Trollope's Boxes: Liberal Privacy and Its Consequences in Phineas Finn and The Eustace Diamonds.
This article explores Anthony Trollope's attempts to answer a question that preoccupied Britain's Liberal party in the second half of the nineteenth century: Should all subjects have an equal right to privacy? Trollope's Palliser novels Phineas Finn (1867–68) and The Eustace Diamonds (1871–73) exami...
| Publicado en: | Novel: A Forum on Fiction Vol. 57; no. 2; pp. 226 - 244 |
|---|---|
| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Duke University Press
Aug2024
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=180991645&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 180991645 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00295132 NOV jtl: Novel: A Forum on Fiction issn: 00295132 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Aug2024 vid: 57 iid: 2 pid: 154 pub: Duke University Press artinfo: ui: 180991645 10.1215/00295132-11186531 ppf: 226 ppct: 18 formats: tig: atl: Trollope's Boxes: Liberal Privacy and Its Consequences in Phineas Finn and The Eustace Diamonds. aug: au: Amit, Oriah su: 19th century English literature Liberalism Privacy Honesty Fraud sug: subj: 19th century English literature Liberalism Privacy Honesty Fraud keyword: liberalism privacy Victorian literature ab: This article explores Anthony Trollope's attempts to answer a question that preoccupied Britain's Liberal party in the second half of the nineteenth century: Should all subjects have an equal right to privacy? Trollope's Palliser novels Phineas Finn (1867–68) and The Eustace Diamonds (1871–73) examine this question through locked containers—the ballot box and the safe, respectively—that promise individual privacy but also create opportunities for dishonesty, deception, and fraud. Trollope's depiction of these material objects underscores his view that privacy is a privilege rather than a right and that it should only be granted to citizens who are capable of wielding it responsibly. Responding to recent legislation that extended privacy rights to women (in the Married Women's Property Act of 1870) and working‐class men (in the Ballot Act of 1872), Trollope warns readers that the safety deposit box in The Eustace Diamonds and the ballot box in Phineas Finn present opportunities for the abuse and misuse of discretion by these subjects. The containers in these two novels thus reveal Trollope's reluctance to extend the privileges of liberalism beyond the sphere of middle‐class men. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2024 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|