Pregnancy and the Novel: Representation and Concealment from Richardson to Hardy
Pregnancy and the Novel is a study of covert representations of pregnancy and birth in canonical eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels. The research draws on medical texts to illuminate the ways that novelists simultaneously hide and reveal problematic pregnancies and births. Grounded in narrative theory and historicism, it reveals a reciprocal influence between literature and science through the novels of Samuel Richardson, the Brontës, George Eliot, Dickens and Hardy. This project is an act of literary detective work that will uncover what can easily be missed by twenty-first century readers, bringing it into light by reconstructing historical knowledge of reproductive medicine.

This is an open access book.

1140159844
Pregnancy and the Novel: Representation and Concealment from Richardson to Hardy
Pregnancy and the Novel is a study of covert representations of pregnancy and birth in canonical eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels. The research draws on medical texts to illuminate the ways that novelists simultaneously hide and reveal problematic pregnancies and births. Grounded in narrative theory and historicism, it reveals a reciprocal influence between literature and science through the novels of Samuel Richardson, the Brontës, George Eliot, Dickens and Hardy. This project is an act of literary detective work that will uncover what can easily be missed by twenty-first century readers, bringing it into light by reconstructing historical knowledge of reproductive medicine.

This is an open access book.

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Pregnancy and the Novel: Representation and Concealment from Richardson to Hardy

Pregnancy and the Novel: Representation and Concealment from Richardson to Hardy

by Tracy Brain
Pregnancy and the Novel: Representation and Concealment from Richardson to Hardy
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Pregnancy and the Novel: Representation and Concealment from Richardson to Hardy

Pregnancy and the Novel: Representation and Concealment from Richardson to Hardy

by Tracy Brain

Overview

Pregnancy and the Novel is a study of covert representations of pregnancy and birth in canonical eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels. The research draws on medical texts to illuminate the ways that novelists simultaneously hide and reveal problematic pregnancies and births. Grounded in narrative theory and historicism, it reveals a reciprocal influence between literature and science through the novels of Samuel Richardson, the Brontës, George Eliot, Dickens and Hardy. This project is an act of literary detective work that will uncover what can easily be missed by twenty-first century readers, bringing it into light by reconstructing historical knowledge of reproductive medicine.

This is an open access book.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781137276452
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date: 04/17/2025
Edition description: 2025
Pages: 272
Product dimensions: 5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Tracy Brain is Professor of Creative Writing and English Literature at Bath Spa University, UK.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction.- Part I: 'Conceal this Unhappy Body': Clarissa and the Question of Hidden Pregnancy.- 2 Medical Texts.- 3 Clarissa Before.- 4 Clarissa After.- Part II: Incorporeal Pregnancy and Disguised Labour: the Brontës and George Eliot.- 5 Emily Brontë.- 6 Anne Brontë.- 7 George Eliot.- Part III: So Visible and So Hidden: Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy.- 8 Charles Dickens.- 9 Thomas Hardy.- 10 Conclusion.
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