Literature and Crime in Augustan EnglandRoutledge, 2020 M01 8 - 260 pages Eighteenth-century England saw an explosion of writings about deviance. In literature, in the law, and in the press, writers returned again and again to the question of crime and criminals. While the extension of the legal system formalised the power of the state to categorise and punish ‘deviance’, writers repeatedly confronted the problematic nature of legal authority and the unstable idea of ‘the criminal’. Some of this commentary was supportive, some was subversive and resistant, uncovering the complexity of issues the law sought to ignore. Originally published in 1991, Ian Bell’s masterly investigation of the diverse representations of crime and legality in the Augustan period ranges widely across the contemporary press, involving court reports, philosophical writings, periodicals, biographies, pornography and polemics. Re-assessing the canonical texts of eighteenth-century ‘Literature’, Bell situates the work of Defoe, Hogarth, Gay, Swift, Pope, Richardson and Fielding in its social and political context. |
From inside the book
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... she takes her wages, which may be some satisfaction to the ass she carries. From the Memoirs of the Right Villainous John Hall, 1708 Contents Acknowledgements Introduction: Buttock and Twang 1 Literature/crime/society Talking about.
... for the tabloid simplicity of Buttock and Twang. Forewarned then, if not forearmed, let us proceed with appropriate caution and get on with the argument. 1 Literature/crime/society TALKING ABOUT THE LAW In 1758, Sir William.
... society. For their benefit and instruction, Blackstone presented a systematic and easily comprehensible unfolding of the benign principles which, he argued, upheld the whole elaborate fabric of the English legislature. His stated aims ...
... society, which he saw as necessary and wholly desirable. The authoritative chapter and verse which could regulate conduct and arbitrate in the disputes of his audience were not to be found in Holy Scripture, as they might still have ...
... society together: Commerce and manufactures can seldom flourish long in any state which does not enjoy a regular administration of justice, in which the people do not feel themselves secure in the possession of property, in which the ...
Contents
Representing the criminal | |
The harlots progress | |
Satires rough music | |
Fielding and the discipline of fiction | |
Buttock and File | |
Other editions - View all
Literature and Crime in Augustan England Ian a Bell,Taylor & Francis Group No preview available - 2022 |