Identifier	Thesis 1712
Author	Sussler, Joan
Title	Nobody's Fault: The study of an escape artist in English culture.
Publisher	Central Connecticut State University
Date of Publication	2002
Resource Type	Master's Thesis
Abstract	This examination of Nobody, a punning image in words and pictures of an imaginary person without a torso, was initiated by how often he appeared in different guises in the English satirical prints of the eighteenth century. For many years Nobody was seen as a trickster who showed that his head was directly attached to his legs. Whether his face was disguised as that of a well-known personage or whether he or she was dressed fashionably, Nobody dominated the scene as an amusing visual and verbal topic for conversation or speculation. In the process of assembling the pictures of Nobody from various collections, it became apparent that, aside from Gerta Calmann's fine analysis from an art historical standpoint, there was no comprehensive study of Nobody in his parallel role as an elusive entity in English literature. Moreover, Calmann's study of Nobody as a folk image on the Continent offered no substantial argument to support his longevity in England. Because the eighteenth-century playgoer, reader, or print-buyer was exposed to shows in which oddly proportioned characters performed, their attention was caught and held by the fact that Nobody could pop up anywhere; that is, he could be depended upon to be undependable. Calmann's essay began with Nobody's origins in Greek legend as the identity assumed by Odysseus in order to avoid being eaten by the one-eyed giant, Polyphemus. Subsequently, she explored his appearances in the Bible as "Nemo" and his later adaptations into medieval European folklore under the name of "Niemand." Although her study also revealed much about Nobody's iconographic career in England, it did not connect her findings about him in relation to the written language, nor did she note his presence in children's literature, in music or the dance; wherever, in short, there was an opportunity for his exhibition. Readily received into the mainstream of English culture, Nobody's debut was traceable from the Renaissance stage, including his mention by Shakespeare. As Nobody passed blithely into the next century, he was recognized by such luminaries as Samuel Johnson and Horace Walpole, in addition to being singled out as a creature of either sex by two women playwrights of the 1790s, Mary Robinson and Hannah Cowley. Judging from the boastful retort by one of Cowley's foppishly dressed characters: "I have been in a thousand different shapes, and a thousand places since then" I concluded that the attraction of Nobody's intangibility was similar to that of a sprite or a leprechaun to audiences. From this protean aspect of Nobody's being that was his essential trademark, I looked for indications as to how far he could go by reinventing himself over such a long period. In this respect, I found that Nobody's versatility was directly tied to the coded behavior of the day, where he appeared in such customary pursuits as play-acting and card-playing. In these contexts Nobody functioned as a way in which a player could express his wished-for identity, based on the culture's Odyssean preference for double-dealing by the use of imagination. What still remained to be answered was the reason for the end of Nobody's appeal. William Blake cast the first stone on Nobody's hold over the imagination in 1794, when his critical position was bolstered by the stirring of moral indignation over the French Revolution. However, it was not until halfway into the following century that Charles Dickens extended Blake's criticism of Nobody to the level of social ostracism. Nobody's unsteady habits, his cloudy definition, his tendency to vanish and reappear as someone else, were abstracted by Dickens into a symbol of the bureaucracy, an institution that dodged any acceptance of blame. Previously, Nobody had been successful in his shadowy career because the atmosphere of the times would support his duplicity. But this identity that was Homeric in its origins was replaced by a new wished-for self where ethical principles were substituted for versatility in order to come to grips with issues. Such exposure to the light of truth was anathema to Nobody's essential being. Without a stage upon which to perform his tricks, Nobody finally had no choice but to exit the scene. In summary, this study has attempted to explore the development of Nobody as a many-sided trope that thrived in English culture until he was stopped in his tracks by the social and political changes wrought by the French and Industrial Revolutions, which acted together to effect his dismissal. In spite of his faults, however, Nobody achieved nothing if he did not prove that he was a magician, a mere figure of fun and games, whose sole props consisted of smoke and mirrors.
Subject	Caricatures and cartoons -- Great Britain
Department	Department of English
Advisor	Barnett, Stuart
Type	Text
Digital Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
OCLC number	713734057
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Nobody's Fault: The study of an escape artist in English culture.

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