British writers and Paris : 1830-1875 / Elisabeth Jay.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jay, Elisabeth, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--19th century--History and criticism.

English literature.

Authors, English--Homes and haunts--France--Paris.

Authors, English.

Journalism.

Authors, English--Homes and haunts.

Paris (France)--In literature.

Paris (France).

English literature--French influences.

Paris (France)--Intellectual life--19th century.

Journalism--France--Paris--19th century.

France--Paris.

Physical Description:

xiii, 325 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 2016.

Summary:

Charles Dickens's conflicted feelings about Paris typify the fascination and repulsion with which a host of mid-nineteenth-century British writers viewed their neighbouring capital. Variously perceived as the showcase for sophisticated, cosmopolitan talent, the home of revolution, a stronghold of Roman Catholicism, and a shrine to irreligious hedonism, Paris was also a city where writers were respected and journalism flourished. This historically-grounded account of the ways in which Paris touched the careers and work of both major and minor Victorian writers considers both their actual experiences of an urban environment, distinctively different from anything Britain offered, and the extent to which this became absorbed and expressed within the Victorian imaginary. Casting a wide literary net, the first part of this book explores these writers' reaction to the swiftly changing politics and topography of Paris, before considering the nature of their social interactions with the Parisians, through networks provided by institutions such as the British Embassy and the salons. The second part of the book examines the significance of Paris for mid-nineteenth-century Anglophone journalists, paying particular attention to the ways in which the young Thackeray's exposure to Parisian print culture shaped him as both writer and artist. The final part focuses on fictional representations of Paris, revealing the frequency with which they relied upon previous literary sources, and how the surprisingly narrow palette of subgenres, structures, and characters they employed contributed to the characteristic, and sometimes contradictory, prejudices of a swiftly-growing British readership. Book jacket.

Contents:

Finding one's bearings in mid-nineteenth century Paris

Regime change on the streets of Paris

British eyewitness accounts of regime change

Regime change as viewed from English shores

Topographical

Sensational Paris

Socializing in Paris

The salons

Anglophone journalism in Paris

Who were 'the Paris correspondents'?

The working life of the Paris correspondents

Thackeray's debt to the print world of Paris

The fictional formatting of Paris

The democratization of British fiction

Fictional subgenres

Stereotypes and prejudice.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [297]-313) and index.

ISBN:

0199655243

9780199655243

OCLC:

920735296