First published in 2005, this book argues that, due to political and ideological shifts in the last decades of the nineteenth century a new depiction of social class was possible in the English novel. Late-century writers such as Gissing, James, Hardy and Wells question the middle-class Victorian views of class that had dominated the novel for decades through the disruption of traditional novelistic conventions. With reference to relevant maps, journalism, artwork, photography and specific historical events, this book contextualizes novels by these writers within their historical moment....

First published in 1978, this collection of papers, first presented at the thirteenth annual Conference on Editorial Problems in 1977, focuses on the editing of nineteenth-century fiction. Four of the papers are devoted to single authors – Dickens, Thackeray, Hardy and Zola – while the fifth takes its principle examples from Hawthorne, Twain and Crane. Looking at a range of works from English, American and French literature, this volume demonstrates the number of different attitudes that exist towards the editorial process as well as the different ambitions for the texts that scholars...

First published in 1979. This study explores the main critical issues that arise out of a modern reading of Scott’s work, and treats the major novels in detail. It tackles the questions of Scott’s place in literary history and his problems in pioneering the historical novel. As well as examining the greater novels of the Scottish series, the author also deals with the relation between historical fiction and reality, with reference to the Waverley Novels, and Scott’s own attitude to history. Also discussed are some of the possible reasons for Scott’s failure to depict conflicts in...

First published in 1984, this book offers a unique interpretation of Hawthorne’s work, making use of perspectives opened up by Derrida in his work on Rousseau. It offers a psycho-biography of the author as discoverable in the texts and avoids a simplistic Freudian analysis. In doing so, it illuminates the work and re-opens Hawthorne’s texts to creative discussion.

This book will be of interest to those studying 19^th century literature.

First published in 1970, this study demonstrates both the range and essential unity of the works of Mrs. Gaskell. The author analyses the novels of social criticism, the biography of Charlotte Brontë and the novels of country life as distinct expressions of her genius, commenting on recurrent themes, typical methods of presentation and consistent attitudes as they appear in each of the works. The differences of subject and intention between the three kinds of writing will be seen in the extracts which indicate the range of her ability and interests. The final section summarises her range...

Though Friedrich Schiller enjoyed prominent literary standing and great popularity in nineteenth century literary England, his influence has been largely neglected in recent scholarship on the period.

First published in 2003, this book explores the substantial evidence of the importance of the playwright and philosopher’s thought to George Eliot’s novelistic art. It demonstrates the relationship between Schiller’s work and Eliot’s plotting of moral vision, the tensions in her work between realism and idealism, and her aesthetics. It also contends that the immense continental...

First published in 1988, the aim of this study is to define the role of religious meaning in the modern novel and to demonstrate that the novel can successfully express a religious feeling, but not a religious commitment. Through the analysis of four novels by Faulkner, Dostoyevsky, Werfel and Bernanos, the work explains why novels with a single definite commitment tend to be implausible and lacking in aesthetic unity.

This book will be of interest to those studying religion in 19^th Century literature.

First published in 1988, the aim of this study is to define the role of religious meaning in the modern novel and to demonstrate that the novel can successfully express a religious feeling, but not a religious commitment. Through the analysis of four novels by Faulkner, Dostoyevsky, Werfel and Bernanos, the work explains why novels with a single definite commitment tend to be implausible and lacking in aesthetic unity.

This book will be of interest to those studying religion in 19^th Century literature.

First published in 1985, this book looks at the ways in which the spate of terrorist activity in the 1880s was reflected in the novels of the time. Oscar Wilde, George Gissing, Henry James and George Bernard Shaw among others gave the terrorist venture a position in one or more of their novels. This book examines what these novelists made of terrorism and the way they presented it to their readers. Not all of these novels are high literature or take a committed line on the outrages they describe; nevertheless they accept the assumption that terrorism and social protest were synonymous....

First published in 1990, this book was the first comprehensive study of Balzac’s relationship to music, blending past scholarship with new perspectives to formulate an inclusive account. It begins by examining the contacts and experiences that shaped the musical side of Balzac’s life. These left valuable and lasting impressions which often found their way into his writings, where he recorded a myriad of critical and musicological opinions — assessed primarily in relation to Gambara and Massimilla Doni. These discussions prepare the way for an analysis of Balzac two...