Literature & Literary Studies

The nineteenth-century present

Literature, print culture and historicity

by Koenraad Claes, Elizabeth Ludlow

Description

The Nineteenth-Century Present explores the multiple ways in which history was understood, structured, and reassessed in literary, theological, and political contexts across the nineteenth century. While the scope of the book is wide, ranging from the representations of geological time and ancient history to the writing of the recent past, and covering the work of writers from Walter Scott to G.K. Chesterton, each chapter reveals how present concerns intrude on and shape every view of history. Ultimately, the collection emphasises that issues raised regarding historicity in recent methodological debates were already concerns in the nineteenth century.

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Reviews

The nineteenth-century present explores the multiple ways in which history was understood, structured, and reassessed in literary, theological, and political contexts across the nineteenth century. This scope of the chapters covers a range of British authors from Walter Scott to G.K. Chesterton, demonstrating how the issues raised regarding historicity in recent methodological debates in all aspects of society, including social hierarchies, religion, science, gender, and burgeoning mass media were already concerns in the nineteenth century. The book questions the opposition between state-sanctioned narratives and counter-histories, the challenges of scientific breakthroughs, and the political and metaphysical tensions between the idea of open-ended continuity and the expectation of an ending. Employing a range of methodologies and welcoming a diversity of representations, these wide-ranging case studies demonstrate the diversity of writing (about) history in nineteenth-century literary texts and its continuities, as well as differences with twentieth and twenty-first century historiographical approaches.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Ludlow is Associate Professor of Religion and Literature at Anglia Ruskin University Koenraad Claes is a Visiting Research Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University

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Bibliographic Information

  • Publisher Manchester University Press
  • Publication Date June 2025
  • Orginal LanguageEnglish
  • ISBN/Identifier 9781526172365 / 1526172364
  • Publication Country or regionUnited Kingdom
  • FormatPrint PDF
  • Pages288
  • ReadershipGeneral/trade
  • Publish StatusPublished
  • Dimensions234 X 156 mm
  • Biblio NotesDerived from Proprietary 5814
  • SeriesInterventions: Rethinking the Nineteenth Century
  • Reference Code15304

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