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Author Dennis, Ian, 1952-
Title Nationalism and desire in early historical fiction / Ian Dennis
Publisher Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : Macmillan Press ; New York : St. Martin's Press, 1997

LOCATION CALL NO. STATUS
 MEMORIAL LVL 4 LOWER  PR868.H5 D46 1997    AVAILABLE



Description ix, 203 p. ; 23 cm
Summary "A young Englishman travels in a half-known and neglected country, which he has always been taught to look down on. Here, however, he discovers a fullness and authenticity that shows him his own emptiness and artificiality. He falls in love with a woman who seems to embody this romantic land. After complications they marry, and he is a new man." "When such a 'National Tale' is told from the perspective of the Englishman, but written by a native of Ireland, Scotland or the new United States, the operation of what Rene Girard has called triangular or imitative desire can clearly be discerned. If the foreigner desires the woman through her nation, or vice-versa, the homeland is made desirable to its own inhabitants through the imagined desires of this representative of the national 'Other', the powerful and inevitable model for nationhood itself, namely England." "Ian Dennis reassesses a sequence of early-nineteenth-century fictions by Jane Porter, Sydney Owenson, Sir Walter Scott and James Fenimore Cooper in which a portrayal of the desiring 'Other' is used to generate aspirations for national identity, but also, in the greatest works of Scott, to acknowledge and critique such processes. Nationalism in historical fiction is analysed in relation to Girardian theory of desire for the first time here, offering fresh insights into one of the most popular and influential literary genres."--BOOK JACKET
Bibliog. Includes bibliographical references (p. 176-200) and index
Subject Historical fiction, English -- History and criticism
English fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism
Historical fiction, American -- History and criticism
Nationalism in literature
Desire in literature
Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851 -- Criticism and interpretation
Morgan, Lady (Sydney), 1783-1859. Wild Irish girl
Scott, Walter, 1771-1832 -- Fictional works
Porter, Jane, 1776-1850. Scottish chiefs
United States -- In literature
Scotland -- In literature
Ireland -- In literature
ISBN 0333681614 (Macmillan Press)
0312172443 (St. Martin's Press)
OCLC # 35657960

Table of Contents

 Acknowledgements 
 Historical Fiction, Nationalism, Desire 
 'French Triangles' 
1'What a Land is This!' - The Pre-Oedipal Nation 
2English Boys and Colonial Girls 
3The Waverley Solution 
4Radical Fathers and Moderate Sons 
 Conclusion 
 Notes 
 Index 
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