Description
Seducing the Reader uncovers the early history of the epigraph, narrating the surprising story of how this long-overlooked feature morphed from moral didactic heading to Gothic tag-line to witty realist commentary within a single century. Adorning fictional narratives of rakes and sex workers, oppressed heroines and Jacobite heroes, the epigraph has been used by authors to preach, teach, amuse, or even completely misdirect their readers. Supported by a survey of pre-chapter paratext in nearly 6000 novels from 1750 to 1850, this monograph explores the changing influences upon and functions of epigraphs over time via detailed close readings and literary criticism. Focusing upon key generic developments, this book adopts a case-study style format to examine epigraphic usage in the works of canonical authors including Sarah Fielding, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Smith, Walter Scott, and Elizabeth Gaskell alongside those of less well-known novelists such as William Chaigneau, Elizabeth Helme, and Catherine Gore.
Author: Corrina Readioff
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Published: 09/14/2023
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.14lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.56d
ISBN13: 9781399516044
ISBN10: 1399516043
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
- Literary Criticism | Books & Reading
- Literary Criticism | Modern | 18th Century