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Author Phillips, Natalie M., author.

Title Distraction : problems of attention in eighteenth-century literature / Natalie M. Phillips.

Publication Info. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016.

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Location Call No. Status
 Avon Free Public Library - Adult Department  820.9 PHILLIPS    Check Shelf
Description x, 288 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary Early novel reading typically conjures images of rapt readers in quiet rooms, but commentators at the time described reading as a fraught activity, one occurring amidst a distracting cacophony that included sloshing chamber pots and wailing street vendors. Auditory distractions were compounded by literary ones as falling paper costs led to an explosion of print material, forcing prose fiction to compete with a dizzying array of essays, poems, sermons, and histories. In Distraction, Natalie M. Phillips argues that prominent Enlightenment authors-from Jane Austen and William Godwin to Eliza Haywood and Samuel Johnson-were deeply engaged with debates about the wandering mind, even if they were not equally concerned about the problem of distractibility. Phillips explains that some novelists in the 1700s-viewing distraction as a dangerous wandering from singular attention that could lead to sin or even madness-attempted to reform diverted readers.
Subject English literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism.
Psychology and literature -- History -- 18th century.
Distraction (Psychology)
Cognition in literature.
Interest (Psychology)
Enlightenment -- Great Britain.
Cognition in literature. (OCoLC)fst00866515
Distraction (Psychology) (OCoLC)fst01737862
English literature. (OCoLC)fst00911989
Enlightenment. (OCoLC)fst00912527
Interest (Psychology) (OCoLC)fst00976158
Psychology and literature. (OCoLC)fst01081551
Great Britain. (OCoLC)fst01204623
Chronological Term 1700-1799
Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. (OCoLC)fst01411635
History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
Subject English literature / 18th century / History and criticism.
Psychology and literature / History / 18th century.
Distraction (Psychology)
Cognition in literature.
Interest (Psychology)
Enlightenment / Great Britain.
ISBN 9781421420127 hardcover acid-free paper
9781421420134 electronic book
1421420120 hardcover acid-free paper
1421420139 electronic book
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