Culture and Money in the Nineteenth Century cover

Culture and Money in the Nineteenth Century

by Daniel Bivona

Since the 1980s, scholars have made the case for examining 19th-century culture, particularly literary output, through the lens of economics. Bivona and Tromp have collected contributions that push New Economic Criticism in new directions. Spanning the Americas, India, England, and Scotland, this volume adopts a global view of the cultural effects of economics and exchange. Contributors use the concept of abstraction to show how economic thought and concerns around money permeated all aspects of 19th-century culture, from the language of wills to arguments around the social purpose of art. The characteristics of investment and speculation; the symbolic and practical meanings of paper money to the Victorians; the shifting value of goods, services, and ideas; the evolving legal conceptualizations of artistic ownership?are all essential to understanding nineteenth-century culture in Britain and beyond.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?