"The Limits of Familiarity uses an impressive array of archival materials and its case studies are meticulously detailed...[Eckert] shows the tenuousness of the line between familiarity and over-familiarity—the same author can be praised or pilloried, depending on the cultural mood. [I]t is a book focused on a particular historical moment. Yet its resonances ring far wider."
~The Times Literary Supplement
"With a wonderful eye for detail, Eckert opens rewarding angles of view on the often-contentious back-and-forth between authors and their publics that shaped Romantic-era literary culture. This remarkably lucid study contributes valuable new understanding both of writers’ careers and of the activity of readers across multiple spheres of reception."
~Eric Eisner, author of Nineteenth-Century Poetry and Literary Celebrity
"In her lucid examination of relationships between authors and readers, and especially writers’ attempts to negotiate the boundaries between personal closeness and public exposure, Eckert establishes familiarity’s centrality—as both promise and problem—to Romantic authorship."
~Andrew Franta, author of Romanticism and the Rise of the Mass Public
"In this fascinating book, ‘familiarity’ emerges as a crucial term for understanding Romantic-period culture. Eckert shows how authors walked a tightrope between cultivating familiarity with their readers and being overfamiliar towards them. Archival research, astute historical interpretation, and insightful criticism combine to reveal a history that resonates in the present."
~Tom Mole, editor of Romanticism and Celebrity Culture, 1750-1850
