The Magic of Wealth is an 1815 novel by the British writer Thomas Skinner Surr, published in three volumes by Cadell & Davies in London. It focuses on the development of a new resort town by financial speculators. Surr negatively contrasts the speculative banker behind the development with the traditional elite represented by the local squire.[1] Thematically it is similar to Jane Austen's unfinished Sanditon (1817) and Walter Scott's Saint Ronan's Well (1823).[2] Surr's criticism of banks and financial speculation was a common theme in other novels of the era, including Thomas Gaspey's Calthorpe (1821).[3]

The Magic of Wealth
AuthorThomas Skinner Surr
LanguageEnglish
GenreDrama
PublisherCadell & Davies
Publication date
1815
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint

References

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  1. ^ The Encyclopedia of Romantic Literature p.1358
  2. ^ Jackson-Houlston p.148
  3. ^ Michie p.152

Bibliography

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  • Burwick, Frederick Goslee, Nancy Moore & Hoeveler Diane Long . The Encyclopedia of Romantic Literature. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
  • Jackson-Houlston, C.M. Gendering Walter Scott: Sex, Violence and Romantic Period Writing. Taylor & Francis, 2017.
  • Michie, Ranald. War On Wealth, The: Fact And Fiction In British Finance Since 1800. World Scientific, 2023.