The Routledge Concise History of Nineteenth Century Literature

Focusing on the work of British and Irish authors, this book considers changes in literary forms, styles and genres, as well as in critical discourses. It examines literary movements such as Romanticism, Pre-Raphaelitism, Aestheticism and Decadence. It discusses the impact of gender studies, queer theory, postcolonialism and book history.

Guy and Ian Small provide readers with an understanding of the complexity and variety of nineteenth-century literary culture, as well as the historical conditions which produced it.

Introduction: What is Nineteenth-Century Literature?
1. An Outline History of Nineteenth-Century Literature
2. Form, Style and Genre in Nineteenth-Century Literature
3. Nineteenth-Century Literary Movements
4. Nineteenth-Century Literature and History
5. Nineteenth-Century Literature and the Politics of Sex and Nationalism
6. Nineteenth-Century Literature, Consumerism and Commodity Culture: The Production of Texts.