Post-Romantic Consciousness Dickens to Plath [Hardcover]

In this sequel to his Romantic Consciousness, John Beer discusses further questionings of human consciousness; both the degree to which Dickens's conscious dramatizing differs from the subconscious workings of his psyche and the exploration of subliminal consciousness by nineteenth-century psychical researchers. Contents Questioning Consciousness Dickens's Unfinished Fiction Essaying the Heights, Sounding the Depths: F.W.H. Myers and Edmund Gurney James, Heidegger, Sartre, Havel: Other Versions of Being Woolf's Moments; Lawrence's Daemon Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes: The Hazards of Incompleteness Index

'As the editors of his Festchrift hoped, some years ago now, John Beer's lucid, infectiously enthusiastic and unignorable interrogation of Romanticism continues. . . his work is quietly and usefully informed by the new vistas. . . Beer has shown himself to be a critic unusually capable of handling the reach and dynamics of the Coleridgean repertoire. But in this work, he is even more ambitious. The ambition is obvious in the historical range attempted. It is matched by a boldly speculative question that he addresses directly.' - Paul Hamilton, Queen Mary, University of London, UK, Romanticism

'Beer's book makes a persuasive case for the enduring legacy of the Romantic preoccupation with that part of the self that is distinct from 'conscious ratiocination.' - Ann Gaylin, Times Literary Supplement

'This is one of the most suggestive accounts of the diverse influences exerted by Romantic thought and feeling on the work of subsequent writers. John Beer ranges widely and authoritatively through the literature of the last two centuries in a memorable study of originality and enlightenment.' - Seamus Perry, Fellow of Balliol College and Tutor in English, University of Oxford, UK

'At once a sequel to Romantic Consciousness and a fully independent work, Post-Romantic Consciousness offers a series oflC–