The regional novel has been remarkably neglected as a subject, despite the enormous number of authors who can be classified as having written regional fiction. This interdisciplinary collection of essays from leading literary critics, historians and cultural geographers, addresses the regional novel in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. It establishes the broader social and political contexts in which these novels emerged, and by combining historical and literary approaches to the subject explores contemporary manifestations of regionalism and nationalism in Britain and Ireland. The Regional Novel In Britain and Ireland, 1800-1990 will be of interest to literary and social historians as well as cultural critics.
Preface and acknowledgements; 1. The regional novel: themes for interdisciplinary research K. D. M. Snell; 2. Regionalism and nationalism: Maria Edgeworth, Walter Scott and the definition of Britishness Liz Bellamy; 3. The deep romance of Manchester: Gaskell's 'Mary Barton' Harriet Guest; 4. Geographies of Hardy's Wessex John Barrell; 5. Gender and Cornwall: Charles Kingsley to Daphne du Maurier Philip Dodd; 6. James Joyce and mythic realism Declan Kiberd; 7. Cookson, Chaplin and Common: three northern writers in 1951 Robert Colls; 8. Emyr Humphreys: regional novelist? M. Wynn Thomas; 9. Scotland and the regional novel Cairns Craig; 10. Mapping the modern city: Alan Sillitoe's Nottingham novels Stephen Daniels and Simon Rycroft; Index.
