Woodová Meiksins

''Coward! Sneak! May good men shun him, from henceforth! may his Queen refuse to receive him! You, an earl''s daughter! Oh, Isabel! How utterly you have lost yourself!''When the aristocratic Lady Isabel abandons her husband and children for her wicked seducer, more is at stake than moral retribution. Ellen Wood played upon the anxieties of the Victorian middle classes who feared a breakdown of the social order as divorce became more readily available and promiscuity threatened the sanctity of the family. In her novel the simple act of hiring a governess raises the spectres of murder, disguise, and adultery. Her sensation novel was devoured by readers from the Prince of Wales to Joseph Conrad and continued to fascinate theatre-goers and cinema audiences well into the next century. This edition returns for the first time to the racy, slang-ridden narrative of the first edition, rather than the subsequent stylistically ''improved'' versions hitherto reproduced by modern editors. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Ellen Wood’s sensation novel of 1861 found immediate popularity on its first publication. Its themes of infidelity and double identity attracted a wide range of readers, from the Prince of Wales to Joseph Conrad. Lady Isabel Carlyle leaves her husband and children for the aristocratic Francis Levison who, as it turns out, has no intention of marrying her.

Renomovaná autorka vo svojej knihe nahliada pod povrch systému, vysvetľuje jeho štruktúru, mechanizmy a rozoberá princípy fungovania kapitalizmu i z neho zrodeného nového imperializmu – imperializmu kapitálu. Predstavuje analytické a zároveň i historické pojednanie o kapitalistickom imperializme, o jeho hybných silách a odlišnostiach v porovnaní s inými formami imperializmu. Autorkina sonda odkrýva mechanizmy kapitalizmu, ktoré sú dnes zahmlené a skryté v pozadí, kým v minulosti bývalo centrum moci zrejmé a štrukturalizované. Rozoberá vzťah medzi ekonomickou a politickou mocou v kapitalizme a odhaľuje skutočnú úlohu vojenskej moci v ňom, ale i rozporuplnosť systému, v ktorom je na udržanie globalizovaného hospodárstva potrebný systém viacerých štátov. Tvrdí, že nový imperializmus býva označovaný ako globalizácia, pričom dôvodom je podľa nej jeho závislosť od ekonomickej nadvlády presahujúcej geografické hranice či politické kompetencie. Kapitalistický systém autorka prekvapivo demaskuje ako „anarchistický systém, v ktorom zákony trhu ohrozujú spoločenský poriadok“.