Narrating Marriage in Eighteenth-Century England and France

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism
Cover of the book Narrating Marriage in Eighteenth-Century England and France by Chris Roulston, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Chris Roulston ISBN: 9781317090663
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: April 22, 2016
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Chris Roulston
ISBN: 9781317090663
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: April 22, 2016
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

In the eighteenth century, when the definition of marriage was shifting from one based on an hierarchical model to one based on notions of love and mutuality, marital life came under a more intense cultural scrutiny. This led to paradoxical forms of representation of marriage as simultaneously ideal and unlivable. Chris Roulston analyzes how, as representations of married life increased, they challenged the traditional courtship model, offering narratives based on repetition rather than progression. Beginning with English and French marital advice literature, which appropriated novelistic conventions at the same time that it cautioned readers about the dangers of novel reading, she looks at representations of ideal marriages in Pamela II and The New Heloise. Moving on from these ideal domestic spaces, bourgeois marriage is then problematized by the discourse of empire in Sir George Ellison and Letters of Mistress Henley, by troublesome wives in works by Richardson and Samuel de Constant, and by abusive husbands in works by Haywood, Edgeworth, Genlis and Restif de la Bretonne. Finally, the alternative marriage narrative, in which the adultery motif is incorporated into the marriage itself, redefines the function of heteronormativity. In exploring the theoretical issues that arise during this transitional period for married life and the marriage plot, Roulston expands the debates around the evolution of the modern couple.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In the eighteenth century, when the definition of marriage was shifting from one based on an hierarchical model to one based on notions of love and mutuality, marital life came under a more intense cultural scrutiny. This led to paradoxical forms of representation of marriage as simultaneously ideal and unlivable. Chris Roulston analyzes how, as representations of married life increased, they challenged the traditional courtship model, offering narratives based on repetition rather than progression. Beginning with English and French marital advice literature, which appropriated novelistic conventions at the same time that it cautioned readers about the dangers of novel reading, she looks at representations of ideal marriages in Pamela II and The New Heloise. Moving on from these ideal domestic spaces, bourgeois marriage is then problematized by the discourse of empire in Sir George Ellison and Letters of Mistress Henley, by troublesome wives in works by Richardson and Samuel de Constant, and by abusive husbands in works by Haywood, Edgeworth, Genlis and Restif de la Bretonne. Finally, the alternative marriage narrative, in which the adultery motif is incorporated into the marriage itself, redefines the function of heteronormativity. In exploring the theoretical issues that arise during this transitional period for married life and the marriage plot, Roulston expands the debates around the evolution of the modern couple.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book Governing through Regulation by Chris Roulston
Cover of the book Gender and International Migration in Europe by Chris Roulston
Cover of the book Concise Thesaurus of Traditional English Metaphors by Chris Roulston
Cover of the book Research and Development on Genetic Resources by Chris Roulston
Cover of the book Talkabout for Children 3 by Chris Roulston
Cover of the book Adapting Translation for the Stage by Chris Roulston
Cover of the book Sexuality and Disabilities by Chris Roulston
Cover of the book More than Munitions by Chris Roulston
Cover of the book Representing the Body of the Slave by Chris Roulston
Cover of the book Psychoanalysis in the Technoculture Era by Chris Roulston
Cover of the book A Treatise on Induction and Probability by Chris Roulston
Cover of the book Cross-Cultural Journalism by Chris Roulston
Cover of the book Communication and Organizational Knowledge by Chris Roulston
Cover of the book Culture and System in Family Therapy by Chris Roulston
Cover of the book First Amendment Under Fire by Chris Roulston
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy