Literary Criticism

The 19th century

Erudite volumes, theatre reviews, prefaces, manifestos, etc., the development of literary criticism is one of the major phenomena of 19th century cultural life.

Besides specialists, almost all the writers exploited this multi-form genre, where one can find blended together essential reference works, mystifications, literary quarrels and potboiler chronicles. This very significant and very rich heritage is now available online.

The whole literary life of the 19th century reappears through these texts, the imaginary library of a period, composed by conservatives, discrete scholars, scandal-mongers, and the writers themselves, the authors of prefaces, the serial writers and the theoreticians. In the critical literary genre all these actors find the opportunity to test and to reflect on their own esthetic.

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