ABSTRACT

This intriguing book examines the ways contagion - or disease - inform and shape a wide variety of nineteenth century texts and contexts.

Christiensen dissects the cultural assumptions concerning disease, health, impurity and so on before exploring different perspectives on key themes such as plague, nursing and the hospital environment and focusing on certain key texts including Dicken's Bleak House, Gaskell's Ruth, and Zola's Le Docteur Pascal.

chapter 1|36 pages

History as contagion

chapter 3|41 pages

Swordsmen and needlewomen

chapter 5|45 pages

Mothers, daughters and lovers

chapter 6|44 pages

Writers and readers

chapter 1|16 pages

Conclusion

Money handlers and bookkeepers