Preaching pity [e-book] : Dickens, Gaskell, and sentimentalism in Victorian culture /
Lenard, Mary,1967-
New York : Peter Lang,
c1999.
"Preaching Pity situates such well-known Victorian authors as Charles Dickens and Elizabeth Gaskell within an important tradition of nineteenth-century British social reform writing - a tradition in which women writers used feminized, sentimental values like sympathy and spirituality to teach readers how to "read" and respond to social problems. This study contributes substantially to Victorian studies because it both investigates a largely unrecognized, but culturally significant, tradition of now-obscure women writers like Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna and Frances Trollope, and interrogates the gender politics of literary production and reception by looking at how this sentimentalist tradition affected the work and reception of canonical male and female writers."--Jacket.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [143]-153) and index.
"Preaching Pity situates such well-known Victorian authors as Charles Dickens and Elizabeth Gaskell within an important tradition of nineteenth-century British social reform writing - a tradition in which women writers used feminized, sentimental values like sympathy and spirituality to teach readers how to "read" and respond to social problems. This study contributes substantially to Victorian studies because it both investigates a largely unrecognized, but culturally significant, tradition of now-obscure women writers like Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna and Frances Trollope, and interrogates the gender politics of literary production and reception by looking at how this sentimentalist tradition affected the work and reception of canonical male and female writers."--Jacket.

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn, 1810-1865
Charlotte Elizabeth, 1790-1846
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870
English fiction
Sentimentalism in literature.
Literature and society
Women and literature
Didactic fiction, English
Social problems in literature.
Social ethics in literature.
Sympathy in literature.
English fiction
Sentimentalism in literature
Literature and society
Women and literature
Didactic fiction, English
Social problems in literature
Social ethics in literature
Sympathy in literature