The Gray Ordinariness of the Bourgeoisie
Franco Moretti, The Bourgeois. Between History and Literature, London-New York 2013.
When we think of the nineteenth-century bourgeoisie, we have two pictures to consider – the furious activity of modern entrepreneurs using every possible means in order to multiply their property, but also the quiet life of the urban middle class, its many ethical rules, its ascetic lifestyle and moral strictness. (...)