Victorian Literature and the Victorian State delves into contemporary debates over sanitary, education, and civil service reform, the Poor Laws, and the century-long attempt to substitute organized charity for state services. Goodlad's readings elucidate the distinctive quandary of Victorian Britain and, indeed, any modern society conceived in liberal terms: the elusive quest for a "pastoral" agency that is rational, all-embracing, and effective but also anti-bureaucratic, personalized, and liberatory. In this study, impressively grounded in literary criticism, social history, and political theory, Goodlad offers a timely post-Foucauldian account of Victorian governance that speaks to the resurgent neoliberalism of our own day.
Victorian Literature and the Victorian State delves into contemporary debates over sanitary, education, and civil service reform, the Poor Laws, and the century-long attempt to substitute organized charity for state services. Goodlad's readings elucidate the distinctive quandary of Victorian Britain and, indeed, any modern society conceived in liberal terms: the elusive quest for a "pastoral" agency that is rational, all-embracing, and effective but also anti-bureaucratic, personalized, and liberatory. In this study, impressively grounded in literary criticism, social history, and political theory, Goodlad offers a timely post-Foucauldian account of Victorian governance that speaks to the resurgent neoliberalism of our own day.
![Victorian Literature and the Victorian State: Character and Governance in a Liberal Society](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.10.4)
Victorian Literature and the Victorian State: Character and Governance in a Liberal Society
320![Victorian Literature and the Victorian State: Character and Governance in a Liberal Society](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.10.4)
Victorian Literature and the Victorian State: Character and Governance in a Liberal Society
320Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780801869631 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Johns Hopkins University Press |
Publication date: | 01/15/2004 |
Pages: | 320 |
Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.08(d) |
Age Range: | 18 Years |