'A wicked and detestable place, though wonderfully attractive':
Charles Dickens's conflicted feelings about Paris typify the
fascination and repulsion with which a host of mid-nineteenth-century
British writers viewed their nearest foreign capital. Variously
perceived as the showcase for sophisticated, cosmopolitan talent, the
home of revolution, a stronghold of Roman Catholicism, and a shrine to
irreligious hedonism, Paris was also a city where writers were
respected and journalism flourished. This historically-grounded
account of the ways in which Paris touched the careers and work of
both major and minor Victorian writers considers both their actual
experiences of an urban environment, distinctively different from
anything Britain offered, and the extent to which this became absorbed
and expressed within the Victorian imaginary. Casting a wide literary
net, the first part of this book explores these writers' reaction to
the swiftly changing politics and topography of Paris, before
considering the nature of their social interactions with the
Parisians, through networks provided by institutions such as the
British Embassy and the salons. The second part of the book examines
the significance of Paris for mid-nineteenth-century Anglophone
journalists., paying particular attention to the ways in which the
young Thackeray's exposure to Parisian print culture shaped him as
both writer and artist. The final part focuses on fictional
representations of Paris, revealing the frequency with which they
relied upon previous literary sources, and how the surprisingly narrow
palette of subgenres, structures and characters they employed
contributed to the characteristic, and sometimes contradictory,
prejudices of a swiftly-growing British readership.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780191074745
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Vendor
OUP Oxford
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter