Dialect And Literature In The Long Nineteenth Century: Literature & Language

The nineteenth century witnessed a proliferation in the literary uses of dialect, with dialect becoming a key feature in the development of the realist novel, dialect songs being printed by the hundreds in urban centres, and dialect poetry becoming a respected form. In this collection, scholars from a wide variety of disciplines, including dialectology, literary linguistics, socio-linguistics, literary studies, and the history of the English language, have come together to examine the theory, context, and ideology of the use of dialect in the nineteenth century. The texts considered range from the Cumberland poetry of Josiah Relph to the novels of Charles Dickens, George Gissing and Elizabeth Gaskell, and from popular Tyneside song to the poetry of Claude McKay. Throughout the volume, the contributors debate whether or not 'authenticity' is a meaningful category, the significance of metalanguage and paratext in the presentation of dialect, the differences between 'literary dialect' and 'dialect literature', the responses of 'insider' versus 'outsider' audiences, and whether the representation of dialect is a hegemonic or resistant strategy. Taken together, the essays offer an exciting overview of the challenging work currently being undertaken in this field.

Jane Hodson is Lecturer in English Language and Literature at the University of Sheffield.