Unhinging Perception - Fiction and Materiality in the Nineteenth-century Realist Novel

Unhinging Perception: Fiction and Materiality in the Nineteenth-Century Realist Novel reconsiders realism's relationship to materiality, fictionality, and human perception. Through a comparatist reading of novels by George Eliot, Theodor Fontane, and Emilia Pardo Bazán, the book situates their works within broader epistemological debates of the period and explores realism's metafictional mechanisms and their capacity to interrogate the limits of perception and interpretation. Engaging with questions central to literary theory, narrative studies, and material culture, Unhinging Perception contributes to ongoing conversations about realism and its critical legacies. Inês Robalo is a researcher at the Centre for Comparative Studies of the University of Lisbon, where she coordinates the research cluster Aesthetics of Memory and Emotion.