Necromanticism : travelling to meet the dead, 1750-1860 / Paul Westover.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Westover, Paul.

Series:

Palgrave studies in the Enlightenment, romanticism and cultures of print

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literary landmarks--Great Britain.

Literary landmarks.

Authors and readers.

History.

Great Britain.

Romanticism--Great Britain.

Romanticism.

Death in literature.

Authors, English--Homes and haunts--Great Britain.

Authors, English.

Authors, English--Homes and haunts.

Authors and readers--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Authors and readers--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Physical Description:

viii, 217 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Summary:

Necromanticism is a book about literary tourism - readers' compulsion to visit homes, landscapes, and (especially) graves - in the long Romantic period. With textured case studies involving a range of authors, from William Godwin to Felicia Hemans and Walter Scott, this study describes literary tourism as an essentially Romantic invention, closely tied with what people in the Romantic era felt it meant to read and write. At the same time, it unfolds tourism's importance to Romanticism's canon-making practices, both national and transatlantic. Contributing a fresh understanding of Romantic literary texts in the context of death-studies and travel history, Necromanticism highlights a complex of book-love and memorial ritual that has deeply influenced Anglophone literary culture, both in Britain and in the United States. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: Traveling to Meet the Dead 1

1 On Ideal Presence 17

2 The Origins of Literary Tourism 31

3 William Godwin, Necro-Tourism, and the Empirical Afterlife of the Dead 48

4 Imaginary Pilgrimages: Felicia Hemans, Dead Poets, and Romantic Historiography 75

Interlude: Necromanticism and Romantic Authorship 92

5 The Transatlantic Invention of "English" Literary Heritage 106

6 Illustration, Historicism, and Travel: The Legacy of Sir Walter Scott 142.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780230304437

0230304435

OCLC:

758982861

Online:

Cover image