British sociability in the European Enlightenment : cultural practices and personal encounters

'Hansen and Domsch's collection of essays on the philosophy and practice of sociability in the eighteenth-century forges an innovative and rewarding new direction for sociability studies in British and European contexts. In a series of closely-examined and detailed case studies, it explores how individuals, both fictional and in real life, negotiated cross-cultural encounter through sociable and conversational practices, in locations for sociability like the coffee-house, assembly-room, and theatre, but also in less familiar venues like the waltz, the spa-town, and the letter.' - Markman Ellis, Professor of Eighteenth-Century Studies, Queen Mary University of London, UK. This volume covers a broad range of everyday private and public, touristic, commercial and fictional encounters between Britons and continental Europeans, in a variety of situations and places: moments that led to a meaningful exchange of opinions, practices, or concepts such as friendship or politeness. It argues that, taken together, travel accounts, commercial advice, letters, novels and philosophical works of the long eighteenth century, reveal the growing impact of British sociability on the sociable practices on the continent, and correspondingly, the convivial turn of the Enlightenment. In particular, the essays collected here discuss the ways and means - in conversations, through travel guides or literary works - by which readers and writers grappled with their cultural differences in the field of sociability. The first part deals with travellers, the second section with the spreading of various cultural practices, and the third with fictional encounters in philosophical dialogues and novels Acknowledgements Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures Chapter 1: Introduction Bibliography Part I: Conceptualizing Sociability: Travel and Tourism Chapter 2: The Cham on the Seine: Dr Johnson in Paris (and Mrs Thrale) Bibliography Chapter 3: Enlightened Fratriotism: Boswell in Corsica, Paoli in London Extending the Salon: Boswell’s Journey to Corsica Concentrating the Salon: Paoli in London Bibliography Chapter 4: Communing with the Fictional Dead: Grave Tourism and the Sentimental Novel The Tomb of the Lovers The Death of Maria, and Her Graves The Cult of Charlotte Bibliography Chapter 5: Medicinal Sociability: British Bluestockings and the Continental Spa Between Correspondence and Conversation Sociable Tourism: Company and Companionship Sociable and Unsociable Activities Culture Contact and Conflict Bibliography Part II: Practicing Sociability: Conflict, Commerce, and Cultural Transfer Chapter 6: Philip Thicknesse’s Sociable Encounters in France: The Politics of Eccentricity A Brief Presentation of a Querulous Man: Sociability, Conflict and Eccentricity Thicknesse’s Controversial Perception of French Sociability: The War with Britain Continued From ‘Practical’ Sociability to Nationalism: A Process of Reconciliation and Integration of Eccentricity Bibliography Chapter 7: Elizabeth Craven, Private Theatricals and Friedrich Schiller’s The Robbers Private Theatres and Theatricals Authorship: “[...] but I confess I have added” The Theatre: “The Muse Thalia Holds Imperial Sway” The Margravine’s Robbers: Free from “Jacobinical Speeches” Bibliography Chapter 8: “The English can’t waltz, never can, never will”: The Politics of Waltzing in Romantic Britain William Hogarth’s “line of grace”: Shaping the English Body, Normalizing the Social Body The Aesthetic and Popular Reception of the Dis-graceful Waltz Pathologizing the Waltz “Waltzing was made for souls of noble daring”: Charlotte Dacre’s heroic waltz Bibliography Chapter 9: Sociable Encounters in Model Commercial Letters Available Sources European Networks and Possible Contacts Business and Sociability Bibliography Part III: Fictionalizing Sociability: Conversation, Friendship and Philosophy Chapter 10: ‘Musick in their Company’: (Per)Forming Friendship and Early Enlightenment Sociability in Frances Brooke’s The History of Lady Julia Mandeville Friendship Virtues and Enlightened Sociability ‘Virtues of the Same Kind’: Equality and Kindness in the Friendships of Lady Anne Wilmot Staging Sociability: A Narrative Performance of Friendship Values Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 11: Robinson Crusoe: Speech, Conversation, Sociability Bibliography Chapter 12: Reshaping the Leviathan: A Commonwealth Built around Sociable Encounters in Shaftesbury’s Characteristicks Unsociable Encounters: Humanist Classicism, Sensus Communis, and the Leviathan of Dogmatism Practical Sociability: The Private Regimen as the Art of Life How to Avoid Unsociability: Satire and the Real Thrust of Shaftesbury’s Sociable Encounters Bibliography Chapter 13: Hume and de Maistre: Sociable Fundamentalism Hume’s Dialogues De Maistre’s Les Soirées A Solvent of Fanaticism Bibliography Index This volume covers a broad range of everyday private and public, touristic, commercial and fictional encounters between Britons and continental Europeans, in a variety of situations and places: moments that led to a meaningful exchange of opinions, practices, or concepts such as friendship or politeness. It argues that, taken together, travel accounts, commercial advice, letters, novels and philosophical works of the long eighteenth century, reveal the growing impact of British sociability on the sociable practices on the continent, and correspondingly, the convivial turn of the Enlightenment. In particular, the essays collected here discuss the ways and means - in conversations, through travel guides or literary works - by which readers and writers grappled with their cultural differences in the field of sociability. The first part deals with travellers, the second section with the spreading of various cultural practices, and the third with fictional encounters in philosophical dialogues and novels. -- Provided by publisher