The Romantic Sublime and Middle-Class Subjectivity in the Victorian Novel

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism
Cover of the book The Romantic Sublime and Middle-Class Subjectivity in the Victorian Novel by Stephen Hancock, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Stephen Hancock ISBN: 9781135492991
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: October 31, 2013
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Stephen Hancock
ISBN: 9781135492991
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: October 31, 2013
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

This study follows the aesthetic of the sublime from Burke and Kant, through Wordsworth and the Shelleys, into Thackeray, Dickens, Eliot and Hardy. Exploring the continuities between the romantic and Victorian "periods" that have so often been rather read as differences, the book demonstrates that the sublime mode enables the transition from a paradigm of overwhelming power exemplified by the body of the king to the pervasive power of surveillance utilized by the rising middle classes. While the domestic woman connected with the rise of the middle class is normally seen as beautiful, the book contends that the moral authority given to this icon of depth and interiority is actually sublime. The binary of the beautiful and the sublime seeks to contain the sublimity of womanhood by insisting on sublimity's masculine character. This is the book's most important claim: rather than exemplifying masculine strength, the sublime marks the transition to a system of power gendered as feminine and yet masks that transition because it fears the power it ostensibly accords to the feminine. This aesthetic is both an inheritance the Victorians receive from their romantic predecessors, and, more importantly, a broad historical phenomenon that questions the artificial boundaries between romantic and Victorian.

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

This study follows the aesthetic of the sublime from Burke and Kant, through Wordsworth and the Shelleys, into Thackeray, Dickens, Eliot and Hardy. Exploring the continuities between the romantic and Victorian "periods" that have so often been rather read as differences, the book demonstrates that the sublime mode enables the transition from a paradigm of overwhelming power exemplified by the body of the king to the pervasive power of surveillance utilized by the rising middle classes. While the domestic woman connected with the rise of the middle class is normally seen as beautiful, the book contends that the moral authority given to this icon of depth and interiority is actually sublime. The binary of the beautiful and the sublime seeks to contain the sublimity of womanhood by insisting on sublimity's masculine character. This is the book's most important claim: rather than exemplifying masculine strength, the sublime marks the transition to a system of power gendered as feminine and yet masks that transition because it fears the power it ostensibly accords to the feminine. This aesthetic is both an inheritance the Victorians receive from their romantic predecessors, and, more importantly, a broad historical phenomenon that questions the artificial boundaries between romantic and Victorian.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book International Organizations and the Law by Stephen Hancock
Cover of the book Border Fetishisms by Stephen Hancock
Cover of the book Online Social Networking on Campus by Stephen Hancock
Cover of the book Sound FX by Stephen Hancock
Cover of the book Jörg Breu the Elder by Stephen Hancock
Cover of the book Transnationalism in the Balkans by Stephen Hancock
Cover of the book Cultural Geographies by Stephen Hancock
Cover of the book Literature, Journalism and the Avant-Garde by Stephen Hancock
Cover of the book Eighteenth Century England by Stephen Hancock
Cover of the book Conservation and Biodiversity Banking by Stephen Hancock
Cover of the book Aping Mankind by Stephen Hancock
Cover of the book The Routledge History of the American South by Stephen Hancock
Cover of the book Comedy and the Public Sphere by Stephen Hancock
Cover of the book Regime Legitimacy in Contemporary China by Stephen Hancock
Cover of the book The Theory of Logical Types (Routledge Revivals) by Stephen Hancock
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