Rhetoric and resistance : the literary arts of dissent in nineteenth-century Britain / Maeve Adams.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Adams, Maeve, 1977- Author.

Series:

Series in Victorian Studies

Series in Victorian studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

English literature.

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

Politics and literature.

Government, Resistance to, in literature.

Dissenters in literature.

Social change in literature.

Genre:

Literary criticism.

Physical Description:

xii, 230 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Athens : Ohio University Press, [2025]

Summary:

"Rhetoric and Resistance explores the transformative role of nineteenth-century literature in shaping modern concepts and practices of democratic dissent. By examining the works of Romantic and Victorian novelists, poets, and journalists, Maeve Adams identifies origins of modern theories and practices of resistance in nineteenth-century literary forms. Offering a literary history of dissent, the book recovers the intertwined development of democracy and aesthetics, revealing how narrative form became a potent tool for challenging authority. Tracing the lineage of dissent from the radical fiction and journalism of the 1800s to contemporary movements like #MeToo, Adams offers a genealogy that highlights how literary texts experimented with political power, granting new and consequential voices to working-class individuals, women, colonized peoples, and other marginalized groups. Adams takes an interdisciplinary approach, weaving together close readings of works by Thomas De Quincey, Walter Scott, Elizabeth Gaskell, and H. G. Wells, as well as lesser-known journalists, with insights from modern moral and political philosophy. Drawing on theories of democratic ethics and justice from scholars such as Miranda Fricker, Sharon Krause, Martha Nussbaum, and Philip Pettit, the book bridges literary history and contemporary debates about political agency and expression"-- Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780821426463

082142646X

OCLC:

1514660500