The Work Of Writing: Literature And Social Change In Britain, 1700-1830
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
At the intersection of literary history and social transformation, Clifford Siskin's The Work of Writing presents a bold and provocative argument: that writing itself — as a technology and cultural practice — was the engine driving the sweeping social changes that reshaped Britain between 1700 and 1830. Siskin chronicles how the explosion of print culture, the proliferation of genres, and the rise of professionalism were not merely symptoms of modernity but its very architects, tracing the period from the Augustan Age through the height of Romanticism with rigorous scholarly precision. Siskin argues that the work of writing functioned as a disciplinary force, reshaping subjectivity, knowledge, and social organisation in ways that literary criticism has long underestimated. His analysis draws on cultural history, the history of science, and literary theory to construct an account of Romanticism that is as much about labour and institutions as it is about imagination and aesthetics. Sophisticated in its methodology yet relentlessly readable, this landmark study challenges scholars to reconsider what it meant — and what it cost — to put pen to paper in an age of revolution.
Author: Clifford Siskin
Format: Hardback
Genre: Literary theory
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
At the intersection of literary history and social transformation, Clifford Siskin's The Work of Writing presents a bold and provocative argument: that writing itself — as a technology and cultural practice — was the engine driving the sweeping social changes that reshaped Britain between 1700 and 1830. Siskin chronicles how the explosion of print culture, the proliferation of genres, and the rise of professionalism were not merely symptoms of modernity but its very architects, tracing the period from the Augustan Age through the height of Romanticism with rigorous scholarly precision. Siskin argues that the work of writing functioned as a disciplinary force, reshaping subjectivity, knowledge, and social organisation in ways that literary criticism has long underestimated. His analysis draws on cultural history, the history of science, and literary theory to construct an account of Romanticism that is as much about labour and institutions as it is about imagination and aesthetics. Sophisticated in its methodology yet relentlessly readable, this landmark study challenges scholars to reconsider what it meant — and what it cost — to put pen to paper in an age of revolution.