Modern Character - 1888-1905

In this groundbreaking and comprehensive study, Julian Murphet examines how dramatists and prose writers at the turn of the twentieth century experimented with new forms of modern character. Old truisms of character such as consistency, depth, and verisimilitude are eschewed in favour of inconsistency, bad faith, and fragmentation.

List of contents

• Introduction


• Part One


• 1: Ibsen


• 2: Maeterlinck


• 3: Strindberg


• 4: Chekhov


• Part Two


• 5: Wilde and Huysmans


• 6: D'Annunzio


• 7: Henry James


• 8: Knut Hamsun


• 9: Egerton


• 10: Chopin and Wharton


• 11: Conrad


• Bibliography


• Index

About the author

Julian Murphet is Jury Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Adelaide. Prior to that he was Scientia Professor of Modern Film and Literature at UNSW, Sydney. He has previously worked at the Universities of Sydney, Oxford, Cambridge, and California at Berkeley.

Summary

In this groundbreaking and comprehensive study, Julian Murphet examines how dramatists and prose writers at the turn of the twentieth century experimented with new forms of modern character. Old truisms of character such as consistency, depth, and verisimilitude are eschewed in favour of inconsistency, bad faith, and fragmentation.

Additional text

This meticulously researched book reveals how between the years 1888 and 1905 a small group of writers transformed the long-held notion of literary "character" as a moral agent and object of identification.

Product details

• Authors: Julian Murphet, Julian (Jury Chair of English Language an Murphet, Murphet Julian
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 12.12.2023
• EAN: 9780192863126
• ISBN: 978-0-19-286312-6
• No. of pages: 288
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; LITERARY CRITICISM / Drama, LITERARY CRITICISM / Semiotics & Theory, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 19th Century, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 20th Century, c 1800 to c 1900, Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900, Later 19th century c 1850 to c 1899, Literary studies: from c 1900 -, Literary theory, Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, Literary studies: plays & playwrights, C 1900 - C 1914, c 1900 to c 1909, Literary studies: plays and playwrights