Description |
1 online resource (viii, 159 pages |
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data file |
Physical Medium |
polychrome |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Contents |
The moral in Phutatorius's breeches: stoicism, subjectivism, and the possibilities of happiness in Tristram Shandy -- "Vous croyez que le même bonheur est fait pour tous": ethics and singularity in Le neveu de Rameau -- Tragic eudaimonism: social contradictions and the problem of happiness in Rousseau"s Julie -- The politics of happiness: Caleb Williams, political justice, and the nature of human goods -- Rethinking autonomy: Emma Courtney, feminist ethics, and the question of independence -- Conclusion: the art of life in the Age of Enlightenment. |
Summary |
"Explores the novel's participation in eighteenth-century 'inquiries after happiness, ' an ancient ethical project that acquired new urgency with the rise of subjective models of well-being in early modern and Enlightenment Europe. Combining archival research on treatises on happiness with illuminating readings of Samuel Johnson, Laurence Sterne, Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, William Godwin and Mary Hays, Brian Michael Norton's innovative study asks us to see the novel itself as a key instrument of Enlightenment ethics. His central argument is that the novel form provided a uniquely valuable tool for thinking about the nature and challenges of modern happiness: whereas treatises sought to theorize the conditions that made happiness possible in general, eighteenth-century fiction excelled at interrogating the problem on the level of the particular, in the details of a single individual's psychology and unique circumstances."--Publisher description. |
Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
Subject |
Fiction -- 18th century -- History and criticism.
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Fiction. |
Chronological Term |
18th century |
Subject |
Happiness in literature.
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Happiness in literature. |
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Enlightenment -- Europe.
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Enlightenment. |
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Europe. |
Chronological Term |
1700-1799 |
Genre/Form |
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
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Added Author |
ProQuest (Firm)
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Other Form: |
Print version: 9781611484304 1611484308 (DLC) 2012026693 |
ISBN |
1611484308 cloth : alkaline paper |
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1611484316 ebook |
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9781611484304 cloth : alkaline paper |
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9781611484311 ebook |
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