Knowing the Past : Victorian Literature and Culture / Suzy Anger.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Anger, Suzy, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Knowledge, Theory of, in literature.

Hermeneutics--History--19th century.

Hermeneutics.

Knowledge, Theory of--History--19th century.

Knowledge, Theory of.

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

English literature.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 279 p. :) ill. ;

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

To what extent is it possible to know the past or to know other cultures? Can one describe the past without imposing one's own cultural, political, social, or personal preconceptions? Testing the current skepticism that insists that it is impossible not to read one's own moment onto other times and cultures, the essays in this collection use the Victorian era as a means of developing a theory and critique of historical reclamation.In Knowing the Past, a distinguished group of Victorian scholars reflect on the Victorian past and examine the Victorians' own sophisticated contributions to debates about historical and cultural knowledge. Confronting, confirming, and opposing the skeptics, the essays provide close readings of particular texts. They encompass the larger constellation of ideas and questions that went into the making of the texts while participating in larger theoretical debates about knowledge of the past and other cultures.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Introduction: Knowing the Victorians / Anger, Suzy

I. Theorizing The Victorians

I. Text vs. Hypertext: Seeing the Victorian Object As in Itself It Really Is / Joseph, Gerhard

2. The Golden Bough and the Unknowable / Herbert, Christopher

3. Daniel Deronda: A New Epistemology / Levine, George

II. Victorians Theorizing

4. Walter Pater's Impressionism and the Form of Historical Revival / Williams, Carolyn

5. Arnold and the Authorization of Criticism / Tucker, Herbert F.

6. Aesthetics, Ethics, and Unreadable Acts in George Eliot / Loesberg, Jonathan

III. Continuities

7. The Structure Of Anxiety In Political Economy And Hard Times / Poovey, Mary

8. How To Be A Benefactor Without Any Money: The Chill Of Welfare In Great Expectations / Robbins, Bruce

9. Tracking The Sentimental Eye / Stoddart, Judith

IV. Victorian Meanings

10. Knowing and Telling in Dickens's Retrospects / Bodenheimer, Rosemarie

11. Inside the Shark's Mouth: William Lovett's Struggle for Political Language / Sabin, Margery

12. Knowing a Life: Edith Simcox-Sat est vixisse? / Beer, Gillian

Notes on Contributors

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 20. Sep 2019)

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781501720635

1501720635

OCLC:

1080551660