The 'Invisible Hand' and British Fiction, 1818-1860: Adam Smith, Political Economy, and the Genre of Realism (Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture)

The 'invisible hand', Adam Smith's metaphor for the morality of capitalism, is explored in this text as being far more subtle and intricate than is usually understood, with many British realist fiction writers (Austen, Dickens, Gaskell, Eliot) having absorbed his model of ironic causality in complex societies and turned it to their own purposes. Some Economic Ideas Are Too Interesting To Be Left To Economists. This Book Argues That Adam Smith's Metaphor Of The 'invisible Hand' 6 In Which Selfish Economic Actions Are Mysteriously Transformed Into Aggregate Social Benefits In A Capitalist Economy 6 Implies An Entire Spatial And Temporal System In Which The Morality Of Any Particular Action Can Only Be Understood In The Context Of Society As A Whole. The 'invisible Hand' And British Fiction Argues That While Political Economists Focused Only On The Optimistic Outcomes Of Capitalist Moral Activity, Smith's Model Of Ironic Morality Also Influenced The Work Of Novelists Including Austen, Dickens, Martineau, Thackeray, Gaskell, And Eliot. Their Realist Novels Represent The Reconciliation Between Individual Ignorance And Systemic Overview As Much Less Stable Than The Economic Synthesis, Using Omniscient Narrative Voices, Multiple Perspectives, And Humor To Depict A Wide Variety Of Possible Outcomes. Smith Shares With The Realists A Vision Of Modern Society That Is Structured Around A Fragile Trust In The Benefits Of Unintended Consequences. Introduction: Capitalist Moral Philosophy, Narrative Technology, And The Boundaries Of The Nation-state -- Part I: Reading Adam Smith. Imaginary Vantage Points: The Invisible Hand And The Rise Of Political Economy -- Part Ii: Early Nineteenth-century Novels And Invisible Hand Social Theory. Omniscient Narrators And The Return Of The Gothic In Northanger Abbey And Bleak House -- Providential Endings: Martineau, Dickens, And The Didactic Task Of Political Economy -- Ripple Effects And The Fog Of War In Vanity Fair -- Inappropriate Sympathies In Gaskell And Eliot -- Conclusion: Realist Capitalism, Gothic Capitalism. By Eleanor Courtemanche. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 231-244) And Index. Courtemanche (English, U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) grabs hold of an economic idea--Adam Smith's "invisible hand" metaphor--and traces its echoes and reflections in fiction. With a broad vision of the implications and ironies of the metaphor--beyond the political-economic reading--she illuminates novels by Austen, Dickens, Martineau, Thackeray, Gaskell, and Eliot. Her study is wide-ranging, thought-provoking, and clearly articulated. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)