Description
This study shows how aesthetics and economics have been combined in a great work of literature. Frost examines the history of Middlemarch's composition and publication within the context of Victorian demand, then goes on to consider the interpretation, reception and consumption of the book. This study shows how aesthetics and economics have been combined in a great work of literature. Widely acknowledged as one of the great English novels, Middlemarch was published at a time which saw the emergence of a commodity-based culture. Frost examines the history of Middlemarch's composition and publication within the context of Victorian demand, then goes on to consider the interpretation, reception and consumption of the book. Reader experience and rival publications are explored alongside a 'commodity reading' of the novel. The study will be of value to scholars of book history, economics and material culture. Review: 'fresh, interesting, and informative' Times Literary Supplement 'a worthwhile and interesting study which successfully combines the empirical, the theoretical and the critically pugnacious to offer a new way of exploring some of the hidden relationships operating in the nineteenth-century literary marketplace.' SHARP News 'it was quite eye-opening for me to read Simon Frost's new academic study, The Business of the Novel: Economics, Aesthetics and the Case of Middlemarch. Frost examines the history of the composition of this tome, and its consumption-including Middlemarch ketchup and Middlemarch matchboxes!' livemint.com
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