Manners, Norms and Transgressions in the History of English : Literary and Linguistic Approaches

This volume traces the multifaceted concept of manners in the history of English from the late medieval through the early and late modern periods right up to the present day. It focuses in particular on transgressions of manners and norms of behaviour as an analytical tool to shed light on the discourse of polite conduct and styles of writing. The papers collected in this volume adopt both literary and linguistic perspectives. The fictional sources range from medieval romances and Shakespearean plays to eighteenth-century drama, Lewis Carroll’s Alice books and present-day television comedy drama. The non-fictional data includes conduct books, medical debates and petitions written by lower class women in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The contributions focus in particular on the following questions: What are the social and political ideologies behind rules of etiquette and norms of interaction, and what can we learn from blunders and other transgressions? Table of contents Preface Manners, norms and transgressions: Introduction • Irma Taavitsainen and Andreas H. Jucker Ipomedon and the elusive nature of blunders in the courtly literature of medieval England • Tatjana Silec-Plessis Unrestrained acting and norms of behaviour: Excess and instruction in The Legend of Good Women • Laura Pereira Domínguez Blunders and (un)‍intentional offence in Shakespeare • Urszula Kizelbach The discourse of manners and politeness in Restoration and eighteenth-century drama • Andreas H. Jucker “This Demon Anger”: Politeness, conversation and control in eighteenth-century conduct books for young women • Erzsi Kukorelly A medical debate of “heated pamphleteering” in the early eighteenth century • Irma Taavitsainen Transgressions as a socialisation strategy in Samuel Richardson’s The Apprentice’s Vade Mecum (1734) • Polina Shvanyukova Variations from letter-writing manuals: Humble petitions signed by women in Late Modern London • Nuria Calvo Cortés Impoliteness in Blunderland: Carroll’s Alice books and the manners in which manners fail • Isabel Ermida “Collect a thousand loyalty points and you get a free coffin”: Creative impoliteness in the TV comedy drama Doc Martin • Steve Buckledee “Meaning you have been known to act rashly”: How Molly Weasley negotiates her identity as a moral authority in conflicts in the Harry Potter series • Jana Pelclová Name index Subject index "This volume traces the multifaceted concept of manners in the history of English from the late medieval through the early and late modern periods right up to the present day. It focuses in particular on transgressions of manners and norms of behaviour as an analytical tool to shed light on the discourse of polite conduct and styles of writing. The papers collected in this volume adopt both literary and linguistic perspectives. The fictional sources range from medieval romances and Shakespearean plays to eighteenth-century drama, Lewis Carroll's Alice books and present-day television comedy drama. The non-fictional data includes conduct books, medical debates and petitions written by lower class women in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The contributions focus in particular on the following questions: What are the social and political ideologies behind rules of etiquette and norms of interaction, and what can we learn from blunders and other transgressions?"-- Provided by publisher