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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... line that clearly indicates that Mary is alive is " Thou sittest on the hearth of pale despair . " Not only does this seem to me the most powerful line in the poem , it transforms the lines around it . The hearth is a commonplace enough ...
... lines running wild in the deserts of Arabia , I should have instantly screamed out ' Wordsworth ! " " 47 - we can see that although Coleridge's enthusiasm contrasts strongly with Jeffrey's coolness , there is no great difference in ...
... lines to weep . A skilled craftsman , he pays his child the compliment of not abandoning his skill when he writes the epitaph , so the lines move smoothly and deploy the caesura with care and thoughtfulness : most of the lines ( 3 and 4 ...