Eighteenth-century escape tales : between fact and fiction / edited by Michael J. Mulryan and Denis D. Grélé.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Mulryan, Michael J., editor.

Grélé, Denis D., editor.

Series:

Transits (Bucknell University)

Transits : Literature, Thought & Culture, 1650-1850

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literature, Modern--18th century--History and criticism.

Literature, Modern.

Escape in literature.

Prisoners in literature.

Heroes in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (163 pages).

Place of Publication:

Lewisburg, [Pennsylvania] : Bucknell University Press, 2016.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This volume is a study of the interdisciplinary nature of prison escape tales and their impact on European cultural identity in the eighteenth century. Prison escape narratives are reflections of the tension between the individual's potential happiness via freedom and the confines of the social order. Contemporary readers identified with the prisoner, who, like them suffered the injustices of an absolutist regime. The state imprisons such renegades not just out of a desire to protect the public but more importantly to protect the state itself. Hence, prison escape tales can be linked with a revolutionary tendency: when free, such former detainees equipped with a pen openly and justly challenge the status quo, hoping to inspire their readers to do the same. Escape tales have had a considerable impact on cultural identity, because they embody the interdependent relationship between literature and myth on the one hand and literature and history on the other.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-61148-771-4