The familiar essay, Romantic affect and metropolitan culture : the sweet security of streets /
Through close readings of diverse examples by Lamb, De Quincey, Hazlitt, Irving and Poe, this book argues that the familiar essay in the Romantic period embodies a quintessentially metropolitan mode of affect. The generic traits of the essay, astuteness of observation, an ambulatory or paratactic mo...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK :
Cambridge Scholars Publishing,
[2018]
|
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | Through close readings of diverse examples by Lamb, De Quincey, Hazlitt, Irving and Poe, this book argues that the familiar essay in the Romantic period embodies a quintessentially metropolitan mode of affect. The generic traits of the essay, astuteness of observation, an ambulatory or paratactic movement of thought and an urbane tone of wry or ironic humor, all predispose it to the expression of a detached, non-pathological state of mind. This is a mind conditioned by the quickened pace, assorted humanity and plenitude of spectacle which characterize urban and urbanized life. In making a valuable, genre-based contribution to scholarship on the importance to Romantic studies of the city and metropolitan culture, the traditional concept of Romantic affect is reassessed. |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | xxiv, 247 pages ; 22 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages [229]-241) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781527505650 1527505650 |