John Galt’s The Omen: Interpretation and its Discontents

Abstract

ABSTRACTAs critical engagement with Galt’s writing grows, it is becoming possible to read his work in new contexts using new approaches, and to develop a better understanding of themes and practices that he returned to repeatedly while experimenting with a wide range of literary forms. Galt’s short novel The Omen (1825) can be contextualized within contemporary discourses such as Gothic tales, medical treatises, and periodical literature (especially Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine), but it is also open to modern interpretative approaches including Freudian psychology, trauma theory, and narratology. The Omen evokes interpretation on many levels, as the narrator’s attempt to interpret his traumatic memories, dreams, and omens finds a parallel in the reader’s attempt to make sense of a narrative full of ambiguities and paradoxes. Like many of Galt’s other fictional and pedagogical works, The Omen illustrates his habit of testing and challenging readers. While it reflects trends in late-Romantic print culture, the tale also has a strangely modern and even postmodern inflection.