Eighteenth-century fiction and the reinvention of wonder
by
Kareem, Sarah Tindal, author.
Title
:
Eighteenth-century fiction and the reinvention of wonder
Author
:
Kareem, Sarah Tindal, author.
ISBN
:
9781322222738
9780191003127
Personal Author
:
Kareem, Sarah Tindal, author.
Physical Description
:
1 online resource (xiv, 278 pages)
Abstract
:
A footprint materializes mysteriously on a deserted shore; a giant helmet falls from the sky; a traveler awakens to find his horse dangling from a church steeple. Eighteenth-century fiction brims with moments such as these, in which the prosaic rubs up against the marvelous. While it is a truism that the period's literature is distinguished by its realism and air of probability, Eighteenth-Century Fiction and the Reinvention of Wonder argues that wonder is integral to-rather than antithetical to-the developing techniques of novelistic fiction. Positioning its reader on the cusp between recognition and estrangement, between faith and doubt, modern fiction hinges upon wonder. 'Eighteenth-Century Fiction and the Reinvention of Wonder's chapters unfold its new account of fiction's rise through surprising new readings of classic early novels-from Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe to Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey-as well as bringing to attention lesser known works, most notably Rudolf Raspe's Baron Munchausen's 'Narrative of His Marvellous Travels'. In this bold new account, the eighteenth century bears witness not to the world's disenchantment but rather to wonder's re-location from the supernatural realm to the empirical world, providing a re-evaluation not only of how we look back at the Enlightenment, but also of how we read today.
Subject Term
:
English fiction -- 18th century -- History and criticism.
Curiosities and wonders in literature.
English fiction -- History and criticism -- 18th century.
LITERARY CRITICISM / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
Curiosities and wonders in literature. (OCoLC)fst00885288
English fiction. (OCoLC)fst00910817
Genre
:
Electronic books.
Criticism, interpretation, etc. (OCoLC)fst01411635
Electronic Access
:
Library | Material Type | Item Barcode | Shelf Number | Status |
---|
IYTE Library | E-Book | 525987-1001 | PR851 .K29 2014 EB | Online |