Victorian Biography: Intellectuals and the Ordering of Discourse - Hardcover

Amigoni, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1138160067 ISBN 13: 9781138160064

Publisher: Routledge, 2017

Synopsis

This book rethinks Victorian biography and some of its major practitioners from the perspectives of Bakhtinian and Foucauldian discourse theory. A re-reading of the writings of Thomas Carlyle, particularly "Sartor Resartus" and Oliver Cromwell's "Letters and Speeches", provides the basis for the central argument of the book: that the biographical writings of late-19th-century figures such as John Morley, Frederick Harrison, Leslie Stephen, and J.R. Seeley need to be seen as an argument against Carlyle's writing practices, and as an attempt to impose cultural discipline on reading practices. The book contends that biography is a key genre for understanding debates between 19th-century intellectuals about the circulation and use of "literary" and "historical" discourse. As such, it is also a timely intervention in the current debate about the emergence of the disciplines of "literature" and "history" in the 19th century.

About this title

About the Author

David Amigoni is Professor of Victorian Literature at Keele University, UK.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1138160067
• ISBN 13: 9781138160064
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208