Secondhand Economies: Recycling, Reuse, and Exchange in the Victorian Novel

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dc.contributor.advisorMichie, Helenaen_US
dc.contributor.advisorPatten, Robert L.en_US
dc.creatorWomack, Elizabeth Cogginen_US
dc.date.accessioned2013-03-08T00:40:03Zen_US
dc.date.available2013-03-08T00:40:03Zen_US
dc.date.issued2011en_US
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation examines patterns of secondhand exchange in the Victorian novel as a critical counterpoint to the more frequently discussed literary representations of industrial production and consumption. Analyzing representations and transfers of well-used, secondhand, and even discarded objects as they change hands in the work of writers including Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Henry Mayhew together with archival material, I argue that the secondhand economy reveals a cultural ambivalence toward the devaluation of material objects accompanying new modes of production, strongly tinged with a nostalgia for supposed precapitalist affective ties between persons and things. The significance of my exploration of the secondhand economy in literature is not limited to representations of material objects, however; it also facilitates a more nuanced understanding of Victorian class and especially class mobility as it relates to moments of exchange in the novel. While redirecting our attention to economically marginalized characters and the often neglected patterns of circulation that govern their social roles, it also problematizes rigid notions of class by tracing the mobility of both objects and persons as sellers and purchasers of all classes negotiate social position with the exchange of objects. Following an introduction that situates my project at the nexus of economic criticism and material culture studies, I argue that Victorian writers including Carlyle, Dickens, and Mayhew used the circulation of secondhand clothing to signify a rupture from the past and from sartorial social ties. The second chapter examines literary representations of the pawnshop in the work of Dickens and George Eliot; while the pawned object symbolizes the uncertain fate of fallen or endangered women, the site of the pawnshop itself stores forgotten history and facilitates the redemption of both persons and pledges. The third chapter examines auction narratives in the work of Thackeray, Dickens, and George Eliot, identifying in these texts the narrators' efforts to guide readers toward a more acute perception of irony and proper feelings of sympathy in response to these spectacles of dispossession. The concluding chapter revisits Mayhew, Carlyle, and Dickens to examine profitable second lives of persons and things.en_US
dc.format.extent232 p.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.callnoTHESIS ENGL. 2011 WOMACKen_US
dc.identifier.citationWomack, Elizabeth Coggin. "Secondhand Economies: Recycling, Reuse, and Exchange in the Victorian Novel." (2011) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/70495">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/70495</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.digitalWomackEen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/70495en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectLanguageen_US
dc.subjectLiteratureen_US
dc.subjectLinguisticsen_US
dc.subjectPovertyen_US
dc.subjectEconomyen_US
dc.subjectMaterial cultureen_US
dc.subjectVictorianen_US
dc.subjectAlienationen_US
dc.subjectCharles Dickensen_US
dc.subjectGeorge Elioten_US
dc.subjectHenry Mayhewen_US
dc.subjectBritish and Irish literatureen_US
dc.titleSecondhand Economies: Recycling, Reuse, and Exchange in the Victorian Novelen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentEnglishen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineHumanitiesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
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