Academic literature on the topic '19th-century English'

<p> While studies of fantastic literature have often focused on their structural and genre characteristics, less attention has been paid to the manner in which they address social issues and concerns. Drawing on theoretical, taxonomic, and historical approaches, this study argues that 19th-century England represented a key period of transformation during which fantastic literature evolved away from its folkloristic, mythic, and satirical origins and toward the modern genres of science fiction, feminist fantasy, and literary horror. </p><p> The thesis examines the subversive and transformative function of the fantastic in nineteenth-century British literature, particularly how the novel <i> Frankenstein</i> (1831), the poem &ldquo;Goblin Market&rdquo; (1862), and the novel <i>Dracula</i> (1897) make deliberate uses of the materials of fantastic literature to engage in social and cultural commentary on key issues of their time, and by so doing to mark a significant transformation in the way fantastic materials can be used in narrative.</p><p> <i>Frankenstein</i> took the materials of the Gothic and effectively transformed them into science fiction, not only through its exploration of the morality of scientific research, but more crucially through its critique of systems of education and the nature of learning. "Goblin Market " transformed the materials of fairy tales into a morally complex critique of gender relations and the importance of women's agency, which paved the way for an entire tradition of such redactions among later feminist writers. <i>Dracula</i> draws on cruder antecedents of vampire tales and the novel of sensation to create the first modern literary horror novel, while addressing key emerging anxieties of nationalism and personal identity. </p><p> Although historical connections are drawn between these three key works, written at different points during the nineteenth century, it does not argue that they constitute a single identifiable movement, but rather that each provided a template for how later writers might adapt fantastic materials to more complex literary, social, and didactic ends, and thus provided a groundwork for the more complex modern uses of the fantastic as a legitimate resource for writers concerned with not only sensation, but significant cultural and social concerns.</p>

Early intervention in psychosis emerged in the 1980s and has gradually become a new paradigm in mental health service worldwide. Yet, very few studies on the history of early intervention in mental illness exist even to date. This dissertation explored the situation in 19th century England when Britain was the only superpower in the world and at the same time was plagued by the rising number of insanity cases that she could only cope with by building more and bigger asylums. The idea of early treatment of insanity was found in various publications written by different physicians in the first half of 19th century. A few of them also proposed primary preventive measures as they believed that a good and disciplined life style could help to avoid the illness. They also saw that insanity could be hereditary. Meanwhile, the debate over the nature of insanity whether it is purely biological or goes beyond the physical body was happening in England as in continental Europe. The physicians supporting the idea of early intervention were also those who subscribed to the theory that insanity has a biological origin. The staging concept in the development of mental illness was well conceived by some physicians. There were also attempts to identify the symptoms in incipient insanity which is close to the modern concept of prodromal stage. Some medical professions also put forward detailed theories on the pathology of the illness based on their knowledge on brain physiology and its interaction with other organs of the body. During this period, professionalization of psychiatrists was advancing. In this process, there was clash between two schools of thoughts. One considered that the profession should move along a scientific path while the other considered that more effort should be devoted to pragmatic issues such as those concerning asylum management. This conflict had in some way hindered the advancement of early treatment. Another major obstacle to the provision of early treatment was the distrust of the society towards psychiatrists. After a number of notorious cases involving people being wrongly confined in the asylums had been widely publicized, the law was tightened to limit the authority of psychiatrists in certifying insanity and in treating uncertified cases. This had resulted in a serious blockade on the road to early treatment. Stigmatization of mental illness in the society was also a major factor in deterring people from seeking early assistance. From the experience in 19th century England, it was found that medicalization of mental illness, professionalization of psychiatrists, establishment of mutual trust between psychiatrists and the society, as well as de-stigmatization of mental illness would be conducive to the development of an early intervention paradigm.<br>published_or_final_version<br>Psychological Medicine<br>Master<br>Master of Psychological Medicine

The scientist in fiction is much maligned. The mad, bad scientist has framed much of the debate about literary representations of science and with good reason since he is a towering icon of popular culture. Yet, I will propose that an equally preeminent figure provides an alternative model of science in fiction. This is the detective. Links between developing scientific disciplines and the emerging genre of detective fiction have been well described to date. Yet the history of the detective as scientific icon has not been told, particularly not as it engages with the history of the mad scientist. These two paragons of modem culture developed from a groundswell of gothic narrative and imagery that emerged in the late 18th century and continued to entertain and challenge audiences throughout the 19th century, as they still do to this day. My aim is to recover some of the complexity of past public images of science, and the understandings that such icons relate to, as they develop and meander through a variety of 19th century fictions. In a series of time slices I relate these figures, their iconography and narratives, to contemporary debates about science and follow through the elements that each generation retains, remoulds and claims for their own time. Ultimately, I hope to show that an panalysis of the mad scientist alongside other fictional scientific figures provides a far more nuanced picture of potential meanings, than the negative and fearful response that he is often assumed to represent. This is significant because both these icons are current in popular culture today and as such are part and parcel of the present pool of cultural resources that provides tools for thinking about science and society in the 21st century.

The principle objective of this study is to examine how penal codification was received and interpreted by the media. The media sources to be used are English newspapers and professional legal English Journals. With respect to the legal journals three journals were selected (two from Ontario, one from Quebec where they already experienced codification). The period examined is from each journal's founding date until 1900. Therefore, the examination of the Legal News was from 1886-1900, the Canada Law Journal was from 1855-1900, and the Canadian Law Times was from 1881-1900. It should be noted that the Canada Law Journal was the successor of the Upper Canada Law Journal beginning in 1868. The three newspapers examined for this study representing either the conservative, liberal or radical label were: The Montreal Gazette (conservative), The Toronto Globe (liberal) and The Toronto Mail (radical). The period examined was 1886-1893 for the two former newspapers and 1890, 1891 and 1892 for the latter newspaper. All articles relating to the criminal law, the criminal code and codification were analyzed for both sources of data. In examining what opinions were expressed this study attempted to establish whether the focus was on codification or specific topics of the code as well as whether the reactions to the code, if any, changed after its inception. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between the city and the individual in literature, thereby acknowledging the anthropomorphic qualities we endow with our cities and in turn, how these qualities consolidate into the trope of the city character. We build this understanding by discussing the social, moral, political, literary, etc. associations of the city, and how these lend themselves to expressions of human energy or reflections of human character. These understandings are then given form through close readings of Gustave Flaubert’s Sentimental Education and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.