Portraiture and British Gothic Fiction

The Rise of Picture Identification, 1764–1835

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Gothic & Romantic, British
Cover of the book Portraiture and British Gothic Fiction by Kamilla Elliott, Johns Hopkins University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Kamilla Elliott ISBN: 9781421408644
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Publication: December 1, 2012
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Kamilla Elliott
ISBN: 9781421408644
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication: December 1, 2012
Imprint:
Language: English

Traditionally, kings and rulers were featured on stamps and money, the titled and affluent commissioned busts and portraits, and criminals and missing persons appeared on wanted posters. British writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, however, reworked ideas about portraiture to promote the value and agendas of the ordinary middle classes.

According to Kamilla Elliott, our current practices of "picture identification" (driver’s licenses, passports, and so on) are rooted in these late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century debates.

Portraiture and British Gothic Fiction examines ways writers such as Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, and C. R. Maturin as well as artists, historians, politicians, and periodical authors dealt with changes in how social identities were understood and valued in British culture—specifically, who was represented by portraits and how they were represented as they vied for social power.

Elliott investigates multiple aspects of picture identification: its politics, epistemologies, semiotics, and aesthetics, and the desires and phobias that it produces. Her extensive research not only covers Gothic literature’s best-known and most studied texts but also engages with more than 100 Gothic works in total, expanding knowledge of first-wave Gothic fiction as well as opening new windows into familiar work.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Traditionally, kings and rulers were featured on stamps and money, the titled and affluent commissioned busts and portraits, and criminals and missing persons appeared on wanted posters. British writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, however, reworked ideas about portraiture to promote the value and agendas of the ordinary middle classes.

According to Kamilla Elliott, our current practices of "picture identification" (driver’s licenses, passports, and so on) are rooted in these late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century debates.

Portraiture and British Gothic Fiction examines ways writers such as Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, and C. R. Maturin as well as artists, historians, politicians, and periodical authors dealt with changes in how social identities were understood and valued in British culture—specifically, who was represented by portraits and how they were represented as they vied for social power.

Elliott investigates multiple aspects of picture identification: its politics, epistemologies, semiotics, and aesthetics, and the desires and phobias that it produces. Her extensive research not only covers Gothic literature’s best-known and most studied texts but also engages with more than 100 Gothic works in total, expanding knowledge of first-wave Gothic fiction as well as opening new windows into familiar work.

More books from Johns Hopkins University Press

Cover of the book Rethinking the Administrative Presidency by Kamilla Elliott
Cover of the book Disorders of Sex Development by Kamilla Elliott
Cover of the book Bipolar Disorder by Kamilla Elliott
Cover of the book How NATO Adapts by Kamilla Elliott
Cover of the book The Culture of the Babylonian Talmud by Kamilla Elliott
Cover of the book Aluminum Upcycled by Kamilla Elliott
Cover of the book Adventures of a Female Medical Detective by Kamilla Elliott
Cover of the book Openness, Secrecy, Authorship by Kamilla Elliott
Cover of the book Reading Galileo by Kamilla Elliott
Cover of the book Astrobiology by Kamilla Elliott
Cover of the book Political Philosophy and the God of Abraham by Kamilla Elliott
Cover of the book The New Politics of Old Age Policy by Kamilla Elliott
Cover of the book The Global War on Tobacco by Kamilla Elliott
Cover of the book Natures in Translation by Kamilla Elliott
Cover of the book Revolution and Resistance by Kamilla Elliott
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy