Description
Book SynopsisAn historical and political reading of late-nineteenth-century British novels by Olive Schreiner, Thomas Hardy, George Gissing, Arthur Conan Doyle, G. A. Henty, and Sarah Grand. Examines how these novels represent the emergence of a fantasy of the state as a heroic actor.
Trade ReviewThe most ingenious suggestion of The Dream Life of Citizens is its most implicit: if the state is imagined, then so is its citizenry...One of the most rewarding aspects of Aslami's book is that it never loses sight of how nationalism and the modern state emerged coevally, and meticulously marks the points of contact between the two. * —Nineteenth-Century Literature *
“This study has great potential as a contribution to literary and cultural studies scholarship on the late Victorian period. Its thoughtful close readings of key works by Schreiner, Hardy, Gissing, and Grand, together with its highly innovative treatment of ‘Victorian Afghanistan,’ will be of great interest to scholars in the field.”
---—Ann Ardis, University of DelawareAslami's study is impressively far-ranging. . .
---Aaron Worth, Boston University, —Victorian Studies
