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Pleasure Wars
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Pleasure Wars Hardback - 1998

by Peter Gay

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From the publisher

In uncovering the roots of modernism, a master historian shows us a hidden side of the Victorian era, the role of the bourgeois as reactionaries, revolutionaries, and middle-of-the-roaders in the passage of high culture toward modernism.

"In the Victorian decades, the name bourgeois was at once a term of reproach and a source of self-respect". So Peter Gay opens his newest and perhaps most surprising work. For the Victorians we meet in this volume are not the stodgy, complacent characters of drawing-room comedy. They are instead a varied crowd, from the capitalists in the top tier of the bourgeoisie eager to be recognized as gentlemen or, better yet, dubbed as nobility to those at the bottom of the pile, the clerks and craftsmen mortally afraid of sinking into the mass of the proletariat. What they share is an anxiety, driven by their concern to advance up the social pyramid or at least to maintain the status they have achieved.

Some of the individuals in this richly peopled narrative turn on their own class, none more bitterly than Gustave Flaubert; others celebrate their success, whether in Manchester or in Munich, by sponsoring symphony orchestras or establishing museums; still others become cultural hunters and gatherers, turning their newly acquired fortunes to the private accumulation of art, ranging from the "safe" works of the old masters to the daring innovations of the Impressionists.

The stage is thus set for the explosion of modernism accompanied by an inevitable reaction against the subversive avant-garde of artists, composers, and writers as varied as Cezanne, Picasso, Stravinsky, Shaw, Ibsen, and Zola. No one reading this concluding volume of Peter Gay's magnificentrevaluation of the nineteenth century will ever again use the term Victorian as a synonym for dull.

First line

In the Victorian decades, the name bourgeois was at once a term of reproach and a source of self-respect.

Details

  • Title Pleasure Wars
  • Author Peter Gay
  • Binding Hardback
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 324
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher W. W. Norton & Company, New York
  • Publication date January 1998
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9780393045703 / 0393045706
  • Weight 1.5 lbs (0.68 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.57 x 6.51 x 1.21 in (24.31 x 16.54 x 3.07 cm)
  • Category History - General History
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 83008187
  • Dewey Decimal Code 306.7

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pleasure wars - the bourgeois experience, victoria to freud
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pleasure wars - the bourgeois experience, victoria to freud

by gay, peter

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Pleasure Wars (Bourgeois Experience, Victoria to Freud, Vol V)
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Pleasure Wars (Bourgeois Experience, Victoria to Freud, Vol V)

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W W Norton & Co Inc. Used - Very Good. Minimal wear to cover. Pages clean and binding tight. shelf wear. bumped edges. Hardcover.
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Pleasure Wars : The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud
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Pleasure Wars : The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud

by Gay, Peter

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9780393045703 / 0393045706
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Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W. Used - Good. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
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Pleasure Wars : The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud
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Pleasure Wars : The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud

by Gay, Peter

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Used
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780393045703 / 0393045706
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Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W. Used - Good. Former library copy. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
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Pleasure Wars : The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud
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Pleasure Wars : The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud

by Gay, Peter

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Used
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780393045703 / 0393045706
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Description:
Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W. Used - Good. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
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Pleasure Wars (Bourgeois Experience, Victoria to Freud, Vol V)
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Pleasure Wars (Bourgeois Experience, Victoria to Freud, Vol V)

by Gay, Peter

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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0000-00-00. hardcover. Used: Good. 6.50x1.50x10.00. Buy with confidence. Excellent Customer Service & Return policy.
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Pleasure Wars

Pleasure Wars: The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud

by Peter Gay

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  • Hardback
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Good
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Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780393045703 / 0393045706
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Ex-library book with typical stamps, marks and stickers. Interior pages clean and unmarked, like new. Minor wear to dust jacket edges. Firm binding. Black marker lines drawn on top and side edges. 324 pages including index.
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Pleasure Wars: The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud
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Pleasure Wars: The Bourgeois Experience: Victoria to Freud

by Gay, Peter

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  • Hardback
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VG+
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780393045703 / 0393045706
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New York: W. W. Norton, 1998. 324 pages, ills., notes, biblio. essays, index, spine extremities bumped, dj extremities bumped with small tear at bottom of dj spine.. Hb.. VG+/VG-.
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A$17.33
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Pleasure Wars (Bourgeois Experience, Victoria to Freud, Vol V)
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Pleasure Wars (Bourgeois Experience, Victoria to Freud, Vol V)

by Peter Gay

  • Used
  • Very good
  • Hardback
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Very good
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Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780393045703 / 0393045706
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Description:
W. W. Norton & Company, January 1998. Hardcover. Very Good. Stated first edition. Minor shelving wear to the DJ edges. DJ is now protected by a mylar cover. Binding is tight and square. Pages are very clean and bright with no markings.
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Pleasure Wars: The Bourgeois Experience, Victoria to Freud
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Pleasure Wars: The Bourgeois Experience, Victoria to Freud

by Gay, Peter

  • Used
  • Very good
  • Hardback
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Very good
Edition
Second Printing
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Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780393045703 / 0393045706
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A$21.66
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Description:
New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1998. Volume 5 of Gay's monumental study of English cultural life. Stout hardcover. Light wear, minor bumping to corners; jacket shows a little edgewear. Text clean.. Second Printing. Hard Cover. Very Good/Good. Octavo.
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