The world of Mr Casaubon: Britain's wars of mythography, 1700-1870

The World of Mr Casaubon takes as its point of departure a fictional character - Mr Casaubon in George Eliot's classic novel, Middlemarch. The author of an unfinished 'Key to All Mythologies', Casaubon has become an icon of obscurantism, irrelevance and futility. Crossing conventional...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kidd, Colin 1964- (Author)
Format: Electronic/Print Book
Language:English
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WorldCat: WorldCat
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Published: Cambridge New York Melbourne Delhi Singapore Cambridge University Press 2017
In: Ideas in context (115)
Year: 2017
Edition:First paperback edition
Series/Journal:Ideas in context 115
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Eliot, George 1819-1880, Middlemarch / English language / Novel / Myth (Motif) / History 1700-1870
B Eliot, George 1819-1880, Middlemarch
B English language / Novel / Myth (Motif) / History 1700-1870
IxTheo Classification:KDE Anglican Church
Further subjects:B Eliot, George 1819-1880
B Mythology History 19th century
B Mythology in literature History
B Mythology
B Eliot, George 1819-1880 Knowledge Mythology Eliot, George 1819-1880 Middlemarch (Eliot, George) 1700-1899
B Mythology in literature
B Mythology History 18th century
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Parallel Edition:Electronic
Description
Summary:The World of Mr Casaubon takes as its point of departure a fictional character - Mr Casaubon in George Eliot's classic novel, Middlemarch. The author of an unfinished 'Key to All Mythologies', Casaubon has become an icon of obscurantism, irrelevance and futility. Crossing conventional disciplinary boundaries, Colin Kidd excavates Casaubon's hinterland, and illuminates the fierce ideological war which raged over the use of pagan myths to defend Christianity from the existential threat posed by radical Enlightenment criticism. Notwithstanding Eliot's portrayal of Casaubon, Anglican mythographers were far from unworldly, and actively rebutted the radical freethinking associated with the Enlightenment and French Revolution. Orientalism was a major theatre in this ideological conflict, and mythography also played an indirect but influential role in framing the new science of anthropology. The World of Mr Casaubon is rich in interdisciplinary twists and ironies, and paints a vivid picture of the intellectual world of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain.
Item Description:Includes bibliographical references and index
ISBN:1107608597
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/9781139226646