Britain's Bloodless Revolutions: 1688 and the Romantic Reform of Literature

by A. Jarrells

Overview

Britain's Bloodless Revolutions explores the relationship of the emerging category of Literature to the emerging threat of popular violence between the Bloodless Revolution and the Romantic turn from revolution to reform. The book argues that at a time when the political nature of the Bloodless Revolution became a subject of debate - in the period defined by France's famously bloody revolution - 'Literature' emerged as a kind of political institution and constituted a bloodless revolution in its own right.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349520404
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	01/01/2005
Series:	Palgrave Studies in the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Cultures of Print
Edition description:	1st ed. 2005
Pages:	229
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

ANTHONY JARRELLS teaches English at William Paterson University

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: VIOLENCE AND THE PURSUITS OF LITERATURE Why Literature - Not the People - Rose Lyrical Ballads and Terrorist Systems The Political Institution of Literature PART II: FROM THE BLOODLESS TO THE ROMANTIC REVOLUTION Jacobitism and Enlightenment Bloodless Revolution and the Form of the Novel Notes Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

'. . . intelligent and attractive book.' - Archives

'Anthony Jarrells' Britain's Bloodless Revolutions displays striking and innovative insights into the relationship between literature and social change. Arguing that the concept of non-violent change became a cultural ideal in Britain following the 'Glorious' Revolution of 1688, Jarrells traces the operation of that ideal in British writing through the turbulent times of the Romantic Era. His readings of an extensive sampling of works by Edmund Burke, William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, Helen Maria Williams, Scottish Enlightenment thinkers and Walter Scott show how literature was enlisted to manage conflict and contain threats. His analyses and conclusions deserve the attention of scholars and students interested in the struggle between violent and peaceful approaches to change during the 'long' eighteenth century.' - Regina Hewitt, Professor of English, University of South Florida, USA

From the Publisher