The Crisis of Literature in the 1790s: Print Culture and the Public Sphere (Cambridge Studies in Romanticism, Series Number 36)

This book offers an original study of debates that arose in the 1790s about the nature and social role of literature and the new class of readers produced by the revolution in information and literacy in eighteenth-century England. The first part concentrates on the dominant arguments about the role of literature and the status of the author; the second shifts its focus to the debates about working-class activists and radical women authors, and examines the growth of a Romantic ideology within this context of political and cultural turmoil. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Series-title......Page 6 Title......Page 7 Copyright......Page 8 Dedication......Page 9 Contents......Page 11 Acknowledgements......Page 12 Abbreviations......Page 14 INTRODUCTION Problems now and then......Page 15 THE BOURGEOIS PUBLIC SPHERE......Page 26 ROMANTICISM......Page 29 THE MAKING OF ENGLISH STUDIES......Page 33 PART ONE Enlightenment......Page 37 SPARKS OF TRUTH......Page 39 UNENLIGHTENED MEN......Page 56 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE......Page 67 THESE PROSECUTING TIMES......Page 81 NOBLE MINDS......Page 90 THE MIDDLE RANKS......Page 101 THE FANTASY OF THE LIBRARY......Page 113 SOVEREIGNS OF REASON......Page 129 PART TWO Marginalia......Page 147 PREAMBLE Swinish multitudes......Page 149 CAREFUL SAVING MORAL MEN AND WOMEN......Page 156 A MIGHTY LEVER......Page 169 REVERENCING THE RIGHTS OF HUMANITY......Page 185 THE FEMALE QUIXOTES OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY......Page 206 A MEMORABLE GRAVE......Page 212 THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS......Page 220 TERRA INCOGNITA......Page 227 A RIGHT UNDERSTANDING......Page 231 TREASURED TEXTS......Page 239 MEN OF GENIUS......Page 250 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH’S SOCIAL CONTRACT......Page 254 INTRODUCTION: PROBLEMS NOW AND THEN......Page 269 1. THE REPUBLIC OF LETTERS......Page 271 2 MEN OF LETTERS......Page 276 PREAMBLE: SWINISH MULTITUDES......Page 282 3 THE POORER SORT......Page 283 4 MASCULINE WOMEN......Page 285 5 ORIENTAL LITERATURE......Page 289 CONCLUSION: ROMANTIC REVISIONS......Page 291 PRIMARY SOURCES......Page 293 SECONDARY SOURCES......Page 297 Index......Page 306 Cover 1 Half-title 3 Series-title 6 Title 7 Copyright 8 Dedication 9 Contents 11 Acknowledgements 12 Abbreviations 14 INTRODUCTION Problems now and then 15 THE BOURGEOIS PUBLIC SPHERE 26 ROMANTICISM 29 THE MAKING OF ENGLISH STUDIES 33 PART ONE Enlightenment 37 CHAPTER ONE The republic of letters 39 SPARKS OF TRUTH 39 UNENLIGHTENED MEN 56 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE 67 THESE PROSECUTING TIMES 81 CHAPTER TWO Men of letters 90 NOBLE MINDS 90 THE MIDDLE RANKS 101 THE FANTASY OF THE LIBRARY 113 SOVEREIGNS OF REASON 129 PART TWO Marginalia 147 PREAMBLE Swinish multitudes 149 CHAPTER THREE The poorer sort 156 CAREFUL SAVING MORAL MEN AND WOMEN 156 A MIGHTY LEVER 169 CHAPTER FOUR Masculine women 185 REVERENCING THE RIGHTS OF HUMANITY 185 THE FEMALE QUIXOTES OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY 206 A MEMORABLE GRAVE 212 CHAPTER FIVE Oriental literature 220 THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 220 TERRA INCOGNITA 227 A RIGHT UNDERSTANDING 231 TREASURED TEXTS 239 CONCLUSION Romantic revisions 250 MEN OF GENIUS 250 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH鈥橲 SOCIAL CONTRACT 254 Notes 269 INTRODUCTION: PROBLEMS NOW AND THEN 269 1. THE REPUBLIC OF LETTERS 271 2 MEN OF LETTERS 276 PREAMBLE: SWINISH MULTITUDES 282 3 THE POORER SORT 283 4 MASCULINE WOMEN 285 5 ORIENTAL LITERATURE 289 CONCLUSION: ROMANTIC REVISIONS 291 Bibliography 293 PRIMARY SOURCES 293 SECONDARY SOURCES 297 Index 306 This book offers an original study of the debates which arose in the 1790s about the nature and social role of literature. Paul Keen shows how these debates were situated at the intersection of the French Revolution and a more gradual revolution in information and literacy reflecting the aspirations of the professional classes in eighteenth-century England. He shows these movements converging in hostility to a new class of readers, whom critics saw as dangerously subject to the effects of seditious writings or the vagaries of literary fashion. The first part of the book concentrates on the dominant arguments about the role of literature and the status of the author; the second shifts its focus to the debates about working-class activists, radical women authors, and the Orientalists, and examines the growth of a Romantic ideology within this context of political and cultural turmoil. "This book offers an original study of the debates which arose in the 1790s about the nature and social role of literature. Paul Keen shows how these debates were situated at the intersection of the French Revolution and a more gradual revolution in information and literacy reflecting the aspirations of the professional classes in eighteenth-century England. He traces the convergence of these movements in a shared hostility to a new class of readers, whom critics saw as dangerously subject to the effects of seditious writings or the vagaries of literary fashion."--Jacket Introduction Problems Now And Then -- Pt. 1. Enlightenment. 1. The Republic Of Letters. 2. Men Of Letters -- Pt. 2. Marginalia -- Preamble Swinish Multitudes. 3. The Poorer Sort. 4. Masculine Women. 5. Oriental Literature Paul Keen. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 279-291) And Index.