Home > AA316 The 19th Century Novel
Question: Answer one of the following questions with reference to two, (or, at the most, three) novels, one of which must be Dracula, The Awakening or Heart of Darkness.
Question 3
Simon Eliot Claims that ‘the world of books and publishing was revolutionized by the end of the nineteenth century’ (Identities, p331). How far has your understanding of your chosen novels been enhanced by study of the material factors affecting novels and their publication?
Answer: It is important when trying fully understand and appreciate a novel, to take account of the context in which it was written – both historically and culturally – and the nineteenth century was a period of great change in the literary and publishing worlds. At the beginning of the century the publishing world remained much as it had done since Gutenberg’s printing revolution four centuries before. Only a very privileged few could afford to buy books, which were still printed in small numbers and sold by only a few retailers throughout the country; or they could be borrowed from local libraries, which also charged high annual fees. Even fewer found themselves in a position to get their work published, in a society where any newcomers found it virtually impossible to break into the long established author-publisher-bookseller relationship. By the end of the century, however, convention...(short extract)
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- Subject: English Literature
- Course: AA316
- Level: Degree
- Year: 2nd/3rd
- Mark: 80%
- Words: 3412
- Date submitted: January 12, 2009
- Date written: September, 2004
- References: Yes
- Document type: Essay*
- Essay ID: 86
