Speculation, Suicide, and the Silver Fork Novel

• Published in: Studies in the literary imagination 2018-03, Vol.51 (1), p.103-119
• Main Author: Dickson, Leigh Wetherall
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attitudes; Consciousness; Criticism and interpretation; Hazlitt, William; Hazlitt, William (1778-1830); Hume, David; Lister, T.H; Lister, Thomas H; Literary characters; Plot (Narrative); Portrayals; Reasoning; Religion; Social aspects; Social classes; Society; Suicides & suicide attempts; Writers
• ISSN: 0039-3819; 2165-2678; 2165-2678
• DOI: 10.1353/sli.2018.0006

On the one hand, while juridical and religious discourses and practices, representing venerable traditions of thought on suicide, continued to exercise authority over acts of self-destruction, these approaches of condemning and sanctioning suicide were increasingly pressured by changing attitudes toward the act and its perpetrators. There has been a recent rise in the re-evaluation of the significance of the silver fork novel in relation to two connected key themes: reform and the rise of the socially aspirant middle class. Bainbridge's reading suggests a straightforward division between the two protagonists in relation to the reform agenda identified by Copeland, the suicide of Tyrell being symbolic of the self-destructive nature of the old model of an immoral and financially irresponsible aristocracy in favor of one that promotes self-discipline and restraint. The silver fork novel as a tool for this kind of cultural introspection emerged, argues Esterhammer, as a manifestation of the period's "preoccupation with appearances [that find] expression in the [term] 'speculation.'" Esterhammer notes that during this period "speculation" had multiple yet overlapping meanings: as well as designating risky financial ventures, the term also "retained its older meanings of visual 'examination' or 'observation' and 'abstract or hypothetical reasoning' [and] can also mean pure or mere conjecture."