Cambridge University Press Realism, Representation, and the Arts in Nineteenth-Century Literature: 12 (Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture, Series Number 12)

This book confronts a significant paradox in the development of literary realism: the very novels that present themselves as purveyors and celebrants of direct, ordinary human experience also manifest an obsession with art that threatens to sabotage their Realist claims. Unlike previous studies of the role of visual art, or music, or theatre in Victorian literature, Realism, Representation, and the Arts in Nineteenth-Century Literature examines the juxtaposition of all of these arts in the works of Charlotte Brontë, William Thackeray, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, and others. Alison Byerly combines close textual analysis with discussion of relevant ancillary topics to illuminate the place of different arts within nineteenth-century British culture. Her book, which also contains sixteen illustrations, represents an effort to bridge the growing gap between aesthetics and cultural studies. Review '… an impressive study of the representation of painting, music and the theatre in the works of Charlotte Brontë, William Thackeray, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy … a significant work in interdisciplinary studies of literature.' Andrew Brown, Magdalene College, Cambridge University Book Description Painting, theatre, and music within the work of major nineteenth-century novelists.