The Culture of the Gift in Eighteenth-Century England

Offering A Variety Of Disciplinary Perspectives, The Culture Of The Gift In Eighteenth-century England Analyzes The Long-overlooked Role Of Gift Exchange In Literary Texts, Cultural Documents, And Economic Relations In The Period From 1660-1800. Contributors Argue That The Gift Was Instrumental To The Workings Of Eighteenth-century Society: It Supported The Phenomenal Rise Of Charities, Explained The Increasingly Complicated Trade Relations, Enforced Conventions Of Obligation And Social Hierarchies, And Both Strengthened And Challenged The Emergence Of A Market Economy. Building Upon The Works Of Recent Theorists, These Essays Provide Innovative Readings Of How Gift Transactions Shaped The Institutions And Practices That Gave This Era Its Distinctive Identity.--jacket. Rights And Reciprocity In The Political And Philosophical Discourse Of Eighteenth-century England / Anna Moltchanova And Susannah Ottaway -- Charity Education And The Spectacle Of Christian Entertainment / Jad Smith -- Debt Without Redemption In A World Of Impossible Exchange : Samuel Richardson And Philanthropy / John A. Dussinger -- 'tis Better To Give : The Conduct Manual As Gift / Marilyn Francus -- The Gift Of An Education : Sarah Trimmer's Oeconomy Of Charity And The Sunday School Movement / Dorce Williams Elliott -- Obligation, Coercion, And Economy : The Deed Of Trust In Congreve's The Way Of The World / Cynthia Klekar -- The Erotics Of The Gift : Gender And Exchange In The Eighteenth-century Novel / Charles Haskell Hinnant -- Fictions Of The Gift In Sarah Scott's Millennium Hall / Jennie Batchelor -- The Nation, The Gift, And The Market In The Wanderer / Linda Zionkowski -- Josiah Wedgwood's Goodwill Marketing / Susan B. Egenolf -- Anson At Canton, 1743 : Obligation, Exchange, And Ritual In Edward Page's Secret History / Robert Markley. Edited By Linda Zionkowski And Cynthia Klekar. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [235]-252) And Index. The Culture of the Gift in Eighteenth-Century England analyzes the long overlooked role of gift exchange in literary texts and cultural documents and provides innovative readings of how gift transactions shaped the institutions and practices that gave this era its distinctive identity.