Maritime Fiction - Sailors and the Sea in British and American Novels, 1719-1917

In this important new study, John Peck examines the cultural significance of maritime novels from Defoe through to Conrad. Focusing in particular on the image of the body, he illustrates how these works are built around the disparity between the masculine and often brutal regime of the ship and the civilised values of those who remain on the shore. The first comprehensive discussion of its subject, Maritime Fiction is an original exploration of the relationship between national identity, fiction and the sea.

List of contents

Acknowledgements Introduction Sea Stories Jane Austen's Sailors Captain Marryat's Navy Dickens and the Sea American Sea Fiction: Cooper, Poe, Dana Herman Melville Mid-Victorian Maritime Fiction Adventures at Sea Joseph Conrad Notes Index

About the author

John Peck is now retired and was formerly Reader in Victorian Literature at Cardiff University, UK. With Martin Coyle he edits the Key Concepts series for Palgrave Macmillan.

Summary

In this important new study, John Peck examines the cultural significance of maritime novels from Defoe through to Conrad. The first comprehensive discussion of its subject, Maritime Fiction is an original exploration of the relationship between national identity, fiction and the sea.

Additional text

This well-written and comprehensive study will interest all students and scholars of British and American literature culture. Choice

Report

This well-written and comprehensive study will interest all students and scholars of British and American literature culture. Choice

Product details

• Authors: J Peck, J. Peck, J.a. Peck
• Publisher: Palgrave UK
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 14.01.2014
• EAN: 9781349419845
• ISBN: 978-1-349-41984-5
• No. of pages: 223
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; B, Europe, Fiction, Literature: history & criticism, European Literature, British literature, British and Irish Literature, Fiction Literature, Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts Collection, America—Literatures, North American Literature