Englishness and Environment in Genre Fiction, 1890-1940

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Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

AvGerry Smyth

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In this moment of growing anxiety about the environment and the fate of humanity, literature continues its vital role of articulating dynamic new ways of thinking about the relations between humanity, environment and technology. In this book, cultural historian Gerry Smyth focuses on English genre fiction of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, exploring the ways in which popular novelists of the period engaged with debates relating to environment (England), culture (English language and literature) and identity (Englishness). In 16 case studies, the author covers examples of fantasy, science fiction, murder mystery and children’s stories in order to trace the prehistory of modern environmentalism, especially as experienced in a key 50-year period running up to the start of the Second World War.Englishness and Environment in Genre Fiction, 1890-1940 offers new approaches to a variety of well-loved English novels, describing an unlikely but important alternative genealogy for both modern English literature and modern ecocriticism. Case studies include The Island of Dr Moreau, Heart of Darkness, The Wind in the Willows, Cold Comfort Farm, Brave New World and The Hobbit. In these and other popular novels Smyth examines themes such as evolution, industrialisation, the growth of technology, Britain’s fading imperial status, assaults on traditional discourses of class, gender and sexuality, animal rights, artificial intelligence and war. The central focus is on the ways in which popular genre authors responded to a variety of changes that were overtaking the idea of England itself during this period. Accessible and innovative, this book reconfigures modern English literary history from an environmental perspective, insisting that questions of environment were always already embedded in the field of modern cultural debate.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2026-06-25
Mått156 x 234 x 18 mm
Vikt540 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor248
FörlagBloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN9781350412460

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Gerry Smyth is Professor of Irish Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. His research interests cover Irish literary history, James Joyce, modernism, music and literature, posthumanism and ecocriticism and he has published extensively in these areas including such books as Space and the Irish Cultural Imagination (2001), Listening to the Novel: Music in Contemporary British Fiction (2008), and Joyces Noyces: Music and Sound in the Life and Literature of James Joyce (2021).

Acknowledgements Timeline Introduction Chapter 1: News from Nowhere (1890) by William Morris Chapter 2: The Island of Dr Moreau (1896) by H.G. Wells Chapter 3: Heart of Darkness (1901) by Joseph Conrad Chapter 4: The Hill of Dreams (1907) by Arthur Machin Chapter 5: The Wind in the Willows (1908) by Kenneth Grahame Chapter 6: The Lost World (1912) by Arthur Conan Doyle Chapter 7: The Return of the Soldier (1918) by Rebecca West Chapter 8: Lolly Willowes (1926) by Sylvia Townsend Warner Chapter 9: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) by Agatha Christie Chapter 10: Swallows and Amazons (1930) by Arthur Ransome Chapter 11: Cold Comfort Farm (1932) by Stella Gibbons Chapter 12: Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley Chapter 13: The Hobbit (1937) by J.R.R. Tolkien Chapter 14: Coming Up for Air (1939) by George Orwell Conclusion: Optimism with a Broken Heart Notes References Index