Physical Disability in British Romantic Literature

This book provides new period-appropriate concepts for understanding Romantic-era physical disability through function and aesthetics.

Essaka Joshua (Author)

9781108836708, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 November 2020

320 pages
24 x 16 x 2.5 cm, 0.62 kg

'… suggests a road map for Romanticists wishing to delve into the historical relation between disability and the literature of that time. Joshua's study is a salutary reminder of what might be gained or lost by ongoing approaches (including my own) not shying away from a presentism reading the archives of the nineteenth century or earlier.' Orrin N. C. Wang, SEL Studies in English Literature 1500–1900

The modern concept of disability did not exist in the Romantic period. This study addresses the anachronistic use of 'disability' in scholarship of the Romantic era, providing a disability studies theorized account that explores the relationship between ideas of function and aesthetics. Unpacking the politics of ability, the book reveals the centrality of capacity and weakness concepts to the egalitarian politics of the 1790s, and the importance of desert theory to debates about sentiment and the charitable relief of impaired soldiers. Clarifying the aesthetics of deformity as distinct from discussions of ability, Joshua uncovers a controversy over the use of deformity in picturesque aesthetics, offers accounts of deformity that anticipate recent disability studies theory, and discusses deformity and monstrosity as a blended category in Frankenstein. Setting aside the modern concept of disability, Joshua cogently argues for the historical and critical value of period-specific terms.

Part I. Politics of Ability: 1. William Godwin and capacity
2. Invigorating women: female weakness in the work of Mary Wollstonecraft
3. Wordsworth's 'The Discharged Soldier' and the question of desert
Part II. Aesthetics of Deformity: 4. Picturesque aesthetics: theorizing deformity in the Romantic era
5. Relational deformity in Frances Burney's Camilla
6. Monstrous sights: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Subject Areas: Disability: social aspects [JFFG], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD], Literature & literary studies [D]