In this study, John Peck examines the cultural significance of maritime novels from Defoe through to Conrad. Focusing in particular on the image of the body, he illustrates how these works are built around the disparity between the masculine and often brutal regime of the ship and the civilized values of those who remain on the shore. It is an exploration of the relationship between national identity, fiction and the sea.
JOHN PECK is a Senior Lecturer in English at Cardiff University. His previous books include War, the Army and Victorian Literature, How to Study a Novel, How to Study a Poet, and collections of essays on Victorian novelists. He is joint General Editor of three series: New Casebooks, Critical Issues and How to Study Literature.
Acknowledgements Introduction Sea Stories Jane Austen's Sailors Captain Marryat's Navy Dickens and the Sea American Sea Fiction: Cooper, Poe, Dana Herman Melville Mid-Victorian Maritime Fiction Adventures at Sea Joseph Conrad Notes Index
This well-written and comprehensive study will interest all students and scholars of British and American literature culture. Choice