Defending privilege : rights, status, and legal peril in the British novel / Nicole Mansfield Wright.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wright, Nicole Mansfield, 1982- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

British literature--History and criticism.

British literature.

Literature and society--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Literature and society.

Literature and society--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Law and literature--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Law and literature.

Law and literature--Great Britain--History--19th century.

British literature--18th century--History and criticism.

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

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, Maryland : Johns Hopkins University Press, [2020]

Summary:

"This study is about the intersection of law and literature in Britain in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The author explores how in a turbulent era of political revolution, the abolition of slavery, and increasing class and gender mobility, British literary authors used their work to reshape and manipulate public perceptions of who merits legal agency: the right to initiate a lawsuit, serve as a witness, and seek counsel from a lawyer"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

"Bad citizens" and "insolent foreigners" : Smollett's elite outsiders and the suspense of legal agency

Couverte critique : genteel victimhood in Charlotte Smith's fictions of dispossession

"Masters of passion and tongue" : white "eye-witnesses" and fear of black testimony in the pro-slavery novel

Letters of the law : ambivalent advocacy and speaking for the voiceless in Redgauntlet

Epilogue : abiding the law.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Includes index.

ISBN:

1-4214-3375-3