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BEAUTIFUL LOST CAUSES:
QUIXOTIC REFORM AND THE VICTORIAN NOVEL
by
Jennifer D. Conary
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(ENGLISH)
August 2008
Copyright 2008 Jennifer D. Conary
Object Description
| Title | Beautiful lost causes: quixotic reform and the Victorian Novel |
| Author | Conary, Jennifer D. |
| Author email | jcossey@usc.edu |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | English |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-04-14 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Restricted until 20 June 2010. |
| Date published | 2010-06-20 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Kincaid, James R. |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Russett, Margaret Levine, Philippa |
| Abstract | This dissertation expands and complicates the definition of Victorian social fiction by tracing a particular strand of reform narrative -- what I term "quixotic reform " -- in Victorian novels by Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, George Gissing, and Thomas Hardy. The protagonists in these novels reject traditional reformatory efforts, which they view as futile, and instead attach themselves to grandiose, heroic causes that are doomed to failure because of the very abstract, romantic qualities that make them so appealing. These novels represent a response to the complex social conditions of nineteenth-century Britain that is, paradoxically, both despairing and hopeful, a devotion to beautiful lost causes that haunts not only these fictional narratives, but also the liberal mind of the century. |
| Keyword | reform; Victorian; novel; quixote |
| Coverage date | 1800/1900 |
| Coverage era | Nineteenth Century |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1279 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Conary, Jennifer D. |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Conary-20080620 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume32/etd-Conary-20080620.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | BEAUTIFUL LOST CAUSES: QUIXOTIC REFORM AND THE VICTORIAN NOVEL by Jennifer D. Conary A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (ENGLISH) August 2008 Copyright 2008 Jennifer D. Conary |
