READING THINGS (Czytajac rzeczy)

• Authors: Freedgood Elaine
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The Victorian novel is brimming with things. Little critical attention has been so far drawn to their perplexingly complex meaning. The authoress' leading assumption in 'The Ideas in Things' is that the things of realism are not merely realistic objects, but rather unexplored treasure troves of critical cultural knowledge. In her book, she 'reads' objects with imperial and industrial histories in three Victorian novels. She analyses the meaning of mahogany furniture in 'Jane Eyre', calico curtains in 'Mary Barton' and 'Negro head' tobacco in 'Great Expectations'. By employing Barthes' concept of the reality effect and the contemporary theoretical perspectives on metonymy, as well as the Marxian notion of the commodity fetish, the authoress looks into and portrays the characteristics of the Victorian thing culture.

Keywords

EN

'GREAT EXPECTATIONS'; 'JANE EYRE'; 'MARY BARTON'; 'THE IDEAS IN THINGS'; VICTORIAN NOVEL; VICTORIAN THING CULTURE

Discipline

• PHILOLOGY_&_LINGUISTICS: PHILOLOGY & LINGUISTICS

• Publisher: Instytut Badań Literackich PAN
• Journal: Pamiętnik Literacki
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 100
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 113-135
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Freedgood Elaine

• Elaine Freedgood, for postal address contact the journal editor

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

09PLAAAA07088