Sensibility and Economics in the Novel: The Price of a Tear

by G. Skinner

Overview

Sensibility and Economics in the Novel argues that the sentimental novel, usually seen as a 'feminine' genre concentrating exclusively on emotional response, is in fact actively involved in contemporary economic and political debates. Spanning the period encompassing the rise, heyday and decline of sentimentalism, the book considers how the trajectory of the movement affected the sentimental novel's use of discourses of economics, sensibility and femininity, and assesses the impact of the pressures of the post-Revolutionary 1790s on these areas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333644775
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	12/14/1998
Edition description:	1999
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Gillian Skinner is Lecturer in English at LSU College of Higher Education in Southampton.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction Economic Sense and Sensibility in David Simple , Tom Jones and The Countess of Dellwyn Sexual Innocence and Economic Experience: Amelia and Ophelia 'Godlike Benefactors': Patriarchal Patterns in Lady Julia Mandeville , The Vicar of Wakefield and The Expedition of Humphry Clinker 'Above Economy': The History of Lady Barton, The Man of Feeling and A Sentimental Journey 'The First Soft System': Commerce, Sensibility and Femininity in Barham Downs and Anna 'The Mild Lustre of Modest Independence': Economies of Obligation in Novels of the 1790s Conclusion Notes Works Cited Index

Editorial Reviews

'Skinner's substantial book boldly takes on the common assumption that sentimental novels avoid the economic and political. We need not read those concerns into the novels, insists Skinner; they are already there to be read. Many examples are offered, but the most impressive is the reading of A Sentimental Journey. First-rate analyses of later novels pinpoint the particular features of sensibility that come to characterize commerce.' - Clifford Siskin, Studies in English Literature

'Gillian Skinner's Sensibility and Economics in the Novel makes an important and compelling contribution to the new economic criticism that has gained so much interest in our field in the last few years. [...] What distinguishes Skinner most prominently from many other treatments of economics and the novel is her attention to gendered authorship. Thus, instead of making claims about women writers with scant reference to their male counterparts or claims about the novel with scant attention to gender or women, Skinner shows how in several different ways the perspective of women writers can interestingly differ from that of their male contemporaries. In doing so, she makes an important contribution to the ongoing conversation about gender, fiction, and economics.' - Laura J. Rosenthal, Florida State University

From the Publisher

Refutes the assumption that the eighteenth-century sentimental novel was merely an emotional diversion for frivolous women. Skinner (English, U. of Durham) assembles economic theory and passages from the novels in question in order to demonstrate how such novels actually engaged in sophisticated discourse on economic issues. Chapters assess economic sense and sensibility on David Simple, Tom Jones and the Countess of Dellwyn; and sexual innocence and economic experience in Amelia and Ophelia, among other topics. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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