Józef Bachórz
A Page from the History of
Commonsense, or Physiognomy in
Literature
Literary Studies in Poland 13, 61-74
A Page from the History o f Commonsense,
or Physiognomy in Literature
M inister Jaszuński, im pressed by N ikodem D y z m a’s “vigo ro us” entry into high society in the H otel E uropejski, says to Col. W areda: “Yes, th at m ust be a stron g character. I belieye in phrenology. The head is forw ard and the jaw developed. I believe in p hreno log y.” The C o lo n el’s w onderes w hether the m inister has go tten „plow ed” at the reception: “W hat does ch a rac te r have to do with ch ro n o lo g y ?” 1
T. D ołęga-M ostow icz—like a good h u n te r—has struck several ta r gets w ith one sh o t; he creates a p o rtra it o f D yzm a, sheds light on the type o f the M in ister’s intellect (it is alm ost as if Jaszuński declared a belief in ch irom ancy or astrology), an d shows us the colonel’s civilian erud ition an d style o f reaction to “intellectuality.” Also, one m ore piece o f inform atio n th a t to d ay s read er can gain from reading this scene is th a t even before the w ar it was possible n o t to know w hat phrenology is.
If the a u th o r o f N ikodem D y zm a ’s Career had w ritten this type of novel a hu nd red years earlier, he w ould not have ascribed such unconsciousness even to m em ber o f the cadet corps, an d perhaps even to the occasional recruits th a t frequented social conversations and read new spapers. For, sum m aries of phrenological studies a p peared regularly as did notices o f „cran io scop e” societes and other sensations in the new spapers o f the first h a lf o f th e 19th century. F or exam ple, one ab o u t the peculiar entrance exam inations given by R ossini (“the fam ous R ossini accepts no stu den t w ho does n o t
have a certain bum p as a sign o f the gift o f m usic” 2). P h ren o lo gical practices tu rn ed up in the m ost varied circum stances. T. T. Jeż m entions th at in 1850 a Swiss d o c to r a b o a rd the ship tran sp o rtin g Polish m ilitary em igrants from T urkey to England felt the heads o f all willing and brave (passengers) and gave diagnoses.3
T he fascination with phrenology was a part o f the 19th-century renaissance o f interest in physiognom y. It was a renaissance because the belief th a t the physical shape o f a person has a connection w ith his spiritual qualities is one o f the oldest in the E uropean cultural orbit. The form ula “the ancient G reek s” w ould be com pletely ju stifie d .4 In the classic G reek and R om an statues the beautiful faces o f the gods and heroes were supposed to express their inner attrib u tes. C learly, a non-physiognom ic trad itio n also existed, th at was particularly evident d uring the tran sitio n from an tiq u ity to the M iddle Ages. However, with the passage of tim e the physiognom ic trend gained strength in M edieval a rt, and during the tran sitio n to the R enaissance becam e d o m in an t again. In the M arian alter o f Wit Stwosz the A postels and the Virgin M ary are captivatingly b eau ti ful, bu t the m yrm idons and devils have frighteningly repulsive, b ra n ded, rough mugs.
R enaissance hum anism , like the ancients having uncovered the beauty o f the hum an body, favored its literary and artistic ex position. They were n o t always expositions th a t suggested its spiritual values; however, as a whole the R enaissance encouraged physiognom y and the creation of physiognom ic doctrines. O ne such doctrine was developed by Jan o f G łogów , a professor a t the C racow Academ y. In his w ork Quaestiones librorum De anima m agistri Joannis Vertoris (at the beginning o f the 16th century) he contains tho ug hts recalled years later by p ro p o n e n ts o f phrenology. N ear the end o f the 16th century the Italian n atu ra list G . della P o rta gained renow n for p ro m oting ancient anim al physiognom y in his treatise De humana
physio-2 [A n u n titled note] R o z m a ito ś c i, 1841, n o . 3physio-2, p. physio-260.
3 See B u rzliw e ż y c ie T. T. J e ż a (S to r m y L ife o f ...) . F rom the m em o ires, w ritin gs an d letters ed. S. S tr u m p h -W o jtk iew icz, W arszaw a 1961, pp. 9 4 —95.
4 T h e p ro fessio n o f p h y sio g n o m ist ex isted in G reece an d R o m e and p h y sio g n o m ic treatises w ere w ritten. See J. B i a ł o s t o c k i , T eoria i tw ó r c zo ś ć (The T heory
a n d the C r e a tiv ity ), P o zn a ń 1961, p. 72; J. P a s t u s z k a , H isto ria p sy c h o lo g ii (The H isto r y o f P sy c h o lo g y ), L ublin 1971, p. 441.
gnomia (1586). It based prognoses o f ch aracter on sim ilarities o f the
profile o f hum an faces and the co n to u rs o f the heads o f certain an i mals. P o rta ’s strange engravings later inspired caricatures an d il lustratio n s o f fairy tales, such as those by G randville. T he p o p u la rity o f physiognom ic prop osals like P o rta ’s is illustrated by the a u th o r o f Nowe A ten y (New A thens) w ho cites the Italian m aster. Thus, C hm ielow ski has:
S oft hair d en o tin g a tim id m an sin ce it is sim ilar to the fur o f tim id a n im a ls (deer, rab b its, sh eep) [ . . . ] H e freq u en tly b lin ks in d ica tin g a short life, for the d elica te m uscles. [ . . . ] H e w h o has black [eyes] is a prisoner o f love and p a ssio n a te. T he dry e y e s are h u m o ro u s, w h o ev er d o e s n ot c lo s e his ey es w h ile sle ep in g has the nature o f a rabbit, tim id.
T h an k s to learned w ritings and artistic w orks physiognom ic p ron ou ncem ents ab o u t people becam e an increasingly com m on habit o f p o p u lar though t and an integral p art o f the “ob vio us” treatm ent o f hum an reality, an elem ent o f com m on sense.
D uring the E nlightenm ent, when nearly everything th at had been gathered th ro u g h experience and conviction was ordered and ration ali zed, the m ost com plete o f existing physiognom ic theories was form ula ted. A lthough this occurred when tru st in R eason began to recede, it was still under its sponsorship. The latter was only partial (m uch like it was for m esm erism ), but it sufficed to convince the m ajority o f the public o f the scientificness o f physiognom y. The fath er o f the renewed doctrin e was Jo h an n K asper L avater (1741 —
1801), the p asto r from Z u rich and a u th o r o f the fo u r huge tom os o f Physiognomische F ragm ented with hundred s o f illustrations by ou tstan d in g artists, such as D. C hodow iecki. T he a u th o r’s fam e (he was visited by m any E uropean dignitaries) fulfilled the legend o f A rchi- m edesian d e a th : he died o f w ounds inflicted while he was p erfo rm ing his p h ilan th ro p ic duties by a French soldier. A lthough L av a ter’s volum es m ainly co ntain practical physiognom ic directions and not a system atic, theoretical discussion, som e system atic assum ptions are concealed w ithin it. A m ong them is the physiognom ists’ requisite external axiom that regular (discoverable an d form ulateable) re la tio n
3 J. K. L a v a t e r , P h y sio g n o m isch e F ragm en te zu r B eförderu n g d er M
ships and dependencies betw een the body an d spirit exist. L avater assigned prim acy to the spirit; it determ ined, so to speak sculpted and m odelled, the shape o f its m aterial host. Physical ch a rm then derived from spiritual beau ty ; according to L avater C h rist m ust have had an ideally beautiful physiognom y.
F o r the physiognom ic trad itio n , the strong side o f L avaterism was the com prehensive treatm en t o f app earan ce as an expression o f spiritual characteristics. The individual p arts o f the face h ad the role o f signs o f specific traits, bu t they h ad to be read in a synthetic, m u tual conjunction. A ccording to E nlightenm ent a n th ro pology L avater em phasized the “co n ten ts” o f the spirit, an d in connection with this he directed atten tio n to the physiognom ic function o f p erm an en t elem ents o f appearance. He dispensed w ith those elem ents o f earlier physiognom y th at to o strongly suggested divining o r o th e r varieties o f fraud. He retain ed in revised or kernel form a nu m ber o f beliefs deeply em bedded in the p o p u la r consciousness an d thus having som e sense o f probability.
O f the elem ents o f ap pearance the m ost essential ones in L av ater’s physiognom y were: the nose (its privileged place was fre quently ridiculed by his opponents), the forehead, the eyes, the m outh, an d the chin. T heir dim ensions, shape, p ro p o rtio n s, locations (the L avaterian „ideal type” h ad three equal sections o f a vertical line: the forehead, nose an d chin with the m outh) against the b ac k grou nd o f the o th er an atom ical parts, m im icry, m ovem ent, and voice m ade it possible to m ap ou t the entire inner spirit. L avater re g ard ed m istakes in readings as a necessary prioe th a t m ust be p aid during the early stages o f the developm ent o f his science.6 H e believed th a t the collection o f em pirical d ata, the establishm ent o f definite, detailed relations betw een the spirit an d the body an d the grow th o f physiog nom ic research w ould im prove the discipline in the future.
T he w eak point o f L avaterism , which was im m ediately raised by
6 Lavater p ractised p h y sio g n o m y n o t o n ly o n the b asis o f facial ex a m in a tio n s but o f p ortraits (en gravin gs) as w ell. T o the great p leasu re o f his o p p o n e n ts, th e n ew s spread th ro u g h E u rop e that he had id entified a p icture o f a crim in al as th at o f H erder. In P o la n d , th is w a s rep orted by K . B r o d z i ń s k i , a m o n g others, w h o w a s at tim es fa v o ra b le tow ard p h y sio g n o m y (th o u g h n o t w ith o u t reservations), in an article “L a v a te r ,” M a g a z y n P o w sze c h n y U ży te c zn y c h W iadom ości, 1835, no. 60, p. 480.
his contem poraries, consisted o f the problem o f the inborn charac teristics o f external appearan ce which p rovoked m any difficult ques tions from the scientific point o f view. W ithout falling into conflict with his intense religiosity, L avater could not, in view o f his assigning prim acy to the spiritual elem ent, adequately respond to the question o f the inheritance o f physical qualities. T his question was asked from the p o in t o f view o f biology, am ong others. A m biguousness regarding w hat is recognizeable on the basis o f appearance w as no less a w eakness of L avaterian physiognom y, tho ug h it was not noticed so quickly. E arlier physiognom ists form u lated the question variously: th a t the characteristics o f the m ind, th a t the em otional “n a tu re ” , th a t the ch aracter (usually u n d ersto o d as a com plex o f m oral-social qualities), th a t the s p irit... L avater was a m axim alist. He w anted to read the entire spiritual structure, the m ental ch aracteris tics, the m oral silhouette, the intelligence, the will, the experiences, tem peram ent (em otional pred isp osition s)—everything th a t m odern psychological term inology calls the psyche or in the term inology o f one b ranch o f psychology w ould be called the “p erso n ality ” . But he did not develop a typology o f this phenom enon.
T hus, critical co n tin u atio n o f L avaterism w ent in tw o directions. O ne o f them aim ed to create a scientific basis for physiognom y by freeing it from spiritualism and basing it on anatom y and physio logy. The o ther aim ed to develop a precise con ceptual fram e o f the “m ental faculties.” In tim e this second direction evolved tow ard various currents o f psychology, an d the a u th o r o f C haraktery ro
zum ów ludzkich (Characters o f human minds), W iszniewski was one
o f its representatives. B oth directions converged in “physiologizing” physiognom y and lim iting L avaterian m axim alism . This was the case with G all, Lichtenberg, C arus, an d m any o ther 19th-century adeptees o f physiognom y.
F ran z Jo sef G all (1758— 1823), the Viennese d o cto r who practiced in P aris and is still valued to d ay for inspiring w orks on brain anato m y , constructed a hypothesis o f an atom ical conditioning o f d ri ves, feelings, and m ental abilities. H e called it organology; his stu dents prop ag ated the nam e “p h renolo gy”. D raw ing on the trad itio n al theory o f the b rain as the seat o f the “m ental faculties,” he conducted a num ber o f observations o f the b rain cortex and reached the conclusion th at centers for various psychic predispositions are
localized in different locations. T he lobes and m ore developed frag m ents o f the cortex correspon d to specific p ro tub erances o f the skull. On th e basis of these pro tu b eran ces (bum ps) it is possible to determ ine a p erso n ’s inbo rn inclinations an d talents. Tw enty-seven o f them ap p e ar on G a ll’s m ap o f the head; thirty-tw o, on Spurz- heim ’s; and m ore th an sixty, on som e late 19th-century ones.
L ichtenberg’s correctio n o f L av aterian physiognom y, called p atho - nom y, reduced physiognom ists’ com petence to “discovering th e stro ng er, tran sito ry elations and passions,” th a t freeze in the m uscular facial features.
Physiognom y and phrenology had their determ ined o pponents, even enemies (especially am ong the n atu ra l scientists), bu t they could not h am per the spread o f these beliefs am on g artists, w riters, and some philosophers. They did n o t hinder, even in a sense helped, the spread o f th ese'b eliefs in new spapers.
G oethe had a favorable view o f L avater, an d K a n t took up physiognom y w ith hope. N ear the end o f the 18th century L ava terism becam e fashionable th ro u g h o u t Europe. In F rance several ou tstan d in g w riters succum bed to it. In th e 19th century, fo r example, M adam e de Stael, then de M aistre, Balzac (with great, enthusiasm ), and after him F lau b ert and Z o la .7 In P o land Jędrzej Śniadecki w rote a serious study of phrenology. D u rin g the first h a lf o f the 19th century it is difficult to find a w riter who did not at least m ention L avater o r G a ll.8 A sim ilar situ ation also existed durin g the posi tivist period when p o p u lar outlines o f physiognom y an d phrenology based on foreign academ ic au th o rities began to a p p e a r.9
The sim plest and m ost obvious sym ptom s o f the presence o f physiognom y in literature are m entions o f its creators (for example, com parison o f careful observers and know ledgeable people to L avater
7 See Ph. V a n T i e g h e m , L es Infuences é tra n g è res su r la litté ra tu re fra n ç a ise
( 1 5 5 0 - 1 8 8 0 ) , P aris 1967, pp. 2 2 0 - 2 2 3 .
8 T h ere is no w ay to m en tio n ev ery o n e (but a m o n g them are M ickiew icz, S łow ack i, N o r w id ), but it is w orth m en tio n in g that a cu r io u s in terp retation o f external ap p earan ce as an ex p ressio n o f so c ia l orig in s (the higher the social origin the m ore h a n d so m e) w as given b y H . R z e w u s k i in his sk etch “ B a r a g o lstw o ,” [in:] M ie sza n in y o b y c za jo w e (C u sto m M ix tu re s), vol. 1, V iln a 1841, p. 29.
9 See fo r ex a m p le: A . Y s a b e a u , L a v a te r, C arus, G all. Z a sa d y ftzjo g n o m ik i
in conversations in novels) or phrenological explanations o f events (for example, in one o f K raszew ski’s w orks a suicide is explained by a developed “suicide o rg a n ” in the skull o f an unh app y wom an). H um o ro u s com m ents on the unfo unded am bitions o f provincial L avaters occur also. T o day these types o f literary uses are only historical curiosities.
Physiognom y exerted m uch m ore significant influence on literature on an o th er plane, so to speak. T his influence was m ost evident (though n o t restricted to) in n arrative prose, especially in the p resentatio n o f hum an characters. W ithou t reference to physiognom y it w ould be difficult to u nd erstan d the m ajority o f realistic and natu ralistic novelists.
A nd im p o rtan t elem ent o f 19th-century realistic novels is the peculiar m anner o f describing reality. In prerealistic novels, especially 18th-century didactic prose, num erous, unusuall adventures, strange events, and strongly typed characters (frequently alm ost schem atic, usually ju st a last name, for instance “ D ośw iadczyński”, indicating th eir uncom plicated personality) were favored. N o t probability but ra th e r attractiv e illustration o f p articu lar m oral principles was vital. T he realistic novel changed this trad itio n . Its ch aracters were given m uch richer personalities, and the plot thin ned and was stam ped w ith the seal “reflects reality.” The read er received a m ore m odest rep erto ry o f events (but m ore detailed), analytical descriptions (usual ly in a style related to con tem p o rary scientific prose).
In his old narrative convention V oltaire describes the scholar M artin (C and ide’s friend) in tw o sentences w ithout w orrying ab o u t “tru th ” o r details, attem p tin g instead a hum o ro u s face o f a de finite type o f custom :
Ce sa v a n t, qui était d ’ailleu rs un b on h o m m e, av a it été p lévoar sa fem m e, b attu par so n fils, et a b a n d o n n é de sa fille qui s ’éta it fait en lever par un P o rtu g a is. Il ven ait d ’être privé d'un petit e m p lo i du q uel il su b sista it, et les p red ica n ts d e Surinam le p ersécu ta ien t parce q u ’ils le p ren aien t p our un soci- n ie n l0.
This p resen tation suggests a posth u m o u s biographical relation ra th e r th an a description. Physical appearan ce is absent (if it
appears in other characters in this w ork, it does n o t have physiog nom ic conn otatio ns). N o o th er incidental in fo rm atio n th a t w ould distract the re ad er’s atten tio n aw ay fro m the picture o f the h e lp less p hilosopher is given either.
The realistic descriptive ritual, which is recalled here by a ra th e r lengthy (though shortened) fragm ent from The H um an Comedy, has a com pletely different ap pearan ce th an in the d idactic-prose trad itio n :
D a v id avait les fo rm e s q u e d o n n e la nature aux êtres d estin és à de gran d es luttes, écla ta n tes ou secrètes. S on large b u ste éta it flanqué par de fortes é p a u le s en h arm onie avec la p lén itu d e de to u te s ses form es. S o n v isage, brun de to n , co lo ré, gras, su p p o rté par un gros c o u , e n v e lo p p e d ’une a b o n d a n te forêt de ch eveu x noirs, ressem b lait au prem ier ab ord à celu i de c h a n o in e s c h a n té s par B o ile a u ; m ais un se co n d ex a m en v o u s révélait d a n s les sillo n s d es lèvres ép a isse s, d a n s la fo ssette du m en to n , d a n s la tournu re d ’un nez carré, fendu par un m éplat to u r m en té, d a n s les yeux su rto u t! le feu c o n tin u d ’un u n ique a m o u r , la sa g a c ité du penseur, l ’ard en te m éla n co lie d ’un esprit qui p ou vait em b rasser les d eu x extrém ités de l’h o r iz o n , en p én étran t to u tes les sin u o sités, et qui se d é g o û ta it fa cilem en t d es jo u issa n c e s tout id éa les en y p ortant les clartés de l'an alyse. Si l’o n devinait d a n s cette fa ce les éclairs du g én ie qui s ’éla n ce, on vo y a it au ssi les cen d res auprès du v o lc a n ; l ’esp éra n ce s ’y é teig n a it d a n s un p r o fo n d se n tim en t du néan t social o ù la n a issa n ce ob scu re et le d éfaut de fortu n e m a in tien n en t tant d ’esp rits su p é r ie u r s.11
This m an ner o f presenting a ch aracter presum es th a t the reader will accept the in fo rm atio n given as agreeing w ith the requirem ents o f reality, with social experiences, an d even with the au th o rity o f science. The w riter tells the reader o f the “p en etratin g th o u g h t” evident in the cleft o f the chin an d the shape o f the nose o f D avid Sechred, with the sam e conviction as for instance in an o th er place in the sam e novel he explains the storage and use o f printing fonts. The reader therefore should not perceive sentences with physiognom ic contents differently th a n o th er describing em piric ally verifiable facts. The novel’s plot confirm s the physiognom ic p re d iction : D av id ’s history proceeds closely in agreem ent with the p re scriptions revealed in his physiognom ic p o rtrait.
This type o f ch aracterizatio n, th ough w ith m any individual v aria t ions from the L avaterian norm s, is the prop erty peculiar to the
il H. B a l z a c , L a C o m é d ie hu m aine: L e s D eu ' p o è te s , B ib lio th è q u e de la P leiade, vol. 4. p. 485.
19th-century realistic convention. Even w riters like K raszew ski w ho placed little faith in L av ater’s p edantic form ulas usually succum bed to the enticing prospect o f describing faces on the basis o f the “ spiritual n a tu re ” looking o u t ... R eaders o f O rzeszkow a, even of P rus (although he violated the physiognom ic rules o f play and custom s m ore th an once), and especially o f Sienkiewicz, generally know well in advance w hat to expect for exam ple from a young w om an who “has a small, thin, som ew hat snub nose, w ith m oveable, constantly flaring nostrils, an d a cleft in her ch in .” T here was added needlessly th a t they were a “sign o f a p leasant disposition.”
A literary histo rian ca n n o t resist asking him self the q uestion ; w hat factors caused physiognom y to be so attractive fo r so m any w riters an d why was it so universally annexed to such a long term o f service to novel w riters?
It appears th a t such attrib u tes o f physiognom y as its co m m u ni cativeness in com m on-sense term s, as its presence am ong com m only accepted tru th s (w ithout reference to the co m m on sense o f reality it w ould be difficult to im agine realistic prose) an d also the freshly em bossed m ark o f scientificness were prim arily responsible for the attra ctio n . T he successes o f the n atu ra l sciences con trib u ted to the fam e o f physiognom y. T he w orks o f Buffon, C uvier, L am arck and also later D arw in 12 (and m any o th er biologists) solidified the great social au th o rity o f the n atu ral sciences. W riters turned to them with the hope o f explaining the rules o f reality an d the puzzle o f life a n d for m odels o f research m ethodology, such as typological criteria, which were so im p o rtan t in discussions of typologies o f the hum an w orld in fiction. Some o f G a ll’s and C a ru s’s enthusiasts believed even th a t phrenology was a fu rth er stage in the m ethodology o f science; w ithout resigning from physiological em piricism , cognitive results can be achieved by im posing an a priori order on facts a n d forcing them to subm it to the requirem ents o f conceptual thinking. In this way the trad itio n al co n trad ictio n between idealism a n d realism and between hum anism (philosophy) and biology could be overcom e.
i- C h arles D arw in to o k up a thread related to p h y sio g n o m is ts' interest (departing fr o m them ) o n a n atu ralistic p lan e in his w ork O n the E x p ressio n o f Feelings
T he m ajority o f literary-realism doctrines, ranging from Physiologie
du mariage (physiology!) to the n aturalists, are d eclaratio ns o f d e
pendence on the achievem ents o f the n atu ral sciences. T he recog nition o f physiognom y a n d phrenology as so essential as obviously c o m p le m entary to these achievem ents was, truly, n ot in h arm o n y w ith the intentions o f the p asto r from Z urich (though it agreed w ith the views o f G all and his students). But such an in terp retatio n w as requ ired to su bstantiate the pseudo-scientific, veristic am b itio n s o f the n o velists. Sentim ental an d rom antic in terp retatio n s also endow ed ph ysio gnom y with literary possibilities, but these in terp re tatio n s did n o t go together with the m im etic or pseudo-scientific program s. The rom an tics suspicious o f all m aterial shells could not em ploy physiognom y w ith out reservations. T hus, in their w orks we enco u n ter either exploi tatio n o f only som e elem ents o f the physiognom ic m aps o f the face (characteristically no t the “a b stra c t” nose but the eyes occupy the m ost privileged position) or w ith a peculiar distrust o f external b eauty (satanic beauty). The realistic trust in physiognom y facilitated the cleansing o f the novel o f b oth E nlightenm ent syntheticness and its didactic principles o f separating types as well as from sentim ental overem phasis o f em otio nal m otives and ro m antic suspiciousness o f everything external and subject to em pirical study. The realistic novel m anifest its faithfulness to tru th and contact with life by treatin g physiognom y as a branch o f em pirical know ledge. Lavaterism to gether with its phrenological addition s thus u n d ersto o d served to rebuild the gravity o f the genre th at had been so dam aged by the gothic-rom ance an d en tertainm ent-didactic abuses.
But this w ould not have been sufficient for the blinding career o f physiognom y. L av aterism ’s favoring o f the classic-aristocratic ideal o f beauty helped to pro m o te its career, too. Since G reek times, the axiom o f classic-aristocratic ideal o f beauty has been p ro p o rtio n , h a r m ony, sym m etry, an d careful detail. In this co nception o f beauty there is no place for tolerance o f overly large ears o r an irregular forehead.
It is unnecessary to explain how far from universal this ideal o f beauty is. H ow ever, it w ould no t be remiss to recall th a t in E urope it first solidified its position in those spheres and groups th at could cultivate the ancient “beauty o f life” e a rlie st‘in the m odern era. R eturns to ancient classicism were usually elite in social character
so th at they avoided the plebeian. As a result folk a rt clearly retained its independence from the classic u n d erstand ing o f beauty for a rela tively long time. It retained its independence n o t only in its literary p resentation o f plebeian wisem en, all those “fat and rib a ld ” Tills, w hose w isdom , even goodness, did no t go together w ith the “w isdom ” o f the forehead o r the perfectness o f the shape o f the nose. It also m ain tain ed its independence in old painting on glass o r the sculpture o f ro adside peasant shrines; the sharp features o f the faces were not solely the result o f unskilled hands.
The realistic novel, connected, an d properly so, w ith the birth o f a new public, ennobled a new social m ilieu. L avaterian physiog nom y m et the needs o f the dem ocratic “ sp irit” o f the genre. The novel’s dem ocracy (but no t ju s t the novel’s) lay am o ng o th er things in m aking com m on things the elite regarded as their privilege. The novel, even in its prerealistic an d m ore so in its realistic stage m ade the sublim ation o f feelings, for exam ple, com m on by giving heroes from outside the elite the ability to experience it. In o th er w ords the novel advanced the low and the com m on to the level o f the exclusive. It com m anded the bourgeoisie to love no less intensely an d deeply th an earlier literatu re h ad princesses. It assured the bourgeoisie wom en or even their provincial im itato rs th at their beauty m atched th at o f the great ladies, and it endow ed them w ith spiri tual assets which their physical beauty con ditioned and signaled.
T hus, the physiognom ic im agination was one o f the elem ents o f the dem ocratizing process in literature, for it introduced the elite vision o f beauty into com m on circulation. It gave personalities to those w ho previously only had faces and assured everyone w ho had a regular face th at his spirit was equally beautiful.
F o r n arrativ e prose it was o f no small im portan ce th a t physiog nom ic description seemed to deepen fiction’s vision of the w orld, to overcom e pure descriptiveness and simple listing, and to provide insurance against the charge o f shallowness. Physiognom ic descriptions were an d were n o t shallow sim ultaneously. The sm all prose form s were rescued gratefully w ith its help, especially sketches, which h aving no or little plot had little chance o f avoiding accusations o f a shallow vision o f life.
M odern literary history w ould not be im agineable w ithout realistic prose. T his prose has preserved previously existing physiognom ic
beliefs, popularized them , an d extended their life far b eyond the tim e o f any hope for their scientific future. T he crisis o f n a tu ra lis ts’ tru st in this discipline, which sufferred from the p ro fessio n als’ serious doubts from the beginning, quickly led to its conclusive rejection. The situation o f phrenology was som ew hat m ore co m plic ated, especially in A m erica where it h ad deep roots, p b u t its p ro g nostic content to o was questioned (which has n o t prevented G all from receiving due credit for his technical discoveries and laying the fo u n d atio n u nder the fertile thesis o f localization o f m ental functions). In any case the rapid developm ent o f psychophysiology at th e end o f the 19th century an d the beginning of the 20th century occurred in all o f its versions (from W u n d t’s to Pavlov’s) by forcefully breaking with the problem s and trad itio n s o f physiognom y. Even K retsch m er’s co nstitutionalism , at tim es associated with physiognom y, sharply b roke with the style o f studies characteristic o f L avater and physiognom ists. “T h a t way leads to n o th in g ,” w rote K retschm er.
N ow th e ,ro le o f the new inspiration o f literature and function o f cocreator o f its b re ak th ro u g h to overcom ing realistic conventions fell to psychoanalysis. There is n o t enough space here (nor the co m petence) to sum m arize the pow erful, om nipresent influence o f psycho analysis on the 20th-century revolution in the novel. But inasm uch as the w ord psychoanalysis has ap peared here, it is necessary to state clearly; its significance for the w orldview o f the new novel seems far greater than ph ysiognom y’s for the realistic novel. M oreover, any com p arison o f the roles o f L avater an d F reud could satisfy only the shallow est taste in com parisons. T here is no d o u b t ab o u t one thin g ; no t behaviorism , not constitutionalism , but psychoanalysis decreed the irreversible dem ise o f physiognom y’s im portance in literature.
T he dem ise o f its im portan ce does n o t by any m eans denote the end o f its existence. W hat the history o f science has deem ed
pseudo-13 T h e r e — as in S c o tla n d — p h ren o lo g ica l so c ie te s w ere fo u n d ed . P h r en o lo g y attracted interest for a lo n g tim e in c r im in o lo g y a s an a d d itio n a l m eth o d for finding crim in als. In A m erica n literature th e a u th o rity o f p h ren o lo g y w as built up by W alt W h itm an , an ard en t d iscip le o f G a ll’s system b ecau se o f p ecu liarly eg o istic rea so n s (his h ead w as h ig h ly praised by p h r e n o lo g ists). W ith o u t a p h ren o lo g ica l c o m m entary it is im p o ssib le to u n d erstan d m a n y p o e m s from L e a v e s o f G rass (see M . G a r d n e r , P seu d o scien ce a n d P seu doscholars).
-science an d a blind alley (fully realizing th at the risk o f erro r is inseparable from the searching, and m istakes are the price of progress), has retained its vitality in the eyes o f the readers o f the realistic novel. 19th-century prose still rem ains an attractiv e item for the m ass reader today. It is too im p o rta n t a page in the history o f literature fo r anyone to ignore it in todays ed u cation al program s. M oreover, for m any years it has been ra th e r m ore overvalued th an undervalued. In this situ atio n we inculcate realistic conventions as the “n a tu ra l” way o f describing the w orld from childhood. This scholastic characterizatio n o f the heroes in novels an d stories silently trains us in a physiognom ic view o f m an.
T he history o f illustrations is also inextricably intertw ined with the physiognom ic trad itio n . In o u r first book lets the wicked old hag has a disto rted , repulsive face and C inderella is far m ore beautiful th a m her stepsisters. Bad boys m ust have disheveled hair and an overly large u p tu rn e d “p o ta to ” nose and ugly d isto rted m outh. L ater it is difficult fo r us to app reciate m odern a rt which long ago broke with th e physiognom ic ideal o f good an d beauty.
T h e m od ern follow ers o f realism assure it o f an un broken tra d i tion. W e can seek physiognom ic p o rtra its o f characters in avant-garde prose in vain. If we d o find som ething th a t suggests them in G o m b ro w ic z’s T rans-A tlantyk for exam ple, it is a paro d y and m ockery o f the physiognom ic trad ition . M ore frequently there are descriptions or ra th e r m entions o f elem ents o f the external appearan ce w ithout physiognom ic intent o f interpretation . But we can find physiognom ic- -type p o rtra its in w orks like Noce i dnie (N ights and days) by D ąb ro w sk a w ithout difficulty alth ou gh they are b roken into several fragm ents. One can risk the claim th a t the presence or absence o f physiognom ic characteristic is one o f the indicators o f the degree o f trad itio n ality in 20th-century prose.
T he p o p u la r novel, especially the rom ance and thriller-crim inal stories, provides physiognom y with an extrem ely secure asylum . T hriller stories cultivate the heritage o f earlier m ystery stories, b o rn d uring the era o f fascination with Lavaterism . Sir A rth u r C o n an C oyle dem o n strated the usefulness o f physiognom ic know ledge in detectio n : Sherlock H olm es him self not only has extrem ely positive phrenological characteristics, bu t he is also a p enetrating observer o f people’s faces. In m any o f the new er crim inal, stories
detective puzzles are solved by using physiognom ic observations, som e times by finding exceptions to the physiognom ic rules, but rarely by questioning physiognom ic rules for evaluating people. It is n o t dificult to notice th at creators o f com ics, crim inal films, p o p u lar tele vision serials, theatrical spectacles take this fact into account. This, how ever, is part o f the co ntinuing trad itio n o f physiognom y outside of lite ratu re ; the intention here has been to sketch the literary career o f physiognom y.
