Overview

What is the difference between public and private feeling, and how far can we deduce past feelings from the words that have been left us? Why do child deaths figure so often and so prominently in the literature of the nineteenth century, and how was the theme of the death of a child used to elicit such poignant responses in the readers of that era? In this fascinating new book, Laurence Lerner vividly contrasts the contempt with which twentieth- century criticism so often dismisses such works as mere sentimentality with the enthusiasm and tears of nineteenth-century contemporaries. Drawing examples from both real and literary deaths, Lerner delves into the writings of well-known authors such as Dickens, Coleridge, Shelley, Flaubert, Mann, Huxley, and Hesse, as well as lesser known writers like Felicia Hemans and Lydia Sigourney. In the process, he synthesizes fresh ideas about the thorny subjects of sentimentality, aesthetic judgment, and the function of religion in literature. Lerner's forthright and evocative prose style is enjoyable reading, and he excels in teasing out the moral implications and the psychosocial entanglements of his chosen narrative and lyrical texts. This is a book that will illuminate an important aspect of the history of private life. It should have wide application for those interested in the history, sociology, and literature of the nineteenth century.

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9780826512871

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Reviews

. . . an outstanding study that contains as good a discussion and analysis of the important subject of sentimentality as I know of. --Robert M. Polhemus, Stanford University . . . engaging, humane, deftly phrased, and freshly observant...shows a seasoned literary critic at work on a fascinating problem exemplified in an array of imaginative and documentary texts. --Herbert Frederick Tucker, University of Virginia Lerner's excursions around the literature of child death are well conducted, and his comments good. . . . His book can be read, browsed and reread with enjoyment and profit. --Times Literary Supplement

. . . a wonderful book. the straightforward and simple style makes it a friendly resource for professionals and non-professionals. Journal of Social Work in Long-Term Care . . . an outstanding study that contains as good a discussion and analysis of the important subject of sentimentality as I know of.--Robert M. Polhemus, Stanford University Lerner's excursions around the literature of child death are well conducted, and his comments good. . . . His book can be read, browsed and reread with enjoyment and profit.--Times Literary Supplement . . . engaging, humane, deftly phrased, and freshly observant...shows a seasoned literary critic at work on a fascinating problem exemplified in an array of imaginative and documentary texts.--Herbert Frederick Tucker, University of Virginia

. . . engaging, humane, deftly phrased, and freshly observant...shows a seasoned literary critic at work on a fascinating problem exemplified in an array of imaginative and documentary texts.<br>Herbert Frederick Tucker, University of Virginia

. . . an outstanding study that contains as good a discussion and analysis of the important subject of sentimentality as I know of.<br>--Robert M. Polhemus, Stanford University

Author Information

Laurence Lerner has taught at the University of Sussex and has served as the Edwin W. Mims Professor of English at Vanderbilt University, from which position he recently retired. He has written a number of important works, including The Frontiers of Literature (Blackwell, 1988), Love and Marriage: Literature and Its Social Context (St. Martin's, 1979), and a collection of poems, Rembrandt's Mirror (Vanderbilt, 1987).

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