Title The 'invisible hand' and British fiction 1818-1860 : Adam Smith, political economy, and the genre of realism / by Eleanor Courtemanche

Published New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2011

Click on the following:
Springer eBooks
Springer Literature eBooks

Copies

Description 1 online resource Series Palgrave studies in nineteenth-century writing and culture Palgrave studies in nineteenth-century writing and culture. Contents Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Capitalist Moral Philosophy, Narrative Technology, and the Bounded Nation-State -- PART I: READING ADAM SMITH -- Imaginary Vantage Points: The Invisible Hand and the Rise of Political Economy -- PART II: EARLY NINETEENTH-CENTURY NOVELS AND INVISIBLE HAND SOCIAL THEORY -- Omniscient Narrators and the Return of the Gothic in Northanger Abbey and Bleak House -- Providential Endings: Martineau, Dickens, and the Didactic Task of Political Economy -- Ripple Effects and the Fog of War in Vanity Fair€ -- Inappropriate Sympathies in Gaskell and Eliot -- Conclusion: Realist Capitalism, Gothic Capitalism -- Bibliography -- Index Summary Some economic ideas are too interesting to be left to economists. This book argues that Adam Smith's metaphor of the 'invisible hand' ₆ in which selfish economic actions are mysteriously transformed into aggregate social benefits in a capitalist economy ₆ implies an entire spatial and temporal system in which the morality of any particular action can only be understood in the context of society as a whole. The 'Invisible Hand' and British Fiction argues that while political economists focused only on the optimistic outcomes of capitalist moral activity, Smith's model of ironic morality also influenced the work of novelists including Austen, Dickens, Martineau, Thackeray, Gaskell, and Eliot. Their realist novels represent the reconciliation between individual ignorance and systemic overview as much less stable than the economic synthesis, using omniscient narrative voices, multiple perspectives, and humor to depict a wide variety of possible outcomes. Smith shares with the realists a vision of modern society that is structured around a fragile trust in the benefits of unintended consequences Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-244) and index Notes Print version record Subject Smith, Adam, 1723-1790 -- Influence SUBJECT Smith, Adam, 1723-1790 fast Subject English fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism Economics in literature. Capitalism in literature. Social problems in literature. Capitalism and literature -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 -- English. Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers -- English. Literary theory -- English. LITERARY CRITICISM -- European -- English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh. LITERARY CRITICISM -- General. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Economics -- Theory. Literature. Capitalism and literature Capitalism in literature Economics in literature English fiction Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.) Social problems in literature Great Britain Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780230304987 0230304982

  Permalink