Angels and Absences: Child Deaths in the Nineteenth CenturyVanderbilt University Press, 1997 - Всего страниц: 252 What is the difference between public and private feeling, and how far can we deduce past feelings from the words that have been left us? Why do child deaths figure so often and so prominently in the literature of the nineteenth century, and how was the theme of the death of a child used to elicit such poignant responses in the readers of that era? In this fascinating new book, Laurence Lerner vividly contrasts the contempt with which twentieth- century criticism so often dismisses such works as mere sentimentality with the enthusiasm and tears of nineteenth-century contemporaries. Drawing examples from both real and literary deaths, Lerner delves into the writings of well-known authors such as Dickens, Coleridge, Shelley, Flaubert, Mann, Huxley, and Hesse, as well as lesser known writers like Felicia Hemans and Lydia Sigourney. In the process, he synthesizes fresh ideas about the thorny subjects of sentimentality, aesthetic judgment, and the function of religion in literature. Lerner's forthright and evocative prose style is enjoyable reading, and he excels in teasing out the moral implications and the psychosocial entanglements of his chosen narrative and lyrical texts. This is a book that will illuminate an important aspect of the history of private life. It should have wide application for those interested in the history, sociology, and literature of the nineteenth century. |
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... answer . Indeed , the absence of an answer may be a way of insisting that any answer would be false to experience . That , I believe , is what Shelley does . Shelley wrote another , even shorter poem to William : Thy little footsteps on ...
... answer will be in terms of plot devices and authorial intention . The first answer will concern us in a later section ; the second takes us very close to the heart of Flaubert's imaginative world . Rosannette and Frédéric keep a vigil ...
... answer it , though important , may be impossible : Is the rejection of sentimentality an example of historical relativism ( one age rejects the values of a previous age ) or can it be granted some sort of timeless validity ? Even if we ...