Recognizing the Romantic Novel
New Histories of British Fiction, 1780-1830
By Jillian Heydt-Stevenson, associate professor of English and the humanities
Liverpool University Press
Recognizing the Romantic Novel: New Histories of British Fiction, 1780-1830 illuminates the prolific and varied achievements of the Romantic-era novel, investigating how the genre responded in innovative ways to political, historical, and ethical concerns of the age. The British Romantic era was a vibrant and exciting time in the history of the novel. Yet, aside from a few famous books – Pride and Prejudice, Frankenstein – later readers and critics have ignored the novels of this era.
Bringing this rich but neglected body of works to the fore, Recognizing the Romantic Novel challenges us to rethink our ideas of the novel as a genre, as well as our long-held assumptions about the literary movement of Romanticism. Ranging from pre-Revolution to post-Waterloo, this volume celebrates the experimental drive and revisionary spirit of the Romantic novel. With essays on authors ranging from Burney to Austen to Hogg, it argues that the Romantic-era novel can be understood as a distinct literary field, not simply a heterogeneous mass of fictional forms – a field, furthermore, that can hold its own against more widely read 18th-century and Victorian novels. Eleven essays by prominent scholars demonstrate that previously unexplored contexts can help us recognize even familiar Romantic-era novels in new and fuller ways. These essays thoughtfully explore such varied concerns as the critique of Enlightenment ideals, the close affiliation between poetry and prose, a fraught engagement with politico-ethical issues, the limits of our access to and understanding of the past, and a rethinking of communities outside the conventions of the marriage plot.
By Jillian Heydt-Stevenson, associate professor of English and the humanities
Liverpool University Press
Recognizing the Romantic Novel: New Histories of British Fiction, 1780-1830 illuminates the prolific and varied achievements of the Romantic-era novel, investigating how the genre responded in innovative ways to political, historical, and ethical concerns of the age. The British Romantic era was a vibrant and exciting time in the history of the novel. Yet, aside from a few famous books – Pride and Prejudice, Frankenstein – later readers and critics have ignored the novels of this era.
Bringing this rich but neglected body of works to the fore, Recognizing the Romantic Novel challenges us to rethink our ideas of the novel as a genre, as well as our long-held assumptions about the literary movement of Romanticism. Ranging from pre-Revolution to post-Waterloo, this volume celebrates the experimental drive and revisionary spirit of the Romantic novel. With essays on authors ranging from Burney to Austen to Hogg, it argues that the Romantic-era novel can be understood as a distinct literary field, not simply a heterogeneous mass of fictional forms – a field, furthermore, that can hold its own against more widely read 18th-century and Victorian novels. Eleven essays by prominent scholars demonstrate that previously unexplored contexts can help us recognize even familiar Romantic-era novels in new and fuller ways. These essays thoughtfully explore such varied concerns as the critique of Enlightenment ideals, the close affiliation between poetry and prose, a fraught engagement with politico-ethical issues, the limits of our access to and understanding of the past, and a rethinking of communities outside the conventions of the marriage plot.