Folklore and the Fantastic in Nineteenth-Century British Fiction

by Harris,Jason Marc

• ISBN13: 9780754657668
• ISBN10: 0754657663
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2016-08-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The 'literary fantastic' is a topic which has soared in both the contemporary imagination and in critical review. Dealing with the canonical and non-canonical works of luminaries that includes Barrie, Dickens, Eliot, MacDonald, and Stevenson; Jason Marc Harris's ambitious book examines the tensions between folk metaphysics and Enlightenment values that produce the literary fantastic. Demonstrating that a negotiation with folklore was central to the canon of British literature, the author charts the complicated rhetoric associated with folkloric fiction, suggesting the authors in question used folklore to articulate profound cultural ambivalence towards issues of class, domesticity, education, gender, imperialism, nationalism, race, politics, religion and metaphysics. Both provocative and insightful, Harris's analysis of the function of folk metaphysics in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century narratives with prove stimulating reading for those interested in nineteenth century British fiction.

Author Biography

Jason Marc Harris teaches at Michigan State University.

Table of Contents

Preface

An introduction to folklore and the fantastic in 19th-century British literature

Victorian literary fairy tales: their folklore and function

Victorian fairy-tale fantasies: MacDonald's Fairyland and Barrie's Neverland

MacDonald's Lilith and Phantastes: in pursuit of the soul of fairyland

James Hogg's use of legend: folk metaphysics and narrative authority

Ghosts 'grand ladies', 'the gentry', and 'good neighbors': folkloric representations of the spirit world's intersection with class and racial tensions in Le Fanu

Robert Louis Stevenson: folklore and imperialism

William Carleton and William Sharp: the Celtic renaissance and fantastic folklore

Conclusion: 2nd sight

Bibliography

Index

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