The Secret Life of Things: Animals, Objects, and It-Narratives in Eighteenth-Century England (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781684484706)

Enriching and complicating the history of fiction between Richardson and Fielding at mid-century and Austen at the turn of the century, this collection focuses on it-narratives, a once popular form largely forgotten by readers and critics alike, and advances important work on consumer culture and the theory of things. The contributors bring new texts--and new ways of thinking about familiar ones--to our notice. Topics range from period debates about copyright to the complex relationships with object-riddled sentimental fictions, from anti-Semitism in Chrysal to jingoistic imperialism in The Adventures of a Rupee. Essays situate it-narratives in a variety of contexts: changing attitudes toward occult powers, the development of still-life painting, the ethical challenges of pet ownership, the cult of Sterne and the appearance of genre fiction, the emergence of moral-didactic children's literature, and a better-known tradition of Victorian thing-narratives. Stylistically and thematically consistent, the essays in this collection approach it-narratives from various theoretical and historical vantage points, sketching the cultural biography of a neglected literary form.

Published by Bucknell University Press.
Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.

Author: Mark Blackwell
ISBN-10: 1684484707
ISBN-13: 9781684484706
Publisher: Bucknell University Press
Language: English
Published: 05/12/2023
Pages: 372
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 8.98h x 5.98w x 0.94d