Description
Portable Property squarely engages the question of why Victorians loved their objects, and how this love constituted an important component of the imperial apparatus and the internal dynamics of their culture. By uncovering the role objects played in supporting the rule of a few over many, John Plotz makes an important contribution. -- Mary Poovey, New York University Portable Property gives new insights into how the Victorians' sense of themselves in the world and at home was shaped by their imperial role and their new mobility. Moreover, John Plotz's abundant critical talent is evident throughout: there are truly stellar readings of well-known texts such as The Eustace Diamonds and Daniel Deronda, and highly original and astute discussions of whole oeuvres, such as Hardy's and Morris's. -- Catherine Gallagher, University of California, Berkeley
About the Author
John Plotz is associate professor of Victorian literature at Brandeis University. He is the author of "The Crowd: British Literature and Public Politics".
Reviews
One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2009 "An intelligent, thought-provoking contribution to the current critical discussion of economics and the novel, this volume examines the 19th-century proliferation of 'portable property'--i.e., objects that are endowed with sentimental value and function as reminders of Englishness abroad--and their elaboration in, and homology to, the realist Victorian novel... With this analysis, Plotz makes a fascinating contribution to the history of the novel, economic literary theory, and postcolonial criticism."--D.K. Kreisel, Choice "Plotz ... offers a richly contextualized reading of the portability of value. As in his previous work, Plotz resists narrow ideological solutions to interpretive problems, and the complexity of his approach to Victorian culture pays off in extremely useful, often surprising readings."--Dianne F. Sadoff and John Kucich, Studies in English Literature "[T]his is a fine and subtle piece of work with something important to say about the ways in which particular kinds of 'English' culture were both constructed and perpetuated by the realist novel in the mid-Victorian period."--Clare Pettitt, Victorian Studies
Awards
Short-listed for Choice Magazine Outstanding Reference/Academic Book Award 2009.
Book Information
ISBN 9780691146621
Author John Plotz
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publisher Princeton University Press
Weight(grams) 397g