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Article: Romantic anti-dualism and the blush in Northanger Abbey.
- Article from:
- Wordsworth Circle
- Article date:
- January 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Wordsworth Circle. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Although in Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland learns from Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" that "many a flower is born to blush unseen," her blushes are more often seen than not (Austen 15). In fact, over twenty-five instances of blushing occur in the 220 pages of Northanger Abbey, amounting to approximately one incident of blushing every ten pages. Read in terms of current theories of cognitive neuroscience, which, as Alan Richardson has recently demonstrated, pertain to Romantic-era brain science, the blush becomes an arresting example of a non-verbal gesture that problematizes the mind/body connection. The blush, predicated on an intimate communication ...