Title The novel of purpose : literature and social reform in the Anglo-American world / Amanda Claybaugh

Published Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2007

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 246 pages) Contents Social reform and the new transatlanticism -- The novel of purpose and Anglo-American realism -- Charles Dickens : a reformer abroad and at home -- Anne Brontë and Elizabeth Stoddard : temperance pledges, marriage vows -- George Eliot and Henry James : exemplary women and typical Americans -- Mark Twain : reformers and other con artists -- Thomas Hardy : new women, old purposes Summary In the nineteenth century, Great Britain and the United States shared a single literary marketplace that linked the reform movements, as well as the literatures, of the two nations. The writings of transatlantic reformers-antislavery, temperance, and suffrage activists-gave novelists a new sense of purpose and prompted them to invent new literary forms. The result was a distinctively Anglo-American realism, in which novelists, conceiving of themselves as reformers, sought to act upon their readers-and, through their readers, the world. Indeed, reform became so predominant that many novelists borrowed from reformist writings even though they were skeptical of reform itself. Among them are some of the century's most important authors: Anne Brontë, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Elizabeth Stoddard, and Mark Twain. The Novel of Purpose proposes a new way of understanding social reform in Great Britain and the United States. Amanda Claybaugh offers readings that connect reformist agitation to the formal features of literary works and argues for a method of transatlantic study that attends not only to nations, but also to the many groups that collaborate across national boundaries Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-236) and index Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL Print version record SUBJECT Englisch, ... gnd Andrae, A. gnd Subject English fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism American fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism Social problems in literature. Social movements in literature. Literature and society -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century Literature and society -- United States -- History -- 19th century LITERARY CRITICISM -- European -- English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh. American fiction English fiction Literature and society Social movements in literature Social problems in literature Sozialreform Roman English fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism. American fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism. Social problems in literature. Social movements in literature. Literature and society -- Great Britain -- 19th century. Literature and society -- United States -- 19th century. Great Britain United States USA Englisch. Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. History Form Electronic book LC no. 2006023302 ISBN 9781501727016 150172701X

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