George Eliot and Victorian historiography : imagining the national past / Neil McCaw.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McCaw, Neil, 1969-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Eliot, George, 1819-1880--Knowledge and learning--History.

Eliot, George.

Eliot, George, 1819-1880.

History.

Literature and history--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Literature and history.

Great Britain.

Historiography--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Historiography.

Historical fiction, English--History and criticism.

Historical fiction, English.

National characteristics, English, in literature.

History in literature.

Physical Description:

viii, 203 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : St. Martin's Press, 2000.

Summary:

In this new study of George Eliot's fiction, textual attempts to imagine a coherent and unified national past are seen as producing a contradictory vision of Englishness. It is a historiographical national identity, constructing the image of predominant, and conflicting, trends in the Victorian writing of history. The inherent uncertainty caused by the shift between different perceptions of English history leads, in later fiction, to an abandonment of contemporaneous grand narratives. The consequence is a history that anticipates a more modern, radical philosophy of history.

Contents:

Introduction: 'Those Far-Reaching Visions of the Past' 1

1 George Eliot and the (Meta) Narrativity of History 16

2 Imagining the National Past 33

3 A Natural History of English Life 51

4 A Carlylean Counter-Paradigm 66

5 Theodicy and History 85

6 Imagining the National Present 100

7 Unwritten Landscapes: Imagining the National Future 121

Conclusion: Beyond Victorian Historiography 139.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-200) and index.

ISBN:

0312234139

OCLC:

43499506