Full Description
This book considers the effects of industrial development in the cities of Liverpool, Sheffield, and Manchester as viewed through the lens of their literary output during the Romantic period. While treating this body of literature as an underutilised resource for understanding regional urban cultures of reading and writing in and of themselves, this study also makes significant forays into the literature of slavery and abolition, as well as into ecocriticism, as the region sees the early development of a literary language to describe the restructuring not only of economic relations but also the relationship between humans and the industrialising environment. By drawing on the work of non-canonical and subaltern writers - including labouring-class writers and women - alongside more recognised and commercially successful authors, this study advances existing research into print culture within cities, beyond those usually identified as professional writers of the Romantic period. This volume works to demonstrate that these forgotten and sometimes even anonymous writers offered significant commentary on industrialisation, owing to their intimate ties to the commercial and social transformations at work in each city.
