First published in 1987, this book engages directly with a selection of major texts from the traditional English literature syllabus and applies some of the techniques from the work of theorists such as Macherey, Balibar, Derrida, Foucault, Lacan and Deleuze. Focusing on questions of class and gender, on the nature of knowledge and power, on the distinction between the public and the private, display and consciousness, the work traces and celebrates the dispersal of Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, Mansfield Park, Vanity Fair and the novels of Charles Dickens. This work will be of interest to those studying nineteenth century English literature.