Museum. The sections of the museum dedicated to construction of the steam engine and the locomotion in the 1800’s brought to my attention the extent of innovation that took place in Victorian England. The ways in which the train revolutionized communication and supply chains was something I have studied in my history classes, and also something that I examine in my international studies classes on the global economy. Tying these ideas back to the stories by Wells, it makes me curious why Victorian Londoners were so skeptical of science. After all, it was not long after the publishing of “Argonauts of the Air” that the Wright Brothers successfully accomplished the first flight.

My history classes, and the sections of the museum dedicated to science innovation and inventions for 1800’s factories, made me also critically think about quality of life and factory work in Victorian England. The rise of industrialization and factories in nineteenth century England played a significant role in the shaping of socioeconomic classes, and more specifically, the growing divide between the working and elite classes in London. The working conditions in the 1800’s contributed to the unsanitary streets and overall poor living conditions that we also explored in the East London walking tour.

It is interesting because I am very aware of the 1800’s Industrial Age, and the impact it has had, on today’s global economies and societies, but I never once thought about these phenomena all occurred during the Victorian Age. It was interesting to think about invention, science, and industrialization through a Victorian lens via the Wells readings and the visit to the Science Museum.

Victorian Era Death Culture

                                             Brompton Road Cemetery, Photo by Julia Zerull

For week 10 of our class, we visited Brompton Road Cemetery, exploring the Victorian ideas of death and comparing their philosophies on the subject to the modern day. One subject that we discussed in particular was the symbolism of different objects used to memorialize the dead in the form of headstones. Each object had a different meaning and related to how that person either lived or died.

In the picture that I took, some different objects that can be seen are an obelisk, variations of different crosses and an angel. The crosses and angels can be easily connected to faith and Christianity, and the crosses over a circle can particularly be connected to English faith. The obelisk, however, can actually be connected to the Victorian obsession with Egypt. The Victorians were fascinated by Egyptian culture and so lots of Egyptian symbolism can be seen throughout the Victorian era.

Some other symbols I observed in the cemetery which do not appear in my photo include a cylinder sliced in half, an anchor and a lion. The sliced cylinder represented a life cut short that ended before it was meant to. The anchor represented hope for the grieving family, and the lion was representative of a particularly brave individual. These observations all connect back to the Victorian culture of symbolizing death. Not only was it popular to use particular symbols as headstones, Victorians created symbols of death throughout their daily life. They wore black for extended periods of mourning, they created “death masks” and photographs of lost loved ones and they even made special jewelry out of the deceased’s hair.

All of this connects to how death was an integral part of Victorian life, with evidence of it visible everywhere. In comparison to modern day, death is not as overtly celebrated, but symbols of it can still be found in many places. From wearing black to a funeral to passing down a loved one’s jewelry, Victorian death culture may not be as strong, but it can be argued that it is definitely still around.