Getting lost in the novel : strategic confusion in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British fiction / Amanda Auerbach.

Format:

• Book

Author/Creator:

• Auerbach, Amanda, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

• English fiction--19th century--History and criticism.
• English fiction--18th century--History and criticism.
• Characters and characteristics in literature.
• Books and reading--Psychological aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vi, 173 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Summary:

Instances abound in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels where characters, particularly female characters, become lost, often moved by overwhelming emotion. Amanda Auerbach delves into the impact of these scenes on the character and the reader. On one level, 'getting lost' can realign a character's and our own sense of self and of social situation, while more broadly these instances reflect arcs within the overall narrative, highlighting easily-missed elements, sometimes even reflecting on our own experiences while reading. The emotions that move characters most powerfully often relate to their psychological needs, which the social conditions of their lives prevent them from meeting or fully acknowledging. These episodes appear across multiple novels in multiple subgenres, including the marriage plot, the gothic novel, the Victorian bildungsroman, and the sensation novel. These episodes collectively reveal how eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British novelistic subgenres developed to help women and working-class readers covertly satisfy their psychological needs.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 29 Jul 2025).

ISBN:

• 1-009-58546-0
• 1-009-58549-5
• 1-009-58547-9

OCLC:

1515075870