Description
Caricature and Realism in the Romantic Novel offers a comprehensive analysis of how Romantic-era novelists employed exaggerated characterization alongside realistic depiction to create compelling literary works. Olivia Ferguson investigates the dynamic interplay between these two seemingly opposing approaches, demonstrating how caricature functioned as more than mere comic device but rather as a sophisticated literary technique.
The study explores how writers like Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and their contemporaries used caricature to amplify psychological truths and social commentary. Ferguson argues that the boundary between realism and caricature was deliberately blurred by Romantic authors to enhance emotional resonance and moral critique. Through detailed textual analysis, the book reveals how exaggeration paradoxically deepened characterization and narrative authenticity, challenging traditional literary criticism’s hierarchy of these techniques.
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