Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 Books

Book SynopsisThis illuminating book traces the development of Scottish women’s writing in English from its genesis in the late eighteenth century to its flowering in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Hindered initially by the hostility of the Presbyterian Church and the self-serving attitude of the male hierarchy which denied them a proper education, an astonishing number of women found opportunities, in the midst of domestic obligations, to write, and often publish – novels, poetry, diaries, journalism, letters, essays and reportage. Charlotte Waldie and Christina Keith visited, respectively, Waterloo and Flanders in the immediate aftermath of battle. Another intrepid writer, Emily Graves, wrote a memoir of her travels in Transylvania in The Light Beyond the Forest – from which Bram Stoker directly lifted the most blood-curdling elements of Dracula. Others remembered include literary multi-tasker and businesswoman Christian Isabel Johnstone; playwright Joanna Baillie; working-class poets Marion Bernstein and Janet Hamilton; novelist Susan Ferrier; memoirist Anne Grant of Laggan; and writer and scientist Mary Somerville, depicted on the cover, after whom Somerville College, Oxford is named. Trade Review'Any open-minded reader will learn a lot from this survey of Scottish women writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries.' Stuart Kelly in Scotland on SundayTable of ContentsBefore Fiction / Calvin’s Shadow / The Author of Marriage / Multitasking / A General Utility Woman / A Chelsea Interior / The Good Wife / Two Poets of the West / The Rainbow in the Cloud / The Highland Lady / The Immortal Joanna / Telling My Story / The Most Extraordinary Woman / Waterloo and Other Stories / Golden Lands / Turning the Century / My Own Country / Postscript

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Book SynopsisJane Austen is one of the most extensively read writers in English literature, renowned around the world for her much-loved romantic novels. Little is often known about this brilliant author, yet in this absorbing collection of stories and trivia readers will find answers to the amazing and extraordinary aspects of Austen’s life, work and legacy. From her development as a world-class author from unassuming origins and the secrets of her own life and loves, through insights into her novels and their characters along with the changing reception to them over the years, to intriguing stories behind the screen and stage adaptations of her works and her continued legacy, there is something for every enthusiast to relish. This authoritative and absorbing book is published to coincide with the 200th Anniversary of Austen’s death in 2017.Table of Contents1 Class act 10 2 'Bad reckoners' 12 3 112-year association 13 4 Happy home 15 5 Three grand houses 17 6 Second Farmer George 18 7 The Loiterer 20 8 Chosen as heir 22 9 Juvenile parody 25 10 Jane and Cassandra 27 11 Good friends 29 12 Leading lady 31 13 Death in the Caribbean 34 14 The Tom Lefroy affair 36 15 Novel beginnings 37 16 Wishful thinking? 39 17 Gold chains and topaz crosses 41 18 Strange scandal 43 19 'It's all settled!' 44 20 Affairs of the heart 47 21 Lure of Lyme 48 22 Sudden death 50 23 To the rescue 51 23 Opulent magnificence 53 24 Seaside interlude 55 25 Centre of creativity 57 26 Solitary sketch 59 27 First publication 59 28 'My own darling child' 63 29 Authorship revealed 65 30 Comic spirit 66 31 Universal truths 68 32 Mixed reactions 70 33 Delightful pilgrimage 72 34 'A rogue... but a civil one' 73 35 Scott's adulatory review 75 36 By royal permission 77 37 The duties of aunts 79 38 Cinderella revisited 82 39 In her sister's arms 84 40 Gothic parody 86 41 Literary genius ignored 88 42 Novel fragment 90 43 Early critics 91 44 'Highest esteem' 93 45 Facts of life 95 46 'Swell show' 96 47 Editor's hand 98 48 Cult status 100 49 White gowns and bonnets 101 50 Desert Island books 103 51 Darcymania 106 52 Zombie mash-up 107 53 Gripping continuation 108 54 Sparking a Twitterstorm 110 55 Social implications 112 56 Manly men 114 57 Spotlight on Cincinnati 116 58 Literary legacy 118 59 Screen legacy 120

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Book SynopsisThe first book in the new series, `Writers and their Contexts'', to be published by EER. Who is more open with posterity than Anthony Trollope? What other Victorian novelist of eminence exposed himself more frankly than the Chronicler of Barsetshire? Or did he...

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Book SynopsisEverybody knows Charlotte Brontë. World-famous for her novel Jane Eyre, she’s a giant of literature and has been written about in reverential tones in scores of textbooks over the years. But what do we really know about Charlotte? 
As the famous siblings celebrate their bicentenaries, Charlotte Brontë Revisited looks at Charlotte through 21st-century eyes. Discover the real Charlotte: her private world of convention, rebellion and imagination, and how they shaped her life and writing – including the paranormal, nature, feminism and politics. It’s an indispensable guide for students and literature lovers, and emphatically shows why Charlotte is as relevant today as she ever was.Trade Review`Interweaves biography and reference to scholarly material with [Franklin’s] own take on pertinent aspects of Charlotte’s oeuvre ... [Her] witty tone makes the calibration of these two things — the pleasure of the literary enthusiastic and the scholarly — both easy and enjoyable. Franklin deftly mixes contemporary humour with reflectivity ... superbly written, exuberant.’
 Brontë Studies Journal

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Book SynopsisWhat is a self? Greenblatt argues that the 16th century saw the awakening of modern self-consciousness, the ability to fashion an identity out of the culture and politics of one’s society. In a series of brilliant readings, Greenblatt shows how identity is constructed in the work of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser and other Renaissance writers. A classic piece of literary criticism, and the origins of the New Historicist school of thought, Renaissance Self-Fashioning remains a critical and challenging text for readers of Renaissance literature.Table of ContentsWays in to the Text Who was Stephen Greenblatt? What does Renaissance Self-Fashioning Say? Why does Renaissance Self-Fashioning Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited

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Book SynopsisCentral to the creative process of the Romantic poets that followed him, Wordsworth’s Preface to the Lyrical Ballads has been both a gift and a thorn in the side of critics for over a century. Readers find themselves drawn back to the essay repeatedly as they seek to untangle the ideas and contradictions within it. The Preface is a statement of Wordsworth’s poetic vision and offers an explanation of the poetic process behind the poems, which fused the rusticity of the ballad form with the psychological introspection of modernity. But to the generation of Romantic writers that emerged in its wake, the Preface announced a new understanding of the creative process and of the high purposes of poetry: to reveal the human condition, and to awaken in its readers the profoundest emotions and the most enduring truths of existence.Table of ContentsWays in to the Text Who was William Wordsworth? What does Preface to the Lyrical Ballads Say? Why does Preface to the Lyrical Ballads Matter? Section 1: Influences Module 1: The Author and the Historical Context Module 2: Academic Context Module 3: The Problem Module 4: The Author's Contribution Section 2: Ideas Module 5: Main Ideas Module 6: Secondary Ideas Module 7: Achievement Module 8: Place in the Author's Work Section 3: Impact Module 9: The First Responses Module 10: The Evolving Debate Module 11: Impact and Influence Today Module 12: Where Next? Glossary of Terms People Mentioned in the Text Works Cited

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Book Synopsis‘The primary task of this book is to build a bridge to a deeper understanding of Schiller himself who, along with Goethe and Novalis, was one of the great spiritual forerunners and trailblazers of anthroposophy.’ – Sergei O. Prokofieff --- Planned as the second volume in a trilogy on Novalis, Schiller and Goethe, Friedrich Schiller and the Future of Freedom is much more than a conventional biography. Prokofieff shines new light on Schiller’s character and destiny, helping to establish his position as a crucial antecedent to Rudolf Steiner in the spiritual history of humanity. He also defines Schiller’s task in the context of the achievements of Goethe and Novalis at the end of the eighteenth century, an extraordinary period that saw a seminal transformation in the philosophical and artistic landscape. --- Following the recent publication of The Riddle of Dmitri – which explores Schiller’s unfinished drama Demetrius – Prokofieff returns here to the theme in the framework of Schiller’s life and extensive body of work. In timely fashion, he conveys Schiller’s mediating role between Central and Eastern Europe, indicating how he came ‘near to the soul of the Russian people through an idealism imbued with his entirely self-created moral power and his fiery enthusiasm for everything in the world that is true, beautiful and good’.Table of ContentsPreface – I. Schiller’s Spiritual Task between Goethe and Novalis – II. Friedrich Schiller and the Future of Freedom – 1. The Ideal of Freedom and Its Spiritual Origin – 2. The Battle for Human Freedom – 3. Schiller’s Premature Death and its Spiritual–Historical Consequences – III. Friedrich Schiller’s Demetrius Fragment as a Drama of the Human I – Addendum to Part III: On the Figure of Mikhail Romanov – In Place of an Epilogue: ‘Goethe’s Science according to Schiller’s Method’ – Appendix – 1. Examples for the Relationship between the Aesthetic Letters and The Philosophy of Freedom – 2. Schiller on the ‘Fall of Man’ and Freedom – 3. Evidence of Schiller’s Spiritual Character in his Own Work – Novalis on Friedrich Schiller – Rudolf Steiner: Excerpt from the Lecture of 18 December 1920 – Rudolf Steiner: ‘Friedrich Schiller’ – References and Notes – Bibliography of Works by Rudolf Steiner

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Book SynopsisIn these brief, readable, and insightful essays, Fr. Milward delves into the poetry of Hopkins and his central ideas on God the Trinity, the self, nature and people.

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Book SynopsisIn 1857 the French poet Charles Baudelaire, who was fascinated by lesbianism, created a scandal with Les Fleurs du Mal [The Flowers of Evil]. This collection was originally entitled "The Lesbians" and described women as "femmes damnees," with "disordered souls" suffering in a hypocritical world. Then twenty years later, lesbians in Paris dared to flaunt themselves in that extraordinarily creative period at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries which became known as the Belle Epoque. Lesbian Decadence, now available in English for the first time, provides a new analysis and synthesis of the depiction of lesbianism as a social phenomenon and a symptom of social malaise as well as a fantasy in that most vibrant place and period in history. In this newly translated work, praised by leading critics as "authoritative," "stunning," and "a marvel of elegance and erudition," Nicole G. Albert analyzes and synthesizes an engagingly rich sweep of historical representations of the lesbian mystique in art and literature. Albert contrasts these visions to moralists' abrupt condemnations of "the lesbian vice," as well as the newly emerging psychiatric establishment's medical fury and their obsession on cataloging and classifying symptoms of "inversion" or "perversion" in order to cure these "unbalanced creatures of love." Lesbian Decadence combines literary, artistic, and historical analysis of sources from the mainstream to the rare, from scholarly studies to popular culture. The English translation provides a core reference/text for those interested in the Decadent movement, in literary history, in French history and social history. It is well suited for courses in gender studies, women's studies, LGBT history, and lesbianism in literature, history, and art.Trade ReviewAn authoritative study that reveals how Sapphists were associated with the first expressions of a feminism that threw the popular imagination off balance and produced such inexhaustible fantasies. -- Marc Emile Baronheld Elle Belgique A marvel of elegance and erudition... Natalie Clifford Barney the Amazon, the tortured personalities of Renee Vivien and Lucie Delarue-Mardrus, the character of Claudine so smartly portrayed by Colette, Madame Adonis by Rachilde... Albert has brought these forgotten personages back to life with passion... The sterile and flamboyant lesbian with a mysterious and pernicious eroticism ended up embodying the spirit of the fin-de-siecle and by symbolizing to perfection the excesses of Decadence. -- S. M. Revue Inverses In Lesbian Decadence, Nicole G. Albert delves deeply into the history of lesbian representation and uses her finely sharpened pen to reveal to us the fascination which the descendants of Sappho exercised [on readers at the turn of the last century]... One of the greatest strengths of Albert's book is not to stop at the canonical works but to include hundreds of sources from scholarly philology to popular caricatures. -- Laure Murat Magazine Tetu This book presents a richly detailed portrait of 'the lesbian,' an image foregrounded in the world of arts and letters in the Belle Epoque. Fantasies connected to the kinds of 'deadly pleasures' that women enjoyed among themselves, often when they were intoxicated by opium, resulted in an enormous number of books, articles, and illustrations that the author has brought to light for us with stunning erudition. -- P. K. Le Monde At last Nicole Albert's landmark study of the place of 'the lesbian' in fin-de-siecle French culture is available in English! Exhaustively researched and newly updated, Albert's book draws on a wide variety of sources from literature, the arts, journalism, and the emerging field of sexology. Albert demonstrates how 'sapphism' was imagined and re-imagined by observers, and how the Belle Epoque vogue for lesbianism created a spectral figure both 'demonized and poeticized.' Situated at the intersection of history and literature, Lesbian Decadence should be of interest to everyone interested in a deeper understanding of how culture is shaped by notions of gender and sexuality. -- Michael Wilson, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, University of Texas By far the most authoritative book on how lesbianism, with its many distinct but related aspects, is depicted in decadent discourse of the French Fin de Siecle. The book is itself a jewel of decadent criticism: multi-faceted, studded with insights, and beautifully wrought. -- Melanie Hawthorne, Professor of French, Department of International Studies, Texas A&M University Albert's book is a treat for American LGBT Studies researchers. She provides us with a treasure trove of paintings, drawings, and cartoons... Lesbian Decadence will not only be cited heavily in future nineteenth century LGBT Studies research, but it brings the amazing scholarship of Erber and Peniston to light as well. Best of all, due to its multiple illustrations, it is a fun read for academic non-fiction, and will inspire us in English-speaking countries to learn more about our French cousins. -- Rachel Wexelbaum Lambda Literary Including an excellent bibliography, this book will interest students of fin-de-siecle France, LGBT history, and gender studies. CHOICE [Lesbian Decadence] brings together an astonishingly wide range of literary, artistic, medico-scientific, and historical sources to catalogue and trace the many ways in which lesbianism was anything but invisible at the fin-de-siecle. -- Annabel L. Kim H-France Review Remarkably learned. -- David Charles Rose Women's History ReviewTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsTranslators’ NoteProloguePart I. “At that time, Sappho was reborn in Paris”1. Sappho: The Resurrection of a Myth2. The Poets’ Muse3. Lesbos; or, The Topography of a VicePart II. “Her Traits, Her Vices, and Her Sexual Aberrations”4. The Birth of the Female Invert5. A Vice or an Illness?6. A Heroine at the Crossroads of Medicine and Literature7. When the Third Sex Comes Out8. Madame Don Juan, Arlequine, and OthersPart III. “Damned Women or Exquisite Creatures? ”9. Deadly Pleasures10. The Half-Women11. Female Narcissus12. Female Spaces, Male GazeNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisIn 1857 the French poet Charles Baudelaire, who was fascinated by lesbianism, created a scandal with Les Fleurs du Mal [The Flowers of Evil]. This collection was originally entitled "The Lesbians" and described women as "femmes damnees," with "disordered souls" suffering in a hypocritical world. Then twenty years later, lesbians in Paris dared to flaunt themselves in that extraordinarily creative period at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries which became known as the Belle Epoque. Lesbian Decadence, now available in English for the first time, provides a new analysis and synthesis of the depiction of lesbianism as a social phenomenon and a symptom of social malaise as well as a fantasy in that most vibrant place and period in history. In this newly translated work, praised by leading critics as "authoritative," "stunning," and "a marvel of elegance and erudition," Nicole G. Albert analyzes and synthesizes an engagingly rich sweep of historical representations of the lesbian mystique in art and literature. Albert contrasts these visions to moralists' abrupt condemnations of "the lesbian vice," as well as the newly emerging psychiatric establishment's medical fury and their obsession on cataloging and classifying symptoms of "inversion" or "perversion" in order to cure these "unbalanced creatures of love." Lesbian Decadence combines literary, artistic, and historical analysis of sources from the mainstream to the rare, from scholarly studies to popular culture. The English translation provides a core reference/text for those interested in the Decadent movement, in literary history, in French history and social history. It is well suited for courses in gender studies, women's studies, LGBT history, and lesbianism in literature, history, and art.Trade ReviewAn authoritative study that reveals how Sapphists were associated with the first expressions of a feminism that threw the popular imagination off balance and produced such inexhaustible fantasies. -- Marc Emile Baronheld Elle Belgique A marvel of elegance and erudition... Natalie Clifford Barney the Amazon, the tortured personalities of Renee Vivien and Lucie Delarue-Mardrus, the character of Claudine so smartly portrayed by Colette, Madame Adonis by Rachilde... Albert has brought these forgotten personages back to life with passion... The sterile and flamboyant lesbian with a mysterious and pernicious eroticism ended up embodying the spirit of the fin-de-siecle and by symbolizing to perfection the excesses of Decadence. -- S. M. Revue Inverses In Lesbian Decadence, Nicole G. Albert delves deeply into the history of lesbian representation and uses her finely sharpened pen to reveal to us the fascination which the descendants of Sappho exercised [on readers at the turn of the last century]... One of the greatest strengths of Albert's book is not to stop at the canonical works but to include hundreds of sources from scholarly philology to popular caricatures. -- Laure Murat Magazine Tetu This book presents a richly detailed portrait of 'the lesbian,' an image foregrounded in the world of arts and letters in the Belle Epoque. Fantasies connected to the kinds of 'deadly pleasures' that women enjoyed among themselves, often when they were intoxicated by opium, resulted in an enormous number of books, articles, and illustrations that the author has brought to light for us with stunning erudition. -- P. K. Le Monde At last Nicole Albert's landmark study of the place of 'the lesbian' in fin-de-siecle French culture is available in English! Exhaustively researched and newly updated, Albert's book draws on a wide variety of sources from literature, the arts, journalism, and the emerging field of sexology. Albert demonstrates how 'sapphism' was imagined and re-imagined by observers, and how the Belle Epoque vogue for lesbianism created a spectral figure both 'demonized and poeticized.' Situated at the intersection of history and literature, Lesbian Decadence should be of interest to everyone interested in a deeper understanding of how culture is shaped by notions of gender and sexuality. -- Michael Wilson, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, University of Texas By far the most authoritative book on how lesbianism, with its many distinct but related aspects, is depicted in decadent discourse of the French Fin de Siecle. The book is itself a jewel of decadent criticism: multi-faceted, studded with insights, and beautifully wrought. -- Melanie Hawthorne, Professor of French, Department of International Studies, Texas A&M University Albert's book is a treat for American LGBT Studies researchers. She provides us with a treasure trove of paintings, drawings, and cartoons... Lesbian Decadence will not only be cited heavily in future nineteenth century LGBT Studies research, but it brings the amazing scholarship of Erber and Peniston to light as well. Best of all, due to its multiple illustrations, it is a fun read for academic non-fiction, and will inspire us in English-speaking countries to learn more about our French cousins. -- Rachel Wexelbaum Lambda Literary Including an excellent bibliography, this book will interest students of fin-de-siecle France, LGBT history, and gender studies. CHOICE [Lesbian Decadence] brings together an astonishingly wide range of literary, artistic, medico-scientific, and historical sources to catalogue and trace the many ways in which lesbianism was anything but invisible at the fin-de-siecle. -- Annabel L. Kim H-France Review Remarkably learned. -- David Charles Rose Women's History Review In her landmark study, Albert has reassembled a neglected history. -- Cassandra Langer The Gay & Lesbian ReviewTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsTranslators’ NoteProloguePart I. “At that time, Sappho was reborn in Paris”1. Sappho: The Resurrection of a Myth2. The Poets’ Muse3. Lesbos; or, The Topography of a VicePart II. “Her Traits, Her Vices, and Her Sexual Aberrations”4. The Birth of the Female Invert5. A Vice or an Illness?6. A Heroine at the Crossroads of Medicine and Literature7. When the Third Sex Comes Out8. Madame Don Juan, Arlequine, and OthersPart III. “Damned Women or Exquisite Creatures? ”9. Deadly Pleasures10. The Half-Women11. Female Narcissus12. Female Spaces, Male GazeNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe Black Butterfly focuses on the slavery writings of three of Brazil's literary giants—Machado de Assis, Castro Alves, and Euclides da Cunha. These authors wrote in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as Brazil moved into and then through the 1888 abolition of slavery. Assis was Brazil's most experimental novelist; Alves was a Romantic poet with passionate liberationist politics, popularly known as "the poet of the slaves"; and da Cunha is known for the masterpiece Os Sertões (The Backlands), a work of genius that remains strangely neglected in the scholarship of transatlantic slavery.Wood finds that all three writers responded to the memory of slavery in ways that departed from their counterparts in Europe and North America, where emancipation has typically been depicted as a moment of closure. He ends by setting up a wider literary context for his core authors by introducing a comparative study of their great literary abolitionist predecessors Luís Gonzaga Pinto da Gama and Joaquim Nabuco. The Black Butterfly is a revolutionary text that insists Brazilian culture has always refused a clean break between slavery and its aftermath. Brazilian slavery thus emerges as a living legacy subject to continual renegotiation and reinvention.Trade Review“A groundbreaking interpretation of Brazilian literature in the context of transatlantic slavery and studies of race.”- Aquiles Alencar Brayner, the British Library

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