Harriet Martineau on Literature, Morality, and Realism

Abstract

Abstract This chapter analyses Harriet Martineau’s theory of literature and art. Martineau believed that art’s purpose was to instil moral lessons, and that art must be morally good to be good as art. In her essays on Walter Scott, Martineau argued that literature should ‘exemplify’ moral principles, using vivid sensory impressions to present moral facts in lively and memorable imaginary cases. In addition, literature should extend sympathy as widely as possible, to reach working people in modern industrial life. Martineau put these views into practice in her best-selling Illustrations of Political Economy (1832–34). However, different components of Martineau’s moral framework were in tension, manifested in certain limitations of the Illustrations. Nonetheless, Martineau remains important both as a pioneer of literary realism and as an exemplary exponent of aesthetic moralism.