The Desecrated Mind.pdf (284.57 kB)
The ‘desecrated mind’ and its alternatives: Dante Rossetti and political economy
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.
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Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
ELH: English Literary HistoryISSN
0013-8304Publisher
Johns Hopkins University PressExternal DOI
Issue
1Volume
84Page range
195-222Department affiliated with
- English Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2014-11-12First Open Access (FOA) Date
2017-03-29First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2016-02-11Usage metrics
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