Maritime fiction

Maritime fiction -sailors and the sea in British and American novels, 1719–1917
In this important new study, John Peck examines the cultural significance of maritime novels from Defoe through to Conrad. Focusing in particular on the image of the body, he illustrates how these works are built around the disparity between the masculine and often brutal regime of the ship and the civilised values of those who remain on the shore. The first comprehensive discussion of its subject, Maritime Fiction is an original exploration of the relationship between national identity, fiction and the sea.
Contents:
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Sea Stories
Jane Austen's Sailors
Captain Marryat's Navy
Dickens and the Sea
American Sea Fiction: Cooper, Poe, Dana
Herman Melville
Mid-Victorian Maritime Fiction
Adventures at Sea
Joseph Conrad
Notes
Index
Author Biographies:
JOHN PECK is a Senior Lecturer in English at Cardiff University. His previous books include War, the Army and Victorian Literature, How to Study a Novel, How to Study a Poet, and collections of essays on Victorian novelists. He is joint General Editor of three series: New Casebooks, Critical Issues and How to Study Literature.
Printing of the book is limited to 10 pages per day.

Keywords: literature, british literature, sea stories, naval art, naval science, seafaring life