19th Century British History - Victorian Era (1837-1901), Politics & Literature, English Poetry - General & Miscellaneous - Literary Criticism, English Fiction & Prose Literature - 19th Century - Literary Criticism, Imperialism, Nationalism & Sovereignty
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Overview
Ideologies of Epic examines the cultural and national politics of the epic poem in the imperial context of the Victorian period. Taking Bakhtin's previously overlooked theory of epic as a national and monologic form, the author tests and adapts Bakhtin's ideas through a discussion of the meeting of colonial discourses in epic poems originating from England, Ireland and India. Through analysis of the work of three poets, Tennyson, Samuel Ferguson and Edwin Arnold, this book shows how epic as a form attaches itself to and constructs ideas of nationality and argues that when these national forms are placed in the heterogeneous contexts of empire, the "nationality" of epic is called into question. The result is a series of texts which strive for formal and cultural authority but which can be read instead as revealing moments of doubt, weakness and instability in the cultures and the politics they seek to represent.Editorials
Booknews
Examines the cultural and national politics of the epic poem in the imperial context of the Victorian period. Tests and adapts Bakhtin's theory of epic as a national and monologic form by discussing the meeting of colonial discourses in epic poems originating from England<-->Tennyson's (1869), Ireland<-->Samuel Ferguson's (1872), and India<-->Edwin Arnold's (1883) and (1885). Distributed in the US by St. Martin's Press. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.Book Details
Published
April 2, 1998
Publisher
Manchester, UK ; Manchester University Press ; 1998.
Pages
304
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780719052859