Feeling British: Sympathy and National Identity in Scottish and English Writing, 1707-1832 (Bucknell Studies in Eighteenth-century Literature and Culture)

Feeling British Argues That The Discourse Of Sympathy Both Encourages And Problematizes A Sense Of Shared National Identity In Eighteenth-century And Romantic British Literature And Culture. Feeling British Starts By Examining The Political Implications Of The Scottish Enlightenment's Theorizations Of Sympathy, The Mechanism By Which Emotions Are Shared Between People. From These Philosophical Beginnings, This Study Tracks How Sympathetic Discourse Is Deployed By A Variety Of Authors - Including Defoe, Smollett, Johnson, Wordsworth, And Scott - Invested In Constructing, But Also In Questioning, An Inclusive Sense Of What It Means To Be British. --book Jacket. Introduction: Union And No Union: Feeling British In The Long Eighteenth Century -- That Propensity We Have: Sympathy, National Identity, And The Scottish Enlightenment -- Fools Of Prejudice: Smollett And The Novelization Of National Identity -- We Are Now One People: Boswell, Johnson, And The Renegotiation Of Anglo-scottish Relations -- Harp Of The North: Romantic Poetry And The Sympathetic Uses Of Scotland -- To Be At Once Another And The Same: Scott's Waverley Novels And The End(s) Of Sympathetic Britishness -- Conclusion: Imperfect Sympathies And The Devolution Of Britishness. Evan Gottlieb. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 250-267) And Index. Feeling British argues that the discourse of sympathy both encourages and problematizes a sense of shared national identity in eighteenth century and Romantic British literature and culture. Although the 1707 Act of Union officially joined. England and Scotland, government policy alone could not overcome, centuries of feuding and ill-will between these nations. Accordingly, the literary public sphere became a vital arena for the development and promotion of a new national identity Britishness Feeling British starts by examining the political implications of the Scottish Enlightenments theorizations of sympathy the mechanism by which emotions are shared between people From these philosophical beginnings this study tracks how sympathetic discourse is deployed by a variety of authors including Defoe, Smollett, Johnson Wordsworth and Scott -- invested in constructing but also in questioning an inclusive sense of what it means to be British.