Harriet Martineau, Illustrations of Political Economy

Valerie Sanders (University of Hull)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Jessica Gossling (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Domains

Political Science

Dates

First circulation or publication 1832 - 1834

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Didactic
Essays/ Lectures (any)
Story Collection

Resources

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Harriet Martineau’s

Illustrations of Political Economy

(1832-4) are a series of twenty-four didactic short tales (with a further volume of summary) whose publication brought her instant success and public notoriety as a writer. In Volume I of her

Autobiography

(1877; rpt 2007) she tells the extraordinary story of how she battled to find a publisher, convinced that the public “needed” the series which was designed to teach the principles of political economy by means of illustrative stories set in a variety of social communities. Charles Fox, the publisher who finally accepted the work, was gloomy about its prospects, and imposed harsh terms, which included a requirement that she find subscribers to back her project. In the event, the series caught the mood of the times with its…

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1528 words

Citation: Sanders, Valerie. "Illustrations of Political Economy". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 January 2004; last revised 19 April 2024. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=9840, accessed 22 November 2024.]