Thomas Hardy, monism, and the carnival tradition
Subtitle: the one and the many in The dynasts
By: G. Glen Wickens.
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Toronto; Buffalo
Language: eng
Number of pages: 255
Subjects: Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928.; Bakhtin, M. M. 1895-1975.; Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- In literature.; Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815 -- Literature and the wars.; Carnival in literature.; Monism in literature.; Fiction -- Technique.
Description: "In this book, G. Glen Wickens offers a new reading of a work which is often ignored by critics and students of Victorian literature, Thomas Hardy's The Dynasts. Wickens explores the monistic viewpoint of The Dynasts through reference to nineteenth- and early twentieth-century philosophical writings which have never before been applied to Hardy's writing.

Using insights derived from the critical theory of Mikhail Bakhtin - in particular his concept of carnival - Wickens also counters the usual view of The Dynasts as failed epic or tragedy, and instead situates the work as a novel within the serio-comical genres. In doing so, he brings out new, violent implications to Bakhtin's theory of laughter and carnival.".

"Thomas Hardy, Monism, and the Carnival Tradition is the first book-length study of Thomas Hardy's The Dynasts since 1977. It will be of interest to Hardy scholars, critics of Bakhtin, and readers interested in monist philosophy or nineteenth-century history."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [235]-246) and index.