Scottish Men of Letters and the New Public Sphere, 1802-1834 (The Bucknell Studies in Eighteenth-century Literature and Culture)

"A mere intellectual bazaar": the Edinburgh review in (and as) the public sphere, 1802-1808 -- "Edinburgh is a talking town": Christopher North and the review essay as conversational exhibition -- "A deal more safe as well as dignified": Lockhart's modified amateurism and the shame of authorship -- "Our own periodical pulpit": the Presbyterian sermon, Carlyle's homiletic essays, and Scottish periodical writing.;Each of the writings this book deals with were influenced by and capitalized on certain aspects of Scottish culture in the late-18th and early 19th centuries and those cultural influences combined to forge a rhetorical approach that practically guaranteed the Scottish men of letters a dominant place in the public sphere. This book covers the Edinburgh Review in and as the public sphere 1802-08; Christopher North and the review essay as conversational exhibition; Lockhart's modified amateurism and the shame of authorship; and the Presbyterian sermon, Carlyle's homiletic essays, and Scottish periodical writing. Why were Scottish writers able to dominate the field of periodical literature throughout the nineteenth century? This book answers this question by examining the period when the Scots' dominance was at its height: the three decades after the founding of the Edinburgh Review in 1802. The author discusses the ways in which four writers at the vanguard of Scottish periodical writing--Francis Jeffrey, John Wilson, John Gibson Lockhart, and Thomas Carlyle--exemplify the historical and cultural dynamics that occasioned Scottish dominance of what Jurgen Habermas would later call the "public sphere." Barton Swaim is a communications advisor. A Mere Intellectual Bazaar: The Edinburgh Review In (and As) The Public Sphere, 1802-1808 -- Edinburgh Is A Talking Town: Christopher North And The Review Essay As Conversational Exhibition -- A Deal More Safe As Well As Dignified: Lockhart's Modified Amateurism And The Shame Of Authorship -- Our Own Periodical Pulpit: The Presbyterian Sermon, Carlyle's Homiletic Essays, And Scottish Periodical Writing. Barton Swaim. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 197-213) And Index.