Reading Christopher Smart in the Twenty-first Century: "By Succession of Delight" (Transits: Literature, Thought & Culture, 1650–1850)

Front Flap: Poet, essayist, actor, hymn-writer, wit, magazine editor, transvestite stage performer: Christopher Smart, Georgian don-turned-writer, was all of these. He was, and remains, a mercurial individual, an idiosyncratic yet strangely familiar writer of spiritual heights and material depths. His paradoxical exuberance fascinates scholars of eighteenth-century culture, and this collection of essays, a snapshot of current scholarship from both new and established Smart scholars, offers, among others, literary, theological, dramatic and philosophical perspectives on his writing. Here are new ways of reading familiar Smart works — including the astonishing, devout poem of his incarceration, Jubilate Agno — and unfamiliar ones, such as his translations and writing for children. Unexpected readers of Smart, from Coleridge to a testy anonymous annotator, are examined, and Smart's sacred translations and profane stage presence each find a place. Tom Keymer's re-evaluating afterword finds the quality of “betweenness” in Smart's work: between eras, between genres, between forms, Smart's vitality demands reassessment for each new generation of readers. Contributors: Karina Williamson, Min Wild, Rosalind Powell, Fraser Easton, Clement Hawes, William E. Levine, Noel Chevalier, Lori A. Branch, Daniel J. Ennis, Chris Mounsey, Debbie Welham, Tom Keymer. Back Flap: The editors Min Wild's monograph Christopher Smartand Satire on Smart's Midwife, was published in 2008, and various articles and reviews of a Smartian bent have followed. Her interest in that eighteenth-century favorite, the literary mode of prosopopoeia, has led her to investigate the personification of words, texts and literary modes themselves. She lectures in eighteenth-century literature and theory at Plymouth University, UK, and reviews in the Times Literary Supplement and elsewhere. Noel Chevalier is Associate Professor of English at Luther College, University of Regina, Canada. He has published articles on Jubilate Agno and on Smart’s challenge to “legitimate” playhouses in Mrs. Midnight’sOratory. Although his specialty lies in the eighteenth century, his teaching and research cover a diverse range of topics, from literary responses to the Bible, to the roots of globalization, to literary representations of science and scientists. He has helped create two interdisciplinary programs at Luther: one which addresses literature for students in the sciences, and one which explores the philosophical, political, economic, and cultural contexts of globalization. Jacket illustration: "Amaryllis sarniensis or Guernsey Amaryllis," from William Curtis, The Botanical Magazine; or, Flower-GardenDisplayed, Vol. IX. No. 294. London, 1795. Machine Generated Contents Note: Pt. I Smart On The Page: Readings, Rereadings, And Mis-readings -- 1.marginalia In Smart's Horace: The Reader As Critic / Karina Williamson -- 2.christopher Smart, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, And The Tradition Of Learned Wit / Min Wild -- 3.making An Impression: Christopher Smart's Idea Of Writing Well / Rosalind Powell -- 4.christopher Smart's Elocution / Fraser Easton -- Pt. Ii Smart In The Madhouse: Revisiting The Fool For The Sake Of Christ -- 5.poised Poesis: Ecstasy In Jubilate Agno / Clement Hawes -- 6.keeping, Deflating, And Transcending The Fool's Conceit: Smart's Hybridization Of Satiric And Devotional Modes In His Translations Of The Psalms / William E. Levine -- Pt. Iii Smart In (sunday) School: Reading The Work For Children -- 7.breaking The Circle Of The Sciences: Newton, Newbery, And Christopher Smart's New Learning / Noel Chevalier -- 8.the Smallness Of Hope, Or Reason And The Child: The Case For A Postsecular Christopher Smart / Lori A. Branch -- Pt. Iv Smart On The Stage: Reviewing Mrs. Midnight's Oratory And Other Pieces -- 9.christopher Smart, Mary Midnight, And The Haymarket, 1755 / Daniel J. Ennis -- 10.of Calling Cards And Miss Leroche: Christopher Smart And Leicester House / Chris Mounsey -- 11.the Lady And The Old Woman: Mrs. Midnight The Orator And Her Political Provenance / Debbie Welham. Edited By Min Wild And Noel Chevalier. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. The book stands as a new bench-mark in Smart studies for the 21st century. The essays explore the energy of Christopher Smart's wide-ranging participation in eighteenth-century print culture: not only his often unbuttoned and vigorous writings themselves, but also the multiple cultural fields in which he operated, which included poetry, journalism, hymns and songs, translation, the theatre and books for children; thus the book offers rich insights into eighteenth-century literary, political and cultural history.