The Talk of the Town: Figurative Publics in Eighteenth-Century Britain (Bucknell Studies in Eighteenth-Century Literature and Cultur)

This study argues that in eighteenth-century Britain, the public sphere was a figure of speech created by juxtaposed images of more limited, local, and particular arenas of discussion. In letters, newspapers, and books, eighteenth-century British writers described the public qualities of three different spaces: court, coffeehouse, and meeting. Writers referred to the proliferation of these social spaces, describing multiple coffeehouses, drawing rooms, and meetings, among which the customary language of each was circulated in repeated conversations and printed newspapers.These multiple references created a set of interrelated, competing, and mutually defining metaphors and figurations: figurative public spheres. Identifying the relations between these metaphors requires work in an archive that crosses the boundaries between court, coffeehouse, and Parliament, and between manuscript and print. By following figures from one medium to another, and by examining the contexts in which they were used, it is possible to see a social imaginary emerging from the juxtapositions between them. Ann C. Dean is Associate Professor of English at the University of Southern Maine. One crucial element in developing a republican government is imagining a public engaged in rational political discussion, says Dean (English, U. of Southern Maine). She argues that in 18th-century Britain, the public sphere was a figure of speech created by juxtaposing images of gatherings at court, in coffeehouses, and in Parliament--all arenas not in fact accessible to the general public. Distributed in the US by Associated University Presses. Annotation 2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) This Book Persuasively Analyzes The Relations Between The Eighteenth-century Press And Public Speech.--book Jacket. Figuring Coffehouse Talk In The Spectator And Its Heirs -- Creating A Clamor: The Language Of Court Politics -- Clamor In The Newspapers: Figurative Publics In Midcentury Newspaper Writing -- Candid Debate: Representing Parliamentary Procedure -- Epilogue: Figurative Publics And Revolutionary Discourse. Ann C. Dean. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 140-143) And Index.