Metaphors of Economic Exploitation in Literature, 1885-1914

Metaphors of Economic Exploitation in Literature, 1885-1914 explores the complex network of metaphors that emerged around late nineteenth-century conceptions of economic self-interest -- metaphors that dramatised the predatory, conflictual and exploitative basis of relations between nations, institutions, sexes and people in a fin-de-siècle economy that was perceived by many as outwardly belligerent. More specifically, this book is about the vampire, cannibal and related genera of economic metaphor penetrate the major discourses of the period in ways that have yet to be understood. In chapters that examine socialist fiction and newspapers; the imperial quest romance; the decadent and supernatural tales of Henry James and Vernon Lee; and the Catholic novels of Lucas Malet, Ford assesses the breadth and variety of these metaphors, and considers how they filter the long-standing philosophical ideas about self-interest and the conflictual 'economic man'. This volume is essential reading for students and scholars of fin-de-siècle literature and culture as well as those with an interest in the relationship between literature, economics and anti-capitalist movements.