Textual Intersections

Book excerpt: This volume examines the multifaceted ways in which textual material in nineteenth-century European cultures intersected with non-literary cultural artefacts and concepts. The essays consider the presence of such diverse phenomena as the dandy, nationhood, diasporic identity, operatic and dramatic personae and effects, trapeze artists, paintings, and the grotesque and fantastic in the work of a variety of writers from France, Germany, Spain, Britain, Russia, Greece and Italy. The volume argues for a view of the long nineteenth century as a century of lively cultural dialogue and exchange between national and sub-national cultures, between ‘high’ and popular art forms, and between different genres and different media, and it will be of interest to general readers and scholars alike.