BIBFRAME Work

Title

The secret life of things

Other Titles (e.g. Variant)

Animals, objects, and it-narratives in eighteenth-century England

Type

  • Monograph
  • Text

Contribution

Subject

Genre Form

  • Criticism, interpretation, etc. (FAST)
  • History (FAST)

Language

Illustrative Content

Classification

Content

Supplementary content

Summary

"Enriching and complicating the history of fiction between Richardson and Fielding at mid-century and Austen at the turn of the century, this collection focuses on it-narratives, a once popular form largely forgotten by readers and critics alike, and advances important work on consumer culture and the theory of things. The contributors bring new texts--and new ways of thinking about familiar ones--to our notice. Topics range from period debates about copyright to the complex relationships with object-riddled sentimental fictions, from anti-Semitism in Chrysal to jingoistic imperialism in The Adventures of a Rupee. Essays situate it-narratives in a variety of contexts: changing attitudes toward occult powers, the development of still-life painting, the ethical challenges of pet ownership, the cult of Sterne and the appearance of genre fiction, the emergence of moral-didactic children's literature, and a better-known tradition of Victorian thing-narratives. Stylistically and thematically consistent, the essays in this collection approach it-narratives from various theoretical and historical vantage points, sketching the cultural biography of a neglected literary form"-- Provided by publisher.

Table of Contents

Introduction. The it-narrative and eighteenth-century thing theory / Mark Blackwell -- Part I.The stories things tell -- The spirit of things / Barbara M. Benedict -- The Rape of the Lock as still life / Jonathan Lamb -- Personal effects and sentimental fictions / Deidre Lynch -- Suffering things: lapdogs, slaves, and counter-sensibility / Markman Ellis -- Part II. Approaching it-narratives -- It-narrators and circulation: defining a subgenre / Liz Bellamy -- Britannia's rule and the it-narrator / Aileen Douglas -- Speaking objects: the circulation of stories in eighteenth-century prose fiction / Christopher Flint -- Hackwork: it-narratives and iteration / Mark Blackwell -- Occupying works: animated objects and literary property / Hilary Jane Englert -- Circulating anti-Semitism: Charles Johnstone's Chrysal / Ann Louise Kibbie -- Corkscrews and courtesans: sex and death in circulation novels / Bonnie Blackwell -- It-narratives: fictional point of view and constructing the middle class / Nicholas Hudson -- Part III. It-narratives in transition -- The moral ends of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century object narratives / Lynn Festa -- Discreet jewels: Victorian diamond narratives and the problem of sentimental value / John Plotz.

Authorized Access Point

The secret life of things

Geographic Coverage

Admin Metadata

  • Date: 2026-09-11T20:16:18.874585+00:00
  • Agent: cbc
  • Status: c
  • Derived from: 24025066

Admin Metadata

  • Date: 2026-09-11
  • Cataloger id: Unknown
  • Description level: http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe-2-6-0/
  • Description language: eng
  • Description authentication: pcc

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