reading, neural science, and the form of Victorian fiction /
Nicholas Dames.
New York :
Oxford University Press,
2007.
1 online resource (vii, 277 pages) :
illustrations, music
Includes bibliographical references (pages 256-272) and index.
Contents; List of Illustrations; Introduction: Toward a History of Victorian Novel Theory; I. THEORIES OF READING: A CRITICAL PREHISTORY; 1. Mass Reading and Physiological Novel Theory; II. PRACTICES OF READING: FOUR CASES; 2. Distraction's Negative Liberty: Thackeray and Attention (Intermittent Form); 3. Melodies for the Forgetful: Eliot, Wagner, and Duration (Elongated Form); 4. Just Noticeable Differences: Meredith and Fragmentation (Discontinuous Form); 5. The Eye as Motor: Gissing and Speed-Reading (Accelerated Form); Coda: I.A. Richards and the End of Physiological Novel Theory.
How did the Victorians read novels? The author answers that deceptively simple question by revealing a now-forgotten range of 19th century theories of the novel, based in a study of human physiology during the act of reading.
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002.
Physiology of the novel.
0199208964
Books and reading-- Great Britain-- History-- 19th century.
English literature-- 19th century-- History and criticism-- Theory, etc.
English literature-- 19th century-- History and criticism.
Literature and society-- Great Britain-- History-- 19th century.