Working Fictions: A Genealogy of the Victorian Novel by Carolyn Lesjak (English)

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Reconceptualizing Victorian literary history, Carolyn Lesjak argues that throughout the Victorian era, fiction reflected a preoccupation with labor in relation to pleasure.

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description

Working Fictions takes as its point of departure the common and painful truth that the vast majority of human beings toil for a wage and rarely for their own enjoyment or satisfaction. In this striking reconceptualization of Victorian literary history, Carolyn Lesjak interrogates the relationship between labor and pleasure, two concepts that were central to the Victorian imagination and the literary output of the era. Through the creation of a new genealogy of the "labor novel," Lesjak challenges the prevailing assumption about the portrayal of work in Victorian fiction, namely that it disappears with the fall from prominence of the industrial novel. She proposes that the "problematic of labor" persists throughout the nineteenth century and continues to animate texts as diverse as Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton, George Eliot's Felix Holt and Daniel Deronda, Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, and the essays and literary work of William Morris and Oscar Wilde.Lesjak demonstrates how the ideological work of the literature of the Victorian era, the "golden age of the novel," revolved around separating the domains of labor and pleasure and emphasizing the latter as the proper realm of literary representation. She reveals how the utopian works of Morris and Wilde grapple with this divide and attempt to imagine new relationships between work and pleasure, relationships that might enable a future in which work is not the antithesis of pleasure. In Working Fictions, Lesjak argues for the contemporary relevance of the "labor novel," suggesting that within its pages lie resources with which to confront the gulf between work and pleasure that continues to characterize our world today.

Notes

A new view of the relationship between labor and pleasure in the Victorian imagination that significantly revises 19th century literary history.

Back Cover

""Working Fictions" is a groundbreaking book on Victorian literature and culture. Carolyn Lesjak reads nineteenth-century novels together with the best of social historical and Marxist criticism to reveal how the novel separated labor from pleasure and, in doing so, changed the very definition of both. Hers is an argument whose time has come, one that will enable a new generation of work to be done."--Nancy Armstrong, author of "Desire and Domestic Fiction: A Political History of the Novel" ""Working Fictions" compellingly reconfigures the literary history of the nineteenth century by exploring the complex ways in which concepts of labor and pleasure informed the realist novel and Victorian aestheticism. This is a rich renewal of Frankfurt School concerns and a powerful contribution to contemporary literary studies."--Amanda Anderson, author of "The Way We Argue Now: A Study in the Cultures of Theory"

Author Biography

Carolyn Lesjak is Associate Professor of English at Swarthmore College.

Table of Contents

Acknolwedgments ixIntroductions : A Genealogy of the Labor Novel 1Part I. Realism Meets the Masses 211. "How Deep Might Be the Romance": Representing Work and the working Class in Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton 292. A Modern Odyssey: Felix Holt's Education for the Masses 63Part II. Coming of Age in a World Economy 853. Seeing the Invisible: The Bildungsroman and the Narration of a New Regime of Accumulation 89Part III. Itineraries of the Utopian 1374. William Morris and a People's Art: Reimagining the Pleasures of Labor 1415. Utopia, Use, and the Everyday: Oscar Wilde and a New Economy of Pleasure 181Conclusion 205Notes 215Bibliography 251Index 263

Review

"Working Fictions is a groundbreaking book on Victorian literature and culture. Carolyn Lesjak reads nineteenth-century novels together with the best of social historical and Marxist criticism to reveal how the novel separated labor from pleasure and, in doing so, changed the very definition of both. Hers is an argument whose time has come, one that will enable a new generation of work to be done."--Nancy Armstrong, author of Desire and Domestic Fiction: A Political History of the Novel "Working Fictions compellingly reconfigures the literary history of the nineteenth century by exploring the complex ways in which concepts of labor and pleasure informed the realist novel and Victorian aestheticism. This is a rich renewal of Frankfurt School concerns and a powerful contribution to contemporary literary studies."--Amanda Anderson, author of The Way We Argue Now: A Study in the Cultures of Theory Working Fictions is an ambitious rereading of the labour politics of nineteenth-century literature...Lesjak's bold claim to a new 'genealogy' of Victorian fiction is arresting, particularly because it embraces unlikely bedfellows such as Gaskell and Oscar Wilde, and crosses the entrenched boundaries of realism and utopian fantasy...Lesjek claims contemporary resonance for this project of rethinking the relationship between work and pleasure, since 'revealing the connections between [them] has the capacity to enhance our understanding and our experience of both'. - Rebecca Styler, University of Lincoln

Promotional

A new view of the relationship between labor and pleasure in the Victorian imagination that significantly revises 19th century literary history.

Long Description

"Working Fictions" takes as its point of departure the common and painful truth that the vast majority of human beings toil for a wage and rarely for their own enjoyment or satisfaction. In this striking reconceptualization of Victorian literary history, Carolyn Lesjak interrogates the relationship between labor and pleasure, two concepts that were central to the Victorian imagination and the literary output of the era. Through the creation of a new genealogy of the "labor novel," Lesjak challenges the prevailing assumption about the portrayal of work in Victorian fiction, namely that it disappears with the fall from prominence of the industrial novel. She proposes that the "problematic of labor" persists throughout the nineteenth century and continues to animate texts as diverse as Elizabeth Gaskell's "Mary Barton," George Eliot's "Felix Holt" and "Daniel Deronda," Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations," and the essays and literary work of William Morris and Oscar Wilde. Lesjak demonstrates how the ideological work of the literature of the Victorian era, the "golden age of the novel," revolved around separating the domains of labor and pleasure and emphasizing the latter as the proper realm of literary representation. She reveals how the utopian works of Morris and Wilde grapple with this divide and attempt to imagine new relationships between work and pleasure, relationships that might enable a future in which work is not the antithesis of pleasure. In "Working Fictions," Lesjak argues for the contemporary relevance of the "labor novel," suggesting that within its pages lie resources with which to confront the gulf between work and pleasure that continues to characterize our worldtoday.

Review Quote

"Working Fictions is a groundbreaking book on Victorian literature and culture. Carolyn Lesjak reads nineteenth-century novels together with the best of social historical and Marxist criticism to reveal how the novel separated labor from pleasure and, in doing so, changed the very definition of both. Hers is an argument whose time has come, one that will enable a new generation of work to be done."--Nancy Armstrong, author of Desire and Domestic Fiction: A Political History of the Novel "Working Fictions compellingly reconfigures the literary history of the nineteenth century by exploring the complex ways in which concepts of labor and pleasure informed the realist novel and Victorian aestheticism. This is a rich renewal of Frankfurt School concerns and a powerful contribution to contemporary literary studies."--Amanda Anderson, author of The Way We Argue Now: A Study in the Cultures of Theory Working Fictions is an ambitious rereading of the labour politics of nineteenth-century literature...Lesjak's bold claim to a new 'genealogy' of Victorian fiction is arresting, particularly because it embraces unlikely bedfellows such as Gaskell and Oscar Wilde, and crosses the entrenched boundaries of realism and utopian fantasy...Lesjek claims contemporary resonance for this project of rethinking the relationship between work and pleasure, since 'revealing the connections between [them] has the capacity to enhance our understanding and our experience of both'. - Rebecca Styler, University of Lincoln

Promotional "Headline"

A new view of the relationship between labor and pleasure in the Victorian imagination that significantly revises 19th century literary history.

Details ISBN0822338882 Author Carolyn Lesjak Short Title WORKING FICTIONS Publisher Duke University Press Series Post-Contemporary Interventions Language English ISBN-10 0822338882 ISBN-13 9780822338888 Media Book Format Paperback Imprint Duke University Press Subtitle A Genealogy of the Victorian Novel Place of Publication North Carolina Country of Publication United States Birth 1963 Edition annotated edition DOI 10.1604/9780822338888 UK Release Date 2007-01-18 AU Release Date 2007-01-18 NZ Release Date 2007-01-18 US Release Date 2007-01-18 Pages 288 Year 2007 Publication Date 2007-01-18 DEWEY 823.009355 Audience Professional & Vocational We've got this

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