Liberal epic : the Victorian practice of history from Gibbon to Churchill / Edward Adams.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Adams, Edward, 1963-

Series:

Victorian literature and culture series.

Victorian literature and culture series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Epic literature, English--History and criticism.

Epic literature, English.

History in literature.

War in literature.

Liberalism in literature.

Liberalism--Great Britain--History.

Liberalism.

Literature and history--Great Britain--History.

Literature and history.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (335 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In recovering these neglected works and gathering them together as part of a self-conscious literary tradition here defined as liberal epic, Adams provides an archaeology that sheds light on contemporary issues such as the relation of liberalism to war, the tactics for sanitizing heroism, and the appeal of violence to supposedly humane readers. Victorian Literature and Culture Series.

Contents:

Introduction

The ethical-aesthetic challenge to epic: Pope, Gibbon, and Scott

Romantic liberal epic: Southey, Byron, and Napier

Epic history, the novel, and war in the 1850s: Thackeray, MaCaulay, and Carlyle

Utilitarianism and the intellectual critique of war: Mill, Creasy, and Buckle

Popeian strategies in primitive and modern war epic: Morris, Kinglake, and high Victorian liberal epic

Liberal epic before the Great War: Hardy, Trevelyan, Tolstoy, and Keynes

Conclusion. from liberal epic to epic liberalism: Churchill and Wedgwood

Epilogue. the warm and visible hand of liberal epic.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613585622

9781280490392

128049039X

9780813931500

0813931509

OCLC:

784960317