The 'invisible Hand' and British Fiction, 1818-1860 - Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture by E Courtemanche Hardcover

Book Synopsis

The 'invisible hand', Adam Smith's metaphor for the morality of capitalism, is explored in this text as being far more subtle and intricate than is usually understood, with many British realist fiction writers (Austen, Dickens, Gaskell, Eliot) having absorbed his model of ironic causality in complex societies and turned it to their own purposes.

Review Quotes

'This book makes a strong case for the humanities through its interdisciplinary study of political economy in the nineteenth century...Courtemanche's theoretical framework is elegant and compelling. With the aid of Smith's metaphor, she contraposes a worm's-eye view with a bird's-eye view, and then uses this contraposed pair to represent the worker and the landowner, the economist and the literary philosopher, the literary character and the narrator.' - Leeann Hunter, New Books on Literature 19

About the Author

ELEANOR COURTEMANCHE Assistant Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. She has also taught at Colby College, Macalester College, Claremont McKenna College, and Carleton College. In addition to Victorian studies, her research interests include German fiction, narrative theory, and the intersection between industry and aesthetics.