The formation of the Victorian literary profession / Richard Salmon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Salmon, Richard, 1965- author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in nineteenth-century literature and culture ; 87.

Cambridge studies in nineteenth-century literature and culture ; 87

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

English literature.

Authors in literature.

Literature and society--England--History--19th century.

Literature and society.

Authors, English--19th century.

Authors, English.

England--Intellectual life--19th century.

England.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 279 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Richard Salmon provides an original account of the formation of the literary profession during the late Romantic and early Victorian periods. Focusing on the representation of authors in narrative and iconographic texts, including novels, biographies, sketches and portrait galleries, Salmon traces the emergence of authorship as a new form of professional identity from the 1820s to the 1850s. Many first-generation Victorian writers, including Carlyle, Dickens, Thackeray, Martineau and Barrett-Browning, contributed to contemporary debates on the 'Dignity of Literature', professional heroism, and the cultural visibility of the 'man of letters'. This study combines a broad mapping of the early Victorian literary field with detailed readings of major texts. The book argues that the key model of professional development within this period is embodied in the narrative form of literary apprenticeship, which inspired such celebrated works as David Copperfield and Aurora Leigh, and that its formative process is the 'disenchantment of the author'.

Contents:

Introduction: Living authors

Thomas Carlyle and the luminous author

Thackeray and the novel of literary apprenticeship

Dickens and the profession of labour

Broken idols: the development of the working-class author

Moving statues: the iconography of the 'printing woman'

Conclusion: The disenchantment of the author.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-139-89298-3

1-107-42291-4

1-107-56689-4

1-107-41722-8

1-107-42104-7

1-107-41979-4

1-139-60053-2

1-107-41849-6

OCLC:

863202572