Conversion and Reform in the British Novel in the 1790s - by A Markley (Paperback)

About the Book

"Dramatically expanding the boundaries of the British "Jacobin" novel, Conversion and Reform in the British Novel in the 1790s analyzes the works of a wide range of British reformists writing in the 1790s, including William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, Charlotte Smith, Mary Robinson, and Maria Edgeworth, who reshaped the conventions of contemporary fiction to position the novel as a progressive political tool. Rather than aiming to launch a bloody revolution, these authors worked to initiate social and political reform in such as women's right, abolition, the Jewish question, and the leveling of the class system in Britain by converting the general public, one reader at a time."--BOOK JACKET.

Book Synopsis

Conversion and Reform analyzes the work of those British reformists writing in the 1790s who reshaped the conventions of fiction to reposition the novel as a progressive political tool. Includes new readings of key figures such as Mary Wollstonecraft and Thomas Holcroft.

Review Quotes

"Markley's Conversion and Reform in the British Novel in the 1790s is an intelligent, comprehensive, accessible study of reformist fiction in the late eighteenth century, and it will be of much use to scholars and students of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century literature." - Eighteenth-Century Fiction

"An expansive and inclusive study, Markley s Conversion and Reform in the British Novel in the 1790s reconfigures the familiar ground of the Jacobin and anti-Jacobin novels by posing a larger concept of reformist literature. This audacious tour impressively ties together a wider range of works than has been considered previously, highlighting the full scope of calls for reform across the political spectrum. This will be an essential reference for anyone interested in nascent debates on the nature of gender, race, ethnicity, and manhood conducted in novels at the end of the 1700s." - Miriam L. Wallace, Associate Professor of English, New College of Florida

"Markley is an accomplished scholar. Conversion and Reform in the British Novel in the 1790s examines numerous texts that have fallen into obscurity and thus promises to expand scholarly knowledge of the novels of the Romantic (or revolutionary) era. In addition, the historical and cultural contexts supplied in the chapters on race and upper-class vices are lucid and instructive." - William D. Brewer, Professor of English, Appalachian State University

"Markley's Conversion and Reform in the British Novel in the 1790s is an intelligent, comprehensive, accessible study of reformist fiction in the late eighteenth century, and it will be of much use to scholars and students of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century literature." - Nancy E. Johnson, SUNY New Paltz

About the Author

A.A. MARKELY is Associate Professor of English, Penn State University, Brandywine, USA.