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The ‘desecrated mind’ and its alternatives: Dante Rossetti and political economy

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 19:02 authored by Richard AdelmanRichard Adelman
This essay reads Dante Rossetti’s poem “Jenny” (1848-70) alongside nineteenth-century political economy and Ruskin’s critique of that discourse in “Unto This Last” (1860). While Rossetti’s poem is almost exclusively discussed in relation to debates surrounding contemporary prostitution, this essay demonstrates the considerable extent to which “Jenny” articulates — and simultaneously critiques — of one of political economy’s central claims, that the labouring classes are mentally stultified by their repetitive bodily labour. Recognition of this fact opens up a way of reading Rossetti’s poem as a wholesale challenge to political economy and its patters of thought.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

ELH: English Literary History

ISSN

0013-8304

Publisher

Johns Hopkins University Press

Issue

1

Volume

84

Page range

195-222

Department affiliated with

  • English Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2014-11-12

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-03-29

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-02-11

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