Title: Angels and absences
Subtitle: child deaths in the nineteenth century
First published: 1997
Description: What is the difference between public and private feeling, and how far can we deduce past feelings from the words that have been left us? Why do child deaths figure so often and so prominently in the literature of the nineteenth century, and how was the theme of the death of a child used to elicit such poignant responses in the readers of that era?

In this fascinating new book, Laurence Lerner vividly contrasts the contempt with which twentieth-century criticism so often dismisses such works as mere sentimentality with the enthusiasm and tears of nineteenth-century contemporaries.

Drawing examples from both real and literary deaths, Lerner delves into the writings of well-known authors such as Dickens, Coleridge, Shelley, Flaubert, Mann, Huxley, and Hesse, as well as lesser known writers like Felicia Hemans and Lydia Sigourney. In the process, he synthesizes fresh ideas about the thorny subjects of sentimentality, aesthetic judgment, and the function of religion in literature.

Lerner's forthright and evocative prose style is enjoyable reading, and he excels in teasing out the moral implications and the psychosocial entanglements of his chosen narrative and lyrical texts. This is a book that will illuminate an important aspect of the history of private life. It should have wide application for those interested in the history, sociology, and literature of the nineteenth century.
Subjects: Children, History and criticism, English literature, Death, Intellectual life, American literature, Children in literature, Death in literature, Sentimentalism in literature, Characters, Psychological aspects, Mortality, History, Dickens, charles, 1812-1870, English literature, history and criticism, 19th century, Children, mortality, Children, death, American literature, history and criticism, 19th century, Personnages, Enfants, Infants, Bereavement, Infant, Child, Modern Literature, Littérature anglaise, Histoire et critique, Mort dans la littérature, Mortalité, Histoire, Littérature américaine, Mort, Aspect psychologique, Sentimentalisme dans la littérature, Enfants dans la littérature, Nourrissons, Deuil, Deaths, Children (people by age group), Mourning, LITERARY CRITICISM, European, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Kind, Tod, Literatur, Kindersterfte
Places: Great Britain, English-speaking countries
People: Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
Time periods: 19th century
LC classification: PR468.D42 L47 1997