Title: Public and private
First published: 1997
Description: This groundbreaking work examines the emergent and fluctuating relationship between the public and private social spheres of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By assessing novels such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Jane Austen's Emma through the lens of the social theories of Jurgen Habermas and Michel Foucault, Patricia McKee presents a fresh and highly original contribution to literary studies.

McKee analyzes portrayals of a society in which abstract idealism belonged to knowledgeable, productive men and the realm of ignorance was left to emotional consuming women and the uneducated. Throughout, McKee highlights the unexpected configurations of the emergence of the public and private spheres and the effect of knowledge distributions across class and gender lines.
Subjects: History, Literature and society, History and criticism, English fiction, Consumption (Economics) in literature, Privacy in literature, Capitalism and literature, Social classes in literature, Sex role in literature, Public opinion in literature, Social problems in literature, Production (Economic theory) in literature, Production functions (Economic theory) in literature, Problèmes sociaux dans la littérature, Littérature et société, Histoire, Roman anglais, Histoire et critique, Capitalisme et littérature, Production dans la littérature, Société de consommation dans la littérature, Classes sociales dans la littérature, Rôle selon le sexe dans la littérature, LITERARY CRITICISM, European, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Semiotics & Theory, English fiction, history and criticism, 19th century, English fiction, history and criticism, 18th century
Places: Great Britain
Time periods: 19th century, 18th century
LC classification: PR868.S62 M35 1997