Painting the Novel: Pictorial Discourse in Eighteenth-Century English Fiction focuses on the interrelationship between eighteenth-century theories of the novel and the art of painting - a subject which has not yet been undertaken in a book-length study. This volume argues that throughout the century novelists from Daniel Defoe to Ann Radcliffe referred to the visual arts, recalling specific names or artworks, but also artistic styles and conventions, in an attempt to define the generic constitution of their fictions. In this, the novelists took part in the discussion of the sister arts, not only by pointing to the affinities between them but also, more importantly, by recognising their potential to inform one another; in other words, they expressed a conviction that the theory of a new genre can be successfully rendered through meta-pictorial analogies. By tracing the uses of painting in eighteenth-century novelistic discourse, this book sheds new light on the history of the so-called "rise of the novel". The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/painting-novel-jakub-lipski/10.4324/9781351137812, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Filling a significant gap in contemporary criticism of recent prose fiction, this book offers a provocative analysis of the work of Nobel Laureate Olga Tokarczuk, situating her output in comparative contexts. The chapters making up the volume range from myth-critical focused readings, to interdisciplinary and intercultural perspectives. Tokarczuk's fiction is explored as mythopoeic and heterotopian experimentation, as well as being read alongside other arts and other authors of various national and linguistic backgrounds. This wide-ranging collection is the first monograph on Tokarczuk in English.

This book contributes to the development of contemporary historical fiction studies by analysing neo-Georgian fiction, which, unlike neo-Victorian fiction, has so far received little critical attention. The essays included in this collection study the ways in which the selected twentieth- and twenty-first-century novels recreate the Georgian period in order to view its ideologies through the lens of such modern critical theories as performativity, post-colonialism, feminism or visual theories. They also demonstrate the rich repertoire of subgenres of neo-Georgian fiction, ranging from biographical fiction, epistolary novels to magical realism. The included studies of the diverse novelistic conventions used to re-contextualise the Georgian reality reflect the way we see its relevance and relation to the present and trace the indebtedness of the new forms of the contemporary novel to the traditional novelistic genres.

Re-Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel adds to the dynamically developing subfield of reception studies within eighteenth-century studies. Lipski shows how secondary visual and literary texts live their own lives in new contexts, while being also attentive to the possible ways in which these new lives may tell us more about the source texts. To this end the book offers five case studies of how canonical novels of the eighteenth century by Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding and Laurence Sterne came to be interpreted by readers from different historical moments. Lipski prioritises responses that may seem non-standard or even disconnected from the original, appreciating difference as a gateway to unobvious territories, as well as expressing doubts regarding readings that verge on misinterpretative appropriation. The material encompasses textual and visual testimonies of reading, including book illustration, prints and drawings, personal documents, reviews, literary texts and literary criticism. The case studies are arranged into three sections: visual transvaluations, reception in Poland and critical afterlives, and are concluded by a discussion of the most recent socio-political uses and revisions of eighteenth-century fiction in the Age of Trump (2016-2020).

Painting the Novel: Pictorial Discourse in Eighteenth-Century English Fiction focuses on the interrelationship between eighteenth-century theories of the novel and the art of painting - a subject which has not yet been undertaken in a book-length study. This volume argues that throughout the century novelists from Daniel Defoe to Ann Radcliffe referred to the visual arts, recalling specific names or artworks, but also artistic styles and conventions, in an attempt to define the generic constitution of their fictions. In this, the novelists took part in the discussion of the sister arts, not only by pointing to the affinities between them but also, more importantly, by recognising their potential to inform one another; in other words, they expressed a conviction that the theory of a new genre can be successfully rendered through meta-pictorial analogies. By tracing the uses of painting in eighteenth-century novelistic discourse, this book sheds new light on the history of the so-called "rise of the novel".

This book contributes to the development of contemporary historical fiction studies by analysing neo-Georgian fiction, which, unlike neo-Victorian fiction, has so far received little critical attention. The essays included in this collection study the ways in which the selected twentieth- and twenty-first-century novels recreate the Georgian period in order to view its ideologies through the lens of such modern critical theories as performativity, post-colonialism, feminism or visual theories. They also demonstrate the rich repertoire of subgenres of neo-Georgian fiction, ranging from biographical fiction, epistolary novels to magical realism. The included studies of the diverse novelistic conventions used to re-contextualise the Georgian reality reflect the way we see its relevance and relation to the present and trace the indebtedness of the new forms of the contemporary novel to the traditional novelistic genres.

This book presents a selection of research papers dealing with the notions of travel and identity in Anglophone literature and culture. Collectively, the chapters ponder such notions as self and other, race, centre and periphery, thus shedding new light on a number of issues that are highly relevant in the context of the ongoing migration crisis. The contributors employ a diverse range of theoretical standpoints - from close reading to deconstruction, from historically informed approaches to linguistic analysis - and thus offer a nuanced panorama of these issues, especially from the nineteenth century onwards.

Published in 1719, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is one of those extraordinary literary works whose importance lies not only in the text itself but in its persistently lively afterlife. German author Johann Gottfried Schnabel—who in 1731 penned his own island narrative—coined the term “Robinsonade� to characterize the genre bred by this classic, and today hundreds of examples can be identified worldwide. This celebratory collection of tercentenary essays testifies to the Robinsonade’s endurance, analyzing its various literary, aesthetic, philosophical, and cultural implications in historical context. Contributors trace the Robinsonade’s roots from the eighteenth century to generic affinities in later traditions, including juvenile fiction, science fiction, and apocalyptic fiction, and finally to contemporary adaptations in film, television, theater, and popular culture. Taken together, these essays convince us that the genre’s adapt- ability to changing social and cultural circumstances explains its relevance to this day. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.  

Ever since John Arbuthnot published The History of John Bull in 1712, the figure of John Bull has stereotypically personified the best and the worst traits of the British (or English) national character. The present work takes the eponymous juxtaposition as an incentive to study the variety of multi-faceted contacts between the two sides. Given the recent attempts at a re-definition of the relationship between Britain and the Continent - best visible in the turmoil over Britain's EU membership - the results of the research will hopefully stimulate discussion about John Bull's ever-changing presence within or without the Continent.

Published in 1719, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is one of those extraordinary literary works whose importance lies not only in the text itself but in its persistently lively afterlife. German author Johann Gottfried Schnabel—who in 1731 penned his own island narrative—coined the term “Robinsonade� to characterize the genre bred by this classic, and today hundreds of examples can be identified worldwide. This celebratory collection of tercentenary essays testifies to the Robinsonade’s endurance, analyzing its various literary, aesthetic, philosophical, and cultural implications in historical context. Contributors trace the Robinsonade’s roots from the eighteenth century to generic affinities in later traditions, including juvenile fiction, science fiction, and apocalyptic fiction, and finally to contemporary adaptations in film, television, theater, and popular culture. Taken together, these essays convince us that the genre’s adapt- ability to changing social and cultural circumstances explains its relevance to this day. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.  

This collection of original research essays celebrates in a scholarly focused fashion the 250th anniversary of Ann Radcliffe's birthday. "The Great Enchantress" of the Gothic romance, as her contemporaries re-christened her, was then and has been ever since the publication of her fiction, an author endowed with exceptional powers of enchantment over words, sounds and images. The contributors to this collection, all expert academics from Poland, France and Lithuania, specializing in 18th- and 19th-century literature, are determined to show that the enduring cultural presence of the Enchantress is well-deserved and worthy of acknowledgement. Central/East Europe is the site of numerous "Gothic" novels; it is very suitable that it be the source of so many new insights to one of the great gothic writers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The essays vary in subject matter and theoretical approach, thus collectively offering a perspective that is sufficiently broad to be capable of unveiling the mysteries and complexities of the Radcliffean words and worlds. They have been arranged into four parts. Part I addresses the main facet of Radcliffe's poetics - her verbal aesthetics; this explains why it is the largest section of the volume. The five essays contained in this part, based on sound historical and textual research, seek to define Radcliffe's place in 18th-century aesthetics by examining and assessing her debt and contribution to music and the visual arts. Part II comprises texts on the constructions of identity - of selfhood and otherness - in Radcliffe's fiction. Departing from different theoretical backgrounds - structural, post-structural and archetypal - the essays not only analyse the Radcliffean heroines and villains, but also address the presence of the author in her fiction. Part III consists of two essays, whose authors apply reception theory to re-visit Radcliffe's romances. Focusing on different aspects of the novels, the scholars make attempts to uncover and describe how the process of reading was predetermined by Radcliffe as the implied author. Finally, Part IV contains studies of Radcliffe's afterlife, in England and in Poland; the focus here is on intertextual links with contemporary Gothicists, literary theorists and travel writers. The editors take into account how little is known about Radcliffe as an actual person, her hauntingly persistent presence, not only in her fiction and the poetry that embellishes it, but also in the imitations, re-workings and parodies that they inspired, must astonish and perhaps even perplex us. All the more so when we make an attempt to realize how extensive, physically and spiritually, the realms are that the mind of this unassuming and withdrawn person so eagerly and with such dexterity traversed. If these essays can give the reader a sense of what it means for an author to know the strength of the literary magic wand and to be capable of using it effectively, this anniversary collection may be said to have fulfilled its major purpose.