Dialectic of Whimsy.
Strategically generalizing from a close reading of the character-system and narrative style of Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy (1759–1767), this article proposes that whimsicality is an aesthetic category of eighteenth-century culture attuned to the agrarian dynamics of commercial capitalism. Situ...
| Publicado en: | Eighteenth Century Fiction Vol. 37; no. 1; pp. 98 - 115 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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University of Toronto Press
Jan2025
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| 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=184342036&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 184342036 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 08406286 7SD jtl: Eighteenth Century Fiction issn: 08406286 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan2025 vid: 37 iid: 1 pid: 678 pub: University of Toronto Press artinfo: ui: 184342036 10.3138/ecf.2023-0071 ppf: 98 ppct: 17 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 501KB tig: atl: Dialectic of Whimsy. aug: au: Geary, Christopher su: Sterne, Laurence, 1713-1768 Gentry Shandy, Walter Agriculture sug: subj: Sterne, Laurence, 1713-1768 Gentry Shandy, Walter Agriculture ab: Strategically generalizing from a close reading of the character-system and narrative style of Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy (1759–1767), this article proposes that whimsicality is an aesthetic category of eighteenth-century culture attuned to the agrarian dynamics of commercial capitalism. Situating Sterne's novel at a major inflection point in British socio-economic history, the article shows how the whimsicality of Tristram Shandy more specifically expresses the custom-bound inertia of the gentry class toward the commercial development of agriculture through rationalization, enclosure, and improvement. As exemplified by Walter Shandy in particular, whimsicality is distinguished as an aesthetic category by its low affective intensity, temporary duration, unproductive disposition, and mimetic structure. The article concludes by tracing the stylistic and characterological shifts of the final three volumes of Tristram Shandy, which result in a tonal polarization between the downwardly mobile Tristram and the increasingly capitalistic Walter, reflecting capital's tendency to fragment and overcome the traditional elite's passive resistance to agrarian modernization. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Eighteenth Century Fiction is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Eighteenth Century Fiction holder: University of Toronto Press dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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