Surprise: The Poetics of the Unexpected from Milton to Austen

by Christopher R. Miller

Today, in the era of the spoiler alert, "surprise" in fiction is primarily associated with an unexpected plot twist, but in earlier usage, the word had darker and more complex meanings. Originally denoting a military ambush or physical assault, surprise went through a major semantic shift in the eighteenth century: from violent attack to pleasurable experience, and from external event to internal feeling. In Surprise, Christopher R. Miller...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801453690
• ISBN13: 9780801453694
• Release Date: April 2015
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher