Victorian culture and the idea of the grotesque
By: edited by Colin Trodd, Paul Barlow, and David Amigoni.
Contributors: Trodd, Colin, 1959-; Barlow, Paul, 1962-; Amigoni, David.
Publisher: Ashgate
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Brookfield, Vt
Language: eng
Number of pages: 212
Subjects: English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism.; Grotesque -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century.; Grotesque in literature.; Grotesque in art.; Great Britain -- Civilization -- 19th century.; Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901.
Description: "These specially commissioned essays provide an original analysis of key articulations of the Grotesque: the literary culture of Ruskin, Browning and Dickens, where it is a sign of the eruptions, intensities, confusions and disturbed vitality of modern cultural experience; the scientific revolution associated with Darwin, where it generates speculation about biological forces, bodily energies and mutations in nature; the social and historical literature of Carlyle, where it hovers on the edge of visibility, at once a transgression of the nature of industrial society and its purest manifestation." "The invaluable introduction looks at proliferations of the Grotesque in Victorian culture. Dealing with literature, history, social theory, art, design, science, popular culture, art criticism and aesthetics, it seeks to demonstrate the connections and tensions between these orders of cultural life."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [197]-206) and index.
Table of contents: title: Borrowing Gargantua's mouth / David Amigoni; title: Thomas Carlyle's grotesque conceits / Paul Barlow; title: Culture and energy / Colin Trodd; title: Griffinism, grace and all / Lucy Hartley; title: Grotesque obscenities / Paul Barlow; title: Entangled banks / Nicola Bown; title: Monsters and monstrosities / Shelagh Wilson; title: Turning back the grotesque / Colin Trodd.