John McManners
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198270041
- eISBN:
- 9780191600692
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198270046.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
Methodological problems abound in the study of the history of popular religion, and it is better not to make too rigid a division between the religion of the people and that of the clerical ...
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Methodological problems abound in the study of the history of popular religion, and it is better not to make too rigid a division between the religion of the people and that of the clerical establishment. Literacy was growing in the eighteenth century and most reading matter had a religious content, but its use for the understanding of popular mentalities is limited. The reforming clergy saw themselves as the guardians of morals and made a consistent effort to suppress frivolity at religious festivities and to limit the number of holidays; here acting in concert with the state and Enlightenment reformers who wished to limit the days on which people did not work. The clergy also sought to control the credulity of the people by asserting their control over what should be considered a miracle and by absorbing folk practices into the fabric of routine institutional religion.Less
Methodological problems abound in the study of the history of popular religion, and it is better not to make too rigid a division between the religion of the people and that of the clerical establishment. Literacy was growing in the eighteenth century and most reading matter had a religious content, but its use for the understanding of popular mentalities is limited. The reforming clergy saw themselves as the guardians of morals and made a consistent effort to suppress frivolity at religious festivities and to limit the number of holidays; here acting in concert with the state and Enlightenment reformers who wished to limit the days on which people did not work. The clergy also sought to control the credulity of the people by asserting their control over what should be considered a miracle and by absorbing folk practices into the fabric of routine institutional religion.
James Raven
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198202370
- eISBN:
- 9780191675300
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202370.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Economic History
This chapter begins with a discussion of the dearth studies on the commercial development of the late 18th-century book trade. Little is known either about literary perceptions of trade and industry ...
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This chapter begins with a discussion of the dearth studies on the commercial development of the late 18th-century book trade. Little is known either about literary perceptions of trade and industry during the years of commercial and industrial expansion in the late 18th century, or about the means by which such opinion was established. The poverty of research on the literary response is the more telling because of the changes in the commercial orientation of the book business. It argues that historical appreciation of the new fiction industry of the period was thwarted by both contemporary and modern disdain for an output that undeniably included many formula-written potboilers. Very soon after birth, the mass fiction and popular literature trade was denounced from journal and pulpit as seditious and immoral and as debasing civilized society. The chapter also presents publishing trends in the late 18th century.Less
This chapter begins with a discussion of the dearth studies on the commercial development of the late 18th-century book trade. Little is known either about literary perceptions of trade and industry during the years of commercial and industrial expansion in the late 18th century, or about the means by which such opinion was established. The poverty of research on the literary response is the more telling because of the changes in the commercial orientation of the book business. It argues that historical appreciation of the new fiction industry of the period was thwarted by both contemporary and modern disdain for an output that undeniably included many formula-written potboilers. Very soon after birth, the mass fiction and popular literature trade was denounced from journal and pulpit as seditious and immoral and as debasing civilized society. The chapter also presents publishing trends in the late 18th century.
Ailsa Wallace
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199572113
- eISBN:
- 9780191721984
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199572113.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature, European Literature
This introductory chapter investigates the factors that contributed to Zur Mühlen's disappearance from German literature and criticism. It shows that critics have mostly treated Zur Mühlen in term of ...
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This introductory chapter investigates the factors that contributed to Zur Mühlen's disappearance from German literature and criticism. It shows that critics have mostly treated Zur Mühlen in term of her sensational biography or as an author of socialist fairy tales. A full investigation into her work in different genres has been hindered by traditional prejudices about the canon, high art and popular culture and politics.Less
This introductory chapter investigates the factors that contributed to Zur Mühlen's disappearance from German literature and criticism. It shows that critics have mostly treated Zur Mühlen in term of her sensational biography or as an author of socialist fairy tales. A full investigation into her work in different genres has been hindered by traditional prejudices about the canon, high art and popular culture and politics.
Maureen Perkins
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198121787
- eISBN:
- 9780191671302
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198121787.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature, 18th-century Literature
Among comments from those who were concerned to reform popular literature in this period, one title was mentioned almost as frequently as Moore's. This was Poor Robin, for almost 200 years the only ...
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Among comments from those who were concerned to reform popular literature in this period, one title was mentioned almost as frequently as Moore's. This was Poor Robin, for almost 200 years the only comic almanac in official circulation. Close examination of its contents illustrates that the purpose of Poor Robin was above all to make its readers laugh. However, laughter was an aspect of popular culture that became subject to attempts at reform. Such reform could only succeed through the appropriation of humorous literature rather than its suppression, and in appropriating the form of the comic almanac. Middle-class writers failed to reproduce Poor Robin's central motif, that of the simple man who knew better than those richer or higher on the social scale. The theme of simple folks' wisdom did not disappear from popular literature, but was taken up in the 1840s by the dialect almanacs of the north-east.Less
Among comments from those who were concerned to reform popular literature in this period, one title was mentioned almost as frequently as Moore's. This was Poor Robin, for almost 200 years the only comic almanac in official circulation. Close examination of its contents illustrates that the purpose of Poor Robin was above all to make its readers laugh. However, laughter was an aspect of popular culture that became subject to attempts at reform. Such reform could only succeed through the appropriation of humorous literature rather than its suppression, and in appropriating the form of the comic almanac. Middle-class writers failed to reproduce Poor Robin's central motif, that of the simple man who knew better than those richer or higher on the social scale. The theme of simple folks' wisdom did not disappear from popular literature, but was taken up in the 1840s by the dialect almanacs of the north-east.
Alice Fahs
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807825815
- eISBN:
- 9781469604268
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807899298_fahs
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
This book explores a little-known side of the Civil War: the outpouring of popular literature inspired by the conflict. From 1861 to 1865, authors and publishers in both the North and the South ...
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This book explores a little-known side of the Civil War: the outpouring of popular literature inspired by the conflict. From 1861 to 1865, authors and publishers in both the North and the South produced a remarkable variety of war-related compositions, including poems, songs, children's stories, romances, novels, histories, and even humorous pieces. The book mines these rich but long-neglected resources to recover the diversity of the war's political and social meanings. Instead of narrowly portraying the Civil War as a clash between two great, white armies, popular literature offered a wide range of representations of the conflict and helped shape new modes of imagining the relationships of diverse individuals to the nation. Works that explored the war's devastating impact on white women's lives, for example, proclaimed the importance of their experiences on the home front, while popular writings that celebrated black manhood and heroism in the wake of emancipation helped readers begin to envision new roles for blacks in American life. Recovering a lost world of popular literature, the book adds to our understanding of American life and letters at a pivotal point in our history.Less
This book explores a little-known side of the Civil War: the outpouring of popular literature inspired by the conflict. From 1861 to 1865, authors and publishers in both the North and the South produced a remarkable variety of war-related compositions, including poems, songs, children's stories, romances, novels, histories, and even humorous pieces. The book mines these rich but long-neglected resources to recover the diversity of the war's political and social meanings. Instead of narrowly portraying the Civil War as a clash between two great, white armies, popular literature offered a wide range of representations of the conflict and helped shape new modes of imagining the relationships of diverse individuals to the nation. Works that explored the war's devastating impact on white women's lives, for example, proclaimed the importance of their experiences on the home front, while popular writings that celebrated black manhood and heroism in the wake of emancipation helped readers begin to envision new roles for blacks in American life. Recovering a lost world of popular literature, the book adds to our understanding of American life and letters at a pivotal point in our history.
AILSA WALLACE
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199572113
- eISBN:
- 9780191721984
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199572113.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature, European Literature
This chapter concentrates on Zur Mühlen's autobiography, which represents a turning point between the committed socialism of her literature in different genres of the 1920s and the more nuanced ...
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This chapter concentrates on Zur Mühlen's autobiography, which represents a turning point between the committed socialism of her literature in different genres of the 1920s and the more nuanced left-wing humanism of her later works. It contends that Ende und Anfang is more complex than a simple account of her childhood and early adult years. Ende und Anfang engages with and borrows from contemporary popular literature, but is influenced primarily by various autobiographical traditions and by popular travel writing. It operates under an explicitly socialist agenda and, as such, can be read in the tradition of Socialist autobiographies by workers and Party intellectuals. At the same time, Zur Mühlen's story of becoming a writer has parallels with those of other well-known women writers, and she continues to thematise gender specific issues, such as financial independence, the beauty ideal, sex, marriage and motherhood. However, these issues are largely of secondary importance to the story of her conversion to Socialism.Less
This chapter concentrates on Zur Mühlen's autobiography, which represents a turning point between the committed socialism of her literature in different genres of the 1920s and the more nuanced left-wing humanism of her later works. It contends that Ende und Anfang is more complex than a simple account of her childhood and early adult years. Ende und Anfang engages with and borrows from contemporary popular literature, but is influenced primarily by various autobiographical traditions and by popular travel writing. It operates under an explicitly socialist agenda and, as such, can be read in the tradition of Socialist autobiographies by workers and Party intellectuals. At the same time, Zur Mühlen's story of becoming a writer has parallels with those of other well-known women writers, and she continues to thematise gender specific issues, such as financial independence, the beauty ideal, sex, marriage and motherhood. However, these issues are largely of secondary importance to the story of her conversion to Socialism.
Dan McKanan
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195145328
- eISBN:
- 9780199834471
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195145321.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This book traces the development of a theology of nonviolence in the popular literature of antebellum social reform movements. Between 1820 and 1860, American social reformers pioneered a “politics ...
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This book traces the development of a theology of nonviolence in the popular literature of antebellum social reform movements. Between 1820 and 1860, American social reformers pioneered a “politics of identification” that was deeply rooted in liberal Christian theology. Activists like William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, along with sentimental authors like Catharine Sedgwick and Harriet Beecher Stowe, drew on the doctrine of the imago dei, or image of God, to argue that God is present both in the victims of violence and in those who use nonviolent means to overcome oppression. This posed a sharp alternative to the providential theology of Reformed orthodoxy, which was more inclined to see God's hand in wars and other violent events. Proponents of the new theology can be characterized as “radical Christian liberals.” They linked their liberal faith in human nature to the Christian doctrine of the imago dei, yet were willing to contemplate the overthrow of all social institutions, even ostensibly liberal or Christian ones, that blocked the free expression of the imago dei.Less
This book traces the development of a theology of nonviolence in the popular literature of antebellum social reform movements. Between 1820 and 1860, American social reformers pioneered a “politics of identification” that was deeply rooted in liberal Christian theology. Activists like William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, along with sentimental authors like Catharine Sedgwick and Harriet Beecher Stowe, drew on the doctrine of the imago dei, or image of God, to argue that God is present both in the victims of violence and in those who use nonviolent means to overcome oppression. This posed a sharp alternative to the providential theology of Reformed orthodoxy, which was more inclined to see God's hand in wars and other violent events. Proponents of the new theology can be characterized as “radical Christian liberals.” They linked their liberal faith in human nature to the Christian doctrine of the imago dei, yet were willing to contemplate the overthrow of all social institutions, even ostensibly liberal or Christian ones, that blocked the free expression of the imago dei.
Alice Fahs
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807825815
- eISBN:
- 9781469604268
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807899298_fahs.4
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to explore the imaginative dimensions of shared Northern and Southern literary sensibilities by examining several themes and genres of ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to explore the imaginative dimensions of shared Northern and Southern literary sensibilities by examining several themes and genres of popular war literature. It does not argue that there was a unified “American mind” discernible in popular war literature or a unified “American imagination”—both modes of approaching literature that are artifacts of an older, consensus-oriented school of American studies. But the chapter does recognize that there was a set of shared rhetorics in popular war literature and argues that it is crucial to understand how Northern and Southern popular literary cultures were alike in order to understand their differences.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to explore the imaginative dimensions of shared Northern and Southern literary sensibilities by examining several themes and genres of popular war literature. It does not argue that there was a unified “American mind” discernible in popular war literature or a unified “American imagination”—both modes of approaching literature that are artifacts of an older, consensus-oriented school of American studies. But the chapter does recognize that there was a set of shared rhetorics in popular war literature and argues that it is crucial to understand how Northern and Southern popular literary cultures were alike in order to understand their differences.
James Raven
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198202370
- eISBN:
- 9780191675300
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202370.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Economic History
This chapter focuses on production and sale of popular literature in the second half of the 18th century. Quality was not always a primary concern in the production of commercial literature. By ...
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This chapter focuses on production and sale of popular literature in the second half of the 18th century. Quality was not always a primary concern in the production of commercial literature. By presenting books as attractive and fashionable consumer products, many booksellers achieved a swift turnover of quickly forgotten, hurriedly produced sheets. Indeed, many of the works published in this period were associated more with their bookseller-publishers than with their authors. Very often, authorship remained unannounced.Less
This chapter focuses on production and sale of popular literature in the second half of the 18th century. Quality was not always a primary concern in the production of commercial literature. By presenting books as attractive and fashionable consumer products, many booksellers achieved a swift turnover of quickly forgotten, hurriedly produced sheets. Indeed, many of the works published in this period were associated more with their bookseller-publishers than with their authors. Very often, authorship remained unannounced.
James Raven
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198202370
- eISBN:
- 9780191675300
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202370.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Economic History
During the second half of the 18th century, very particular reinterpretation of ‘taste’ and ‘vulgarity’ supported literary attacks on men of trade. At the same time, many writers sought to protect ...
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During the second half of the 18th century, very particular reinterpretation of ‘taste’ and ‘vulgarity’ supported literary attacks on men of trade. At the same time, many writers sought to protect the long-standing civic reputation of the merchant. The resulting contrast between the images of merchant citizen and of vulgar nouveau riche is important. Distinctions made between the two types throw into relief the ethical values by which businessmen were judged. In many didactic works of popular fiction and drama the merchant was advanced from incidental player to central character. In turn, imaginative portrayals of tradesmen called upon a whole repertoire of encoded statements about social ethics and custom derived from two centuries or more of morality literature. This heritage must be examined in order to understand both local perceptions of the merchant and the contrasting vulgarity charges levelled against the entrepreneur. This chapter reviews works informing the wider moral critique of the businessman and underpinning the analyses offered by the literature of the sampled years and discussed in subsequent chapters.Less
During the second half of the 18th century, very particular reinterpretation of ‘taste’ and ‘vulgarity’ supported literary attacks on men of trade. At the same time, many writers sought to protect the long-standing civic reputation of the merchant. The resulting contrast between the images of merchant citizen and of vulgar nouveau riche is important. Distinctions made between the two types throw into relief the ethical values by which businessmen were judged. In many didactic works of popular fiction and drama the merchant was advanced from incidental player to central character. In turn, imaginative portrayals of tradesmen called upon a whole repertoire of encoded statements about social ethics and custom derived from two centuries or more of morality literature. This heritage must be examined in order to understand both local perceptions of the merchant and the contrasting vulgarity charges levelled against the entrepreneur. This chapter reviews works informing the wider moral critique of the businessman and underpinning the analyses offered by the literature of the sampled years and discussed in subsequent chapters.
Bill Schwarz
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199296910
- eISBN:
- 9780191730887
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199296910.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter focuses on the connections between South Africa and England, looking particularly to the experience of the South African War of 1899-1902. It looks at the ways in which the War was ...
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This chapter focuses on the connections between South Africa and England, looking particularly to the experience of the South African War of 1899-1902. It looks at the ways in which the War was represented in popular writing (Winston Churchill, Kipling, Conan Doyle), and at how the War came to be remembered in later decades. The second half of the chapter addresses the person of John Buchan, both a high-minded proconsular official of the state, and the author of popular fictions. The chapter closes with a reading of Buchan's Prester John.Less
This chapter focuses on the connections between South Africa and England, looking particularly to the experience of the South African War of 1899-1902. It looks at the ways in which the War was represented in popular writing (Winston Churchill, Kipling, Conan Doyle), and at how the War came to be remembered in later decades. The second half of the chapter addresses the person of John Buchan, both a high-minded proconsular official of the state, and the author of popular fictions. The chapter closes with a reading of Buchan's Prester John.
Christopher Rosenmeier
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780748696369
- eISBN:
- 9781474434805
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748696369.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
This chapter provides an introduction to Xu Xu and Wumingshi and covers the book’s structure and methodology. It critiques the various terms that are used in both English and Chinese studies to ...
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This chapter provides an introduction to Xu Xu and Wumingshi and covers the book’s structure and methodology. It critiques the various terms that are used in both English and Chinese studies to categorise popular Chinese literature in the Republican period and it discusses the basis of the established divide between elite “new literature” (xin wenxue) and the much-castigated popular literature in China. It is argued that the term “Shanghai School” (haipai), a concept covering Shanghai popular literature from the 1920s to the 1940s, is too broad to be useful in analysing literature from this period or distinguishing between literary trends. The chapter also contains an extensive literature review, covering both English and Chinese works as they pertain to this study.Less
This chapter provides an introduction to Xu Xu and Wumingshi and covers the book’s structure and methodology. It critiques the various terms that are used in both English and Chinese studies to categorise popular Chinese literature in the Republican period and it discusses the basis of the established divide between elite “new literature” (xin wenxue) and the much-castigated popular literature in China. It is argued that the term “Shanghai School” (haipai), a concept covering Shanghai popular literature from the 1920s to the 1940s, is too broad to be useful in analysing literature from this period or distinguishing between literary trends. The chapter also contains an extensive literature review, covering both English and Chinese works as they pertain to this study.
Maureen Perkins
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198121787
- eISBN:
- 9780191671302
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198121787.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature, 18th-century Literature
Historians have long puzzled over the ‘death’ of astrology at the end of the seventeenth century. This book demonstrates that astrology was alive and well for much of the nineteenth century, finding ...
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Historians have long puzzled over the ‘death’ of astrology at the end of the seventeenth century. This book demonstrates that astrology was alive and well for much of the nineteenth century, finding expression in one of the best-selling items of popular literature, the almanac. It examines the contents of the most notorious almanacs, such as Moore's and Poor Robin, publications which provide a colourful entry into popular culture and which suggest that a belief in the possibility of seeing the future was widespread. The book goes on to discuss why all claims to predict the future, including those of astrology, became categorized as ‘superstition’. It argues that this development was linked to two major cultural changes: the rise of statistical discourse and the dominance of Newtonian time. Statistical forecasting achieved the status of a ‘science’ at the same time as ‘visions’ of the future were being marginalized. Examining the historical context of the substitution of one type of knowledge for another makes a contribution to current discussion about interaction between the different levels of culture.Less
Historians have long puzzled over the ‘death’ of astrology at the end of the seventeenth century. This book demonstrates that astrology was alive and well for much of the nineteenth century, finding expression in one of the best-selling items of popular literature, the almanac. It examines the contents of the most notorious almanacs, such as Moore's and Poor Robin, publications which provide a colourful entry into popular culture and which suggest that a belief in the possibility of seeing the future was widespread. The book goes on to discuss why all claims to predict the future, including those of astrology, became categorized as ‘superstition’. It argues that this development was linked to two major cultural changes: the rise of statistical discourse and the dominance of Newtonian time. Statistical forecasting achieved the status of a ‘science’ at the same time as ‘visions’ of the future were being marginalized. Examining the historical context of the substitution of one type of knowledge for another makes a contribution to current discussion about interaction between the different levels of culture.
Alice Fahs
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807825815
- eISBN:
- 9781469604268
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807899298_fahs.5
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
This chapter discusses the impact of war on popular literary culture. War changed what people read, what was available to read, and how, where, and with what expectations they read it. It altered the ...
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This chapter discusses the impact of war on popular literary culture. War changed what people read, what was available to read, and how, where, and with what expectations they read it. It altered the plans and prospects of publishers, pushing some to the brink of failure while giving new energy to a few well-positioned firms. War reshaped literary careers, forcing established authors to reconsider their writing plans, inspiring new authors to enter the literary marketplace, and deeply affecting what both found possible to imagine. Most profoundly, it catalyzed a rethinking of prevailing beliefs about the connecting links between literature and society, and between individual and nation. Both north and south, war became not just an obsessive, all-consuming subject but also a mode of perception and way of life that disrupted and reorganized authors' and readers' conceptions of identity, nationhood, and even time itself.Less
This chapter discusses the impact of war on popular literary culture. War changed what people read, what was available to read, and how, where, and with what expectations they read it. It altered the plans and prospects of publishers, pushing some to the brink of failure while giving new energy to a few well-positioned firms. War reshaped literary careers, forcing established authors to reconsider their writing plans, inspiring new authors to enter the literary marketplace, and deeply affecting what both found possible to imagine. Most profoundly, it catalyzed a rethinking of prevailing beliefs about the connecting links between literature and society, and between individual and nation. Both north and south, war became not just an obsessive, all-consuming subject but also a mode of perception and way of life that disrupted and reorganized authors' and readers' conceptions of identity, nationhood, and even time itself.
Alice Fahs
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807825815
- eISBN:
- 9781469604268
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807899298_fahs.11
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
This chapter focuses on sensational wartime literature. Sensational literature stressed the romance, excitement, and adventure of war. Sensational novels occupied a particular niche in commercial ...
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This chapter focuses on sensational wartime literature. Sensational literature stressed the romance, excitement, and adventure of war. Sensational novels occupied a particular niche in commercial literary culture in wartime, distinguished from other popular literature by a set of conventions including price, physical appearance, subject matter, and distribution. They emphasized bold action, striking effects on the emotions, sharply drawn heroes and villains, and highly conventionalized, florid, even lurid language.Less
This chapter focuses on sensational wartime literature. Sensational literature stressed the romance, excitement, and adventure of war. Sensational novels occupied a particular niche in commercial literary culture in wartime, distinguished from other popular literature by a set of conventions including price, physical appearance, subject matter, and distribution. They emphasized bold action, striking effects on the emotions, sharply drawn heroes and villains, and highly conventionalized, florid, even lurid language.
Alice Fahs
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807825815
- eISBN:
- 9781469604268
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807899298_fahs.12
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
This chapter focuses on war literature for children in the North. Titles such as Charles Carleton Coffin's My Days and Nights on the Battlefield and Oliver Optic's The Sailor Boy and The Soldier Boy ...
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This chapter focuses on war literature for children in the North. Titles such as Charles Carleton Coffin's My Days and Nights on the Battlefield and Oliver Optic's The Sailor Boy and The Soldier Boy were an important part of a burgeoning juvenile war literature that, from 1863 to the end of the war, marked an emerging wartime shift in the imagined relationship between child, family, and nation.Less
This chapter focuses on war literature for children in the North. Titles such as Charles Carleton Coffin's My Days and Nights on the Battlefield and Oliver Optic's The Sailor Boy and The Soldier Boy were an important part of a burgeoning juvenile war literature that, from 1863 to the end of the war, marked an emerging wartime shift in the imagined relationship between child, family, and nation.
Alice Fahs
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807825815
- eISBN:
- 9781469604268
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807899298_fahs.9
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
This chapter examines the presence of slaves in wartime popular literature. In the South, popular stories, poems, and cartoons throughout the war created fantasies of satisfied slaves who wanted ...
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This chapter examines the presence of slaves in wartime popular literature. In the South, popular stories, poems, and cartoons throughout the war created fantasies of satisfied slaves who wanted nothing more than to remain with—or return to—their masters. In the North, a widespread popular literature including popular songs, envelopes, stories, cartoons, and novels embraced changes in African Americans' status during the war—although usually only if they seemed to benefit the condition of Northern whites. Still, in the wake of emancipation, a few popular works emerged that radically reconsidered the racial politics of Northern culture.Less
This chapter examines the presence of slaves in wartime popular literature. In the South, popular stories, poems, and cartoons throughout the war created fantasies of satisfied slaves who wanted nothing more than to remain with—or return to—their masters. In the North, a widespread popular literature including popular songs, envelopes, stories, cartoons, and novels embraced changes in African Americans' status during the war—although usually only if they seemed to benefit the condition of Northern whites. Still, in the wake of emancipation, a few popular works emerged that radically reconsidered the racial politics of Northern culture.
Paola Iovene
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780804789370
- eISBN:
- 9780804791601
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804789370.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature
Relying on letters between editors and writers, memoirs, and interviews, the chapter argues that the future is a crucial site of struggle in 1980s Chinese literature. Editors cultivated modes of ...
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Relying on letters between editors and writers, memoirs, and interviews, the chapter argues that the future is a crucial site of struggle in 1980s Chinese literature. Editors cultivated modes of writing that would testify to brisk literary change. Their practices illustrate a mode of anticipation concerned with how Chinese literature ought to move forward, which was not solely an aspect of discourse but was built into institutional arrangements and enacted in a variety of collaborative endeavors. This concern affected the timing of publication and the formation of literary trends, particularly of avant-garde fiction, and significantly shaped the professional lives of writers, editors, and critics. The chapter historicizes the emergence of Chinese avant-garde fiction in the mid-1980s, showing how it emerged in response to popular genres, and demonstrates that the experience of reading foreign literature provided editors and writers with a shared horizon of literary expectation.Less
Relying on letters between editors and writers, memoirs, and interviews, the chapter argues that the future is a crucial site of struggle in 1980s Chinese literature. Editors cultivated modes of writing that would testify to brisk literary change. Their practices illustrate a mode of anticipation concerned with how Chinese literature ought to move forward, which was not solely an aspect of discourse but was built into institutional arrangements and enacted in a variety of collaborative endeavors. This concern affected the timing of publication and the formation of literary trends, particularly of avant-garde fiction, and significantly shaped the professional lives of writers, editors, and critics. The chapter historicizes the emergence of Chinese avant-garde fiction in the mid-1980s, showing how it emerged in response to popular genres, and demonstrates that the experience of reading foreign literature provided editors and writers with a shared horizon of literary expectation.
James Raven
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198202370
- eISBN:
- 9780191675300
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202370.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Economic History
This chapter examines the increasing resentment against the social and political aspirations of businessmen in the late 18th century, as reflected in popular literature. These depictions focused on ...
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This chapter examines the increasing resentment against the social and political aspirations of businessmen in the late 18th century, as reflected in popular literature. These depictions focused on three arriviste types: planters, manufacturers, and nabobs. Both the speed and the extent of social advancement were emphasized by novelists and magazine contributors. Sudden social climbing was portrayed as deceitful and dangerous, and writers touched upon many of the concerns discussed so far — the social and financial fears of luxury and fashion, the establishment of standards of taste, and the preservation of traditional features of status. Underpinning such contributions was the need to create a saleable cause to explain ills and to broadcast a simple, positive message. Many arguments were interwoven: their impact depended upon their interconnectedness and their confusion. By far the greatest attention was given to self-made men returning after service with the East India Company.Less
This chapter examines the increasing resentment against the social and political aspirations of businessmen in the late 18th century, as reflected in popular literature. These depictions focused on three arriviste types: planters, manufacturers, and nabobs. Both the speed and the extent of social advancement were emphasized by novelists and magazine contributors. Sudden social climbing was portrayed as deceitful and dangerous, and writers touched upon many of the concerns discussed so far — the social and financial fears of luxury and fashion, the establishment of standards of taste, and the preservation of traditional features of status. Underpinning such contributions was the need to create a saleable cause to explain ills and to broadcast a simple, positive message. Many arguments were interwoven: their impact depended upon their interconnectedness and their confusion. By far the greatest attention was given to self-made men returning after service with the East India Company.
James Raven
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198202370
- eISBN:
- 9780191675300
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202370.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Economic History
This chapter focuses on depictions of the economic threat of extravagance in popular literature. Over-expenditure in attempts to maintain or extend appearances, or as the consequence of sheer folly, ...
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This chapter focuses on depictions of the economic threat of extravagance in popular literature. Over-expenditure in attempts to maintain or extend appearances, or as the consequence of sheer folly, was said to devastate families and threaten the prosperity of the nation. Economy was presented as the universal ideal. Novels and moral essays repeated charges that particular business and consumer activity could promote economic instability, that credit crises affecting the whole community could originate from action by an individual, and that there was a determinable relationship between a right to a fortune and its usage. These themes were illustrated by the alleged activities of self-made petty traders, entrepreneurs, nabobs, and later, manufacturers and their families. In identifying wastefulness, the businessman and parvenu were made a convenient butt to portray the consequences of intemperance.Less
This chapter focuses on depictions of the economic threat of extravagance in popular literature. Over-expenditure in attempts to maintain or extend appearances, or as the consequence of sheer folly, was said to devastate families and threaten the prosperity of the nation. Economy was presented as the universal ideal. Novels and moral essays repeated charges that particular business and consumer activity could promote economic instability, that credit crises affecting the whole community could originate from action by an individual, and that there was a determinable relationship between a right to a fortune and its usage. These themes were illustrated by the alleged activities of self-made petty traders, entrepreneurs, nabobs, and later, manufacturers and their families. In identifying wastefulness, the businessman and parvenu were made a convenient butt to portray the consequences of intemperance.
