Description

Book Synopsis
In this exploration of the significance of illness in the Victorian literary imagination Miriam Bailin maps the cultural implications and narrative effects of the sickroom as an important symbolic space in nineteenth-century life and literature. Dr Bailin draws on non-fictional accounts of illness by Julia Stephen, Harriet Martineau and others to illuminate the presentation of illness and ministration, patient and nurse, in the fiction of Charlotte BrontÃ, Charles Dickens and George Eliot. She argues that the sickroom functions as an imagined retreat from conflicts in Victorian society, and that fictional representations of illness serve to resolve both social conflict and aesthetic tension. Her concentration on the sickroom scene as a compositional response to insistent formal as well as social problems yields fresh readings of canonical works and approaches to the constituent elements of Victorian realist narrative.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements; A note on texts; Introduction; 1. Life in the sickroom; 2. Charlotte Brontë: 'varieties of pain'; 3. Charles Dickens: 'impossible existences'; 4. George Eliot: 'separateness and communication'; 5. Afterword; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

The Sickroom in Victorian Fiction The Art of Being Ill 1 Cambridge Studies in NineteenthCentury Literature and Culture Series Number 1

    Product form

    £29.44

    Includes FREE delivery

    RRP £30.99 – you save £1.55 (5%)

    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Mon 6 Jul 2026.

    A Paperback by Miriam Bailin

    15 in stock

      Trusted by thousands of customers. See 2,385+ Customer Reviews

      View other formats and editions of The Sickroom in Victorian Fiction The Art of Being Ill 1 Cambridge Studies in NineteenthCentury Literature and Culture Series Number 1 by Miriam Bailin

      Publisher: Cambridge University Press
      Publication Date: 5/14/2007 12:00:00 AM
      ISBN13: 9780521036405, 978-0521036405
      ISBN10: 0521036402
      Also in:
      Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 Clinical and internal medicine

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      In this exploration of the significance of illness in the Victorian literary imagination Miriam Bailin maps the cultural implications and narrative effects of the sickroom as an important symbolic space in nineteenth-century life and literature. Dr Bailin draws on non-fictional accounts of illness by Julia Stephen, Harriet Martineau and others to illuminate the presentation of illness and ministration, patient and nurse, in the fiction of Charlotte BrontÃ, Charles Dickens and George Eliot. She argues that the sickroom functions as an imagined retreat from conflicts in Victorian society, and that fictional representations of illness serve to resolve both social conflict and aesthetic tension. Her concentration on the sickroom scene as a compositional response to insistent formal as well as social problems yields fresh readings of canonical works and approaches to the constituent elements of Victorian realist narrative.

      Table of Contents
      Acknowledgements; A note on texts; Introduction; 1. Life in the sickroom; 2. Charlotte Brontë: 'varieties of pain'; 3. Charles Dickens: 'impossible existences'; 4. George Eliot: 'separateness and communication'; 5. Afterword; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

      Recently viewed products

      © 2026 Book Curl

        • American Express
        • Apple Pay
        • Diners Club
        • Discover
        • Google Pay
        • Maestro
        • Mastercard
        • PayPal
        • Shop Pay
        • Union Pay
        • Visa

        Login

        Forgot your password?

        Don't have an account yet?
        Create account