Contested Liberalisms: Martineau, Dickens and the Victorian Press

This book redefines the relationship between Harriet Martineau and Charles Dickens, highlighting their encounters with the American public sphere and their contributions to Anglo-American liberalism. It challenges previous critical narratives and offers a more comprehensive reading of their careers and literary exchange.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 31 August 2021
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Harriet Martineau and Charles Dickens' relationship has been a subject of critical narrative for a long time. However, new readings of their travel and writing about the United States reveal that their encounters with the American public sphere were crucial in shaping their careers as journalists and in their development as writers. This book expands our understanding of Anglo-American liberalism by placing Martineau and Dickens within this context and demonstrating how their encounters with the American public sphere were formative in their careers. It also highlights the degree to which the public quarrel between them in the mid-1850s represented larger fissures within nineteenth-century liberalism. By focusing on Martineau's contribution to the development of the early Victorian press, the book demonstrates the extent to which the public quarrel between her and Dickens was a reflection of broader fissures within nineteenth-century liberalism. It places Martineau and Dickens within the context of Anglo-American liberalism and demonstrates how these fissures were embedded within a transatlantic conversation over the role of the press in forming a public sphere essential to the development of a liberal society.

Weight: 485g
Dimension: 234 x 156 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474453141