Contested Liberalisms
Martineau, Dickens and the Victorian Press
Published on 31. August 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-1-4744-5314-1 (ISBN)
Description
Reframes the long-standing critical narrative of the relationship between Harriet Martineau and Charles Dickens
Demonstrates, through new readings of Martineau and Dickens's travel in and writing about the United States, how their encounters with the American public sphere were crucially formative in both writers' careers and in their shaping as journalistsPlaces Martineau and Dickens within the context of Anglo-American liberalism, thereby expanding our reading of them beyond earlier schema framed in narrower terms of political economyExpands understandings of transatlantic literary exchange to offer a more comprehensive reading than those offered through an earlier critical focus simply on the issue of international copyright
Focusing on the importance of Martineau's contribution to the development of the early Victorian press, this book highlights the degree to which the public quarrel between her and Dickens in the mid-1850s represented larger fissures within nineteenth-century liberalism. It places Martineau and Dickens within the context of Anglo-American liberalism and demonstrates how these fissures were embedded within a transatlantic conversation over the role of the press in forming a public sphere essential to the development of a liberal society.
Demonstrates, through new readings of Martineau and Dickens's travel in and writing about the United States, how their encounters with the American public sphere were crucially formative in both writers' careers and in their shaping as journalistsPlaces Martineau and Dickens within the context of Anglo-American liberalism, thereby expanding our reading of them beyond earlier schema framed in narrower terms of political economyExpands understandings of transatlantic literary exchange to offer a more comprehensive reading than those offered through an earlier critical focus simply on the issue of international copyright
Focusing on the importance of Martineau's contribution to the development of the early Victorian press, this book highlights the degree to which the public quarrel between her and Dickens in the mid-1850s represented larger fissures within nineteenth-century liberalism. It places Martineau and Dickens within the context of Anglo-American liberalism and demonstrates how these fissures were embedded within a transatlantic conversation over the role of the press in forming a public sphere essential to the development of a liberal society.
Reviews / Votes
Crawford's book is placed as a highly competitive runner up. It is commended as an impressively weighty and lucid book that negotiates its way carefully through its tripartite interests in liberalism, transatlantic cross-cultural exchange and the development of the periodical press. It offers new approaches to both Martineau and Dickens in its scholarly study of their contrasting contributions to emerging formulations of progressive social theory in ways that richly reveal the intellectual heft and significance of their writings in the context of the development of liberal thought. Crawford draws out the details of their relationship masterfully in this sophisticated and erudite work that is full of rich detail related with minute attention to scholarly conversation. A pleasure to read, this book is an important contribution to the history of the periodical press, to Dickens studies, and especially to our understanding of the importance of Harriet Martineau. * 2020 Robert and Vineta Colby Scholarly Book Prize award committee * Crawford's book is placed as a highly competitive runner up. It is commended as an impressively weighty and lucid book that negotiates its way carefully through its tripartite interests in liberalism, transatlantic cross-cultural exchange and the development of the periodical press. It offers new approaches to both Martineau and Dickens in its scholarly study of their contrasting contributions to emerging formulations of progressive social theory in ways that richly reveal the intellectual heft and significance of their writings in the context of the development of liberal thought. Crawford draws out the details of their relationship masterfully in this sophisticated and erudite work that is full of rich detail related with minute attention to scholarly conversation. A pleasure to read, this book is an important contribution to the history of the periodical press, to Dickens studies, and especially to our understanding of the importance of Harriet Martineau. * 2020 Robert and Vineta Colby Scholarly Book Prize award committee * Our understanding of these two major figures of Victorian journalism is immensely enriched by this fascinating comparative analysis of their contributions to the transatlantic development of the press. -- Catherine Waters, University of Kent * Dickens Quarterly * A fascinating and incisive study of the relationship of Martineau and Dickens, major figures in the world of Victorian journalism, both transformed by their exposure to America, both liberals, and yet as Crawford shows, ultimately at odds in their response to the liberal project. Revelatory and utterly compelling. * Joanne Shattock, University of Leicester * This book, with its wealth of references to primary materials and a wide range of secondary scholarship, provides a rich resource for scholars of Martineau and Dickens during the formative years of modern mass media. ... Contested Liberalisms is both a worthy resource in itself and a clear road map for new directions in scholarship on Martineau, Dickens, and nineteenth-century periodicals history. -- Deborah A. Logan, Western Kentucky University * Victorian Periodicals Review * Throughout Contested Liberalisms, Crawford wields jaw-dropping knowledge of these two authors' lives and works from the 1830s to the 1850s, enabling him nimbly to expose not only their specific disagreements, but also the source and subsequent issue of those divergent beliefs. For those interested in Martineau's and Dickens's political thought, this book will be both richly satisfying and an invaluable resource. -- Jessie Reeder, Binghamton University * Victorian Studies * Throughout Contested Liberalisms, Crawford wields jaw-dropping knowledge of these two authors' lives and works from the 1830s to the 1850s, enabling him nimbly to expose not only their specific disagreements, but also the source and subsequent issue of those divergent beliefs. For those interested in Martineau's and Dickens's political thought, this book will be both richly satisfying and an invaluable resource. -- Jessie Reeder, Binghamton University * Victorian Studies *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
10 black and white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
485 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4744-5314-1 (9781474453141)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Iain Crawford is Associate Professor of English at the University of Delaware. His most recent publications include "Harriet Martineau: Women and the World of Journalism in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Britain." In Journalism and the Periodical Press in Nineteenth Century Britain. Ed. Joanne Shattock. Cambridge UP, 2017, "Harriet Martineau: Travel and the Writer." In Harriet Martineau and the Birth of Disciplines. Eds. Valerie Sanders and Gaby Weiner. Farnborough: Ashgate P, 2016, "Massachusetts and America: Dickens, Martineau, and the Republic They Came to See." In Dickens and Massachusetts: The Lasting Legacy of the Commonwealth Visits. Eds. Diana C. Archibald and Joel J. Brattin. Amherst: U of Massachusetts P, 2015.
Content
IllustrationsSeries Editor's Preface Acknowledgements Introduction
'The Display of Woman's Naked Mind to the Gaze of the World': Harriet Martineau and the Press, 1830-4
Martineau, the Press, and Jacksonian America
American Notes and the 'frightful engine' of the Press
'Yield to the mighty mind of the Popular Instructor': Print and the Press in Martin Chuzzlewit
'Called hither by the commotion of the times': Martineau and the Press, 1837-50
The Factory Controversy: 'What I dread is being silenced'
The End of Whig History: Dickens, Martineau and the Mid-Victorian Press
Conclusion Bibliography Index
'The Display of Woman's Naked Mind to the Gaze of the World': Harriet Martineau and the Press, 1830-4
Martineau, the Press, and Jacksonian America
American Notes and the 'frightful engine' of the Press
'Yield to the mighty mind of the Popular Instructor': Print and the Press in Martin Chuzzlewit
'Called hither by the commotion of the times': Martineau and the Press, 1837-50
The Factory Controversy: 'What I dread is being silenced'
The End of Whig History: Dickens, Martineau and the Mid-Victorian Press
Conclusion Bibliography Index