Sentimental Narrative and the Social Order in France, 1760-1820

In this detailed study of popular sentimentalist literature of the late eighteenth century, David J. Denby sheds new light on Enlightenment thought and sensibility.

List of contents

Acknowledgements; Note on spelling; Introduction: the politics of tears; 1. Three sentimental writers; 2. Towards a model of the sentimental text; 3. Love and money: social hierarchy in the sentimental text; 4. Sentimentalism in the rhetoric of the Revolution; 5. Sentimentalism and idéologie; 6. Beyond sentimentalism? Madame de Staël; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Summary

In this detailed study of popular sentimentalist literature of the late eighteenth century, David J. Denby sheds new light on Enlightenment thought and sensibility. He situates sentimentalist writing in its social and political context, analysing how its formal structures are reflected in contemporary theories concerning the nature of society, morality, and history.

Product details

• Authors: David J. Denby
• Assisted by: Michael Sheringham (Editor)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 03.12.2014
• EAN: 9780521430869
• ISBN: 978-0-521-43086-9
• No. of pages: 298
• Dimensions: 145 mm x 222 mm x 21 mm
• Weight: 554 g
• Series: Cambridge Studies in French
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Romance linguistics / literary studies