Thinking through style : non-fiction prose of the long nineteenth century / edited by Michael D. Hurley and Marcus Waithe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hurley, Michael D. (Michael Dominic), 1976- author.

Contributor:

Waithe, Marcus, editor.

UPSO (University Press Scholarship Online)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

English prose literature.

Literary style.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (374 pages)

polychrome

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2018.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

What is 'style', and how does it relate to thought in language? It has often been treated as something merely linguistic, independent of thought, ornamental: stylishness for its own sake. Or else it has been said to subserve thought, by mimicking delineating or heightening ideas that are already expressed in the words. This ambitious and timely book explores a third, more radical possibility, in which style operates as a mode of thinking through. Rather than figure thought as primary and pre-verbal, and language as a secondary delivery system, style is conceived here as having the capacity to shape, refine, or generate thinking. Leading scholars examine twenty writers who have gained reputations either as 'stylists' or as 'thinkers', showing the interplay between 'the what' and the how of their prose. They indicate how celebrated stylists might, after all, have thoughts worth attending to, while arguing that distinguished thinkers might be enriched for us if we paid their style more due. Rather than reversing the conventional categories, this innovative volume considers how 'style' and 'thinking' can be approached as a shared concern. At a moment when, especially in nineteenth-century studies, interest in style is re-emerging, this book revaluates some of the most influential figures of that age, imagining the possible alliances and creative tensions between thinking, thinkers, style, and stylists. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 'A Hare in every Nettle': Coleridge's Prose / James Engell Engell, James 11

2 Charles Lamb ... Seriously / Matthew Bevis Bevis, Matthew 35

3 Keeping to William Hazlitt / Freya Johnston Johnston, Freya 55

4 'Pictures' and 'Signs': Creative Thinking in Shelley's Prose, 1816-21 / Michael O'Neill O'Neill, Michael 70

5 'The greatest irregular': Thomas Carlyle's Re-creative Purpose in The French Revolution / Ruth Scurr Scurr, Ruth 87

6 John Henry Newman: Thinking out into Language / Michael D. Hurley Hurley, Michael D. 101

7 'Things Pressing to be said': Harriet Martineau's Mission to Inform / Valerie Sanders Sanders, Valerie 118

8 Emerson and the Impossibilities of Style / Adam Phillips Phillips, Adam 135

9 Darwin's Theological Virtues / James Williams Williams, James 149

10 'Just Proportions': The Material of George Eliot's Writing / Dinah Birch Birch, Dinah 167

11 Ruskin's Style of Thought: Animating Redescription in the Late Writings / Marcus Waithe Waithe, Marcus 183

12 The Idea of Matthew Arnold / David Russell Russell, David 201

13 Walter Pater's Dream Rhythms / Angela Leighton Leighton, Angela 217

14 Cashing in on William James / Philip Davis Davis, Philip 232

15 Touch-and-go with Robert Louis Stevenson / Adrian Poole Poole, Adrian 248

16 Oscar Wilde: Thinking Style / Hugh Haughton Haughton, Hugh 264

17 Vernon Lee's Handling of Words / Catherine Maxwell Maxwell, Catherine 282

18 Christmas and the Superman: Chesterton's Levitations / Simon Jarvis Jarvis, Simon 298

19 Virginia Woolf: Writing and the Ordinary Mind / Susan Sellers Sellers, Susan 315

20 Vexing the Thoughtless: T.S. Eliot's Early Criticism / Stefan Collini Collini, Stefan 332.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Electronic reproduction. Oxford Available via World Wide Web.

Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on February 14, 2018).

Other Format:

Print version: Hurley, Michael D. Thinking Through Style : Non-Fiction Prose of the Long Nineteenth Century

ISBN:

9780191801273

0191801275

9780191057724

019105772X

Publisher Number:

40027882170

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.