Thomas Love Peacock, Crotchet Castle

James Mulvihill (University of Alberta)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1831

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel
Satire

Resources

Crotchet Castle (1831) is Thomas Love Peacock's penultimate novel. Separated from the earlier “novels of talk” by a dozen years or so, this work represents something of a shift for Peacock, depicting as it does a world in which (to quote Marilyn Butler) “liberalism has become orthodoxy” (Butler 183). If Peacock wore his reform sympathies on his sleeve in Melincourt, this tendency is not so evident in Crotchet Castle. The Westminster Review thus sadly observed in its review of the novel that “men are most inclined to satirize that of which they know the most”, a pointed reference to Peacock's circle of utilitarian acquaintances at India House where he now worked. The reviewer urged the …

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2754 words

Citation: Mulvihill, James. "Crotchet Castle". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 May 2007 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=9866, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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