Symbolic Interactions: Social Problems And Literary Interventions in the Works of Baillie, Scott, And Landor - Hardcover

Hewitt, Regina

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0838756395 ISBN 13: 9780838756393

Publisher: UNKNO, 2006

Synopsis

Taking literally Joanna Baillie's claim that drama can promote social justice, "Symbolic Interactions" explores how plays by Baillie, novels by Walter Scott, and "Imaginary Conversations" by Walter Savage Landor address problems of capital punishment, poverty, and political participation. Baillie's and Scott's preoccupation with affective responses to criminals and beggars takes on new significance when situated next to nationalist efforts to use legal differences to promulgate an image of Scotland as a more compassionate society than England and when contrasted with Landor's confidence in political claims-making to meet social needs.

About this title

About the Author

Regina Hewitt is professor of English at the University of South Florida.

Review

'Hewitt [...] is a subtle reader of texts and brings in a branch of social science [...] that most people trained in English studies do not know very well' (Michael Scrivener, Wayne State University The Wordsworth Circle)

'The commentary on Landor's Imaginary Conversations, along with her readings of several works of Baillie...and the three major Scott novels...are imaginative and richly contextualized by discussions of the criminal law, the poor laws, the dissolution of community, and the value/limits of political contention. All in all, Symbolic Interactions contributes not only to our reading of its primary subjects, but to our appreciation of the potential of approaches we've only begun to consider.' (Bruce Beiderwell, University of California, Los Angeles Sir, Vol.47, Winter 2008)

Edition details

• Publisher: UNKNO
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0838756395
• ISBN 13: 9780838756393
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 280