Botanified Humans and Plant Prose in Harriet Prescott Spofford's "The Amber Gods"

Harriet Prescott Spofford’s “The Amber Gods” has drawn attention for its luxuriant, overwrought style since its publication in 1860. From Henry James’ initial objection to its “far too many words, synonymous words,... [ view full abstract ]

Harriet Prescott Spofford’s “The Amber Gods” has drawn attention for its luxuriant, overwrought style since its publication in 1860. From Henry James’ initial objection to its “far too many words, synonymous words, and meaningless words” to Dorri Beam’s suggestion that Spofford uses a performative style to stake out a separate stylistic space for female writers, Spofford’s distinctive style has had enduring significance for readers. For the majority of these critics, the excessiveness of her style exists in its ornamentation and showiness, the very attributes to which James objects. What has been less examined is the extent to which this writing, instead of being merely florid, unfolds as an experiment in flower-prose that posits an alternative way of understanding the natural world. I demonstrate that Spofford engages with flower language and botanical empiricism to push her own fiction beyond human discourse in order to explore how plant life expresses itself. Yone, the narrator who gives voice to Spofford’s aesthetic and botanic language, can be interpreted as a botanified woman speaking as a flower and providing insights into its interior life. Through Yone’s botanification, Spofford demonstrates that the flower’s style is not one of sentimental didacticism, but one of unbridled excess and desire that is not moderated for human consumption. Thus, Yone opens the idea of plant subjectivity and the possibility of nature existing apart from human ends. In so doing, Spofford hollows out the morality of flowers and inserts a more empirical gaze that acknowledges vegetable sexuality and evolutionary power.