MACMILLAN Victorian Surfaces in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture: Skin, Silk, and Show (Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture)

This volume explores the politics and poetics of Victorian surfaces in their manifold manifestations. In so doing, it examines various cultural products ‘as they are’ and highlights the art of surface composition in the Victorian era as well as the socio-cultural ramifications of the preoccupation with the exterior. By closely reading the various surfaces materialising in Victorian literature and culture, the individual contributions explore the dialectics of surface and depth in Victorian (and Neo-Victorian) cultures as well as the legibility of surfaces. They look into the surfaces of literary narratives, paintings, and film but also into natural surfaces such as skin or bark. Each chapter foregrounds what is present rather than absent in a text, while also paying attention to the surfaces that become manifest on the diegetic level of the text, be they cloth, landscapes, or human bodies or faces. This is an open access book. From the Back Cover This volume explores the politics and poetics of Victorian surfaces in their manifold manifestations. In so doing, it examines various cultural products ‘as they are’ and highlights the art of surface composition in the Victorian era as well as the socio-cultural ramifications of the preoccupation with the exterior. By closely reading the various surfaces materialising in Victorian literature and culture, the individual contributions explore the dialectics of surface and depth in Victorian (and Neo-Victorian) cultures as well as the legibility of surfaces. They look into the surfaces of literary narratives, paintings, and film but also into natural surfaces such as skin or bark. Each chapter foregrounds what is present rather than absent in a text, while also paying attention to the surfaces that become manifest on the diegetic level of the text, be they cloth, landscapes, or human bodies or faces. About the Author Sibylle Baumbach is Professor of English Literature and Culture at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. Her research areas include early modern literature and cognitive literary studies, especially literary attention. She is the author of Literature and Fascination (2015) and Shakespeare and the Art of Physiognomy (2008).   Ulla Ratheiser is Senior Scientist for English Literatures and Cultures at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. She has a background in postcolonial studies, while her more recent research focuses on popular culture and the representation of monarchies.