The Power of Lies
Transgression, Class, and Gender in Victorian Fiction

John Kucich (Author)

9780801428425

Hardback, published 30 September 1994

304 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm, 0.907 kg

This critic offers a meticulously constructed argument that intertwines contemporary linquistic, psychological, and social theories with scrupulous analyses of the literary works themselves. It is a rare thing for an academic study of the appropriations of the language of class and gender to engage its readers so thoroughly... Gossip and lies might be subversive, might be defiant, might even be downright nasty, but never have they seemed so appealing.

Although moral earnestness has long been considered characteristic of the Victorians, Kucich maintains that English fiction in the nineteenth century was as interested in lies as in honesty. In this important book, Kucich explores the fascination with lying in novels by Anthony Trollope, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, Ellen Wood, Thomas Hardy, and Sarah Grand.