{"product_id":"born-yesterday-inexperience-and-the-early-realist-novel-paperback","title":"Born Yesterday: Inexperience and the Early Realist Novel - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eStephanie Insley Hershinow\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe early novel was not the coming-of-age story we know today--eighteenth-century adolescent protagonists remained in a constant state of arrested development, never truly maturing.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBetween the emergence of the realist novel in the early eighteenth century and the novel's subsequent alignment with self-improvement a century later lies a significant moment when novelistic characters were unlikely to mature in any meaningful way. That adolescent protagonists poised on the cusp of adulthood resisted a headlong tumble into maturity through the workings of plot reveals a curious literary and philosophical counter-tradition in the history of the novel. Stephanie Insley Hershinow's \u003ci\u003eBorn Yesterday\u003c\/i\u003e shows how the archetype of the early realist novice reveals literary character tout court. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough new readings of canonical novels by Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Frances Burney, and Jane Austen, Hershinow severs the too-easy tie between novelistic form and character formation, a conflation, she argues, of \u003ci\u003eBild\u003c\/i\u003e with \u003ci\u003eBildung\u003c\/i\u003e. A pop-culture-infused epilogue illustrates the influence of the eighteenth-century novice, as embodied by Austen's \u003ci\u003eEmma\u003c\/i\u003e, in the 1995 film \u003ci\u003eClueless\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as in dystopian YA works like \u003ci\u003eThe Hunger Games\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on bold close readings, \u003ci\u003eBorn Yesterday\u003c\/i\u003e alters the landscape of literary historical eighteenth-century studies and challenges some of novel theory's most well-worn assumptions.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBetween the emergence of the realist novel in the early eighteenth century and the novel's subsequent alignment with self-improvement a century later lies a significant moment when novelistic characters were unlikely to mature in any meaningful way. That adolescent protagonists poised on the cusp of adulthood resisted a headlong tumble into maturity through the workings of plot reveals a curious literary and philosophical counter-tradition in the history of the novel. Stephanie Insley Hershinow's \u003ci\u003eBorn Yesterday\u003c\/i\u003e shows how the archetype of the early realist novice reveals literary character tout court. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough new readings of canonical novels by Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Frances Burney, and Jane Austen, Hershinow severs the too-easy tie between novelistic form and character formation, a conflation, she argues, of \u003ci\u003eBild\u003c\/i\u003e with \u003ci\u003eBildung\u003c\/i\u003e. A pop-culture-infused epilogue illustrates the influence of the eighteenth-century novice, as embodied by Austen's \u003ci\u003eEmma\u003c\/i\u003e, in the 1995 film \u003ci\u003eClueless\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as in dystopian YA works like \u003ci\u003eThe Hunger Games\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on bold close readings, \u003ci\u003eBorn Yesterday\u003c\/i\u003e alters the landscape of literary historical eighteenth-century studies and challenges some of novel theory's most well-worn assumptions.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHershinow makes a compelling claim that the character of the novice represents a high point in the art of the novel. What makes her argument compelling is how she inhabits the novels at the level of the sentence, taking her vocabulary from the novelists.--\u003ci\u003eCritical Inquiry\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUltimately, to read this book was to confirm my suspicion that the best close readers are the best writers of literary criticism. The good reader takes pleasure in nuance and complexity; the good writer tends to repeat the qualities that inspired that pleasure. Hershinow's readings, in other words, are filled with the insights of discerning study; her prose is filled with wit and humor, always intellectually serious but also gracefully playful in a way uncommon in academic writing . . . Brimming with possibility--both as a whole and even at the level of the sentence--this book embodies the spirit of the vibrant characters it studies.--\u003ci\u003eLA Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e--Jayne Lewis, University of California, Irvine, author of \u003ci\u003eAir's Appearance: Literary Atmosphere in British Fiction, 1660-1794\u003c\/i\u003e \"LA Review of Books\"\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBetween the emergence of the realist novel in the early eighteenth century and the novel's subsequent alignment with self-improvement a century later lies a significant moment when novelistic characters were unlikely to mature in any meaningful way. That adolescent protagonists poised on the cusp of adulthood resisted a headlong tumble into maturity through the workings of plot reveals a curious literary and philosophical counter-tradition in the history of the novel. Stephanie Insley Hershinow's \u003ci\u003eBorn Yesterday\u003c\/i\u003e shows how the archetype of the early realist novice reveals literary character tout court. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough new readings of canonical novels by Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Frances Burney, and Jane Austen, Hershinow severs the too-easy tie between novelistic form and character formation, a conflation, she argues, of \u003ci\u003eBild\u003c\/i\u003e with \u003ci\u003eBildung\u003c\/i\u003e. A pop-culture-infused epilogue illustrates the influence of the eighteenth-century novice, as embodied by Austen's \u003ci\u003eEmma\u003c\/i\u003e, in the 1995 film \u003ci\u003eClueless\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as in dystopian YA works like \u003ci\u003eThe Hunger Games\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing on bold close readings, \u003ci\u003eBorn Yesterday\u003c\/i\u003e alters the landscape of literary historical eighteenth-century studies and challenges some of novel theory's most well-worn assumptions.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Hershinow makes a compelling claim that the character of the novice represents a high point in the art of the novel. What makes her argument compelling is how she inhabits the novels at the level of the sentence, taking her vocabulary from the novelists.\"--\u003ci\u003eCritical Inquiry\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Ultimately, to read this book was to confirm my suspicion that the best close readers are the best writers of literary criticism. The good reader takes pleasure in nuance and complexity; the good writer tends to repeat the qualities that inspired that pleasure. Hershinow's readings, in other words, are filled with the insights of discerning study; her prose is filled with wit and humor, always intellectually serious but also gracefully playful in a way uncommon in academic writing . . . Brimming with possibility--both as a whole and even at the level of the sentence--this book embodies the spirit of the vibrant characters it studies.\"--\u003ci\u003eLA Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eStephanie Insley Hershinow\u003c\/b\u003e is an assistant professor of English at Baruch College, City University of New York.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 192\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.45 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e August 04, 2020\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51790797668640,"sku":"9781421438832","price":56.34,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/0aff67a5894a6a13cbdf991691aa9fcc.webp?v=1780685261","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/born-yesterday-inexperience-and-the-early-realist-novel-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}