English Literature in History

1730-80
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-041-04758-2
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 230 Seiten, Format (B × H): 138 mm x 216 mm

Reihe: Routledge Revivals

In eighteenth-century Britain, the study of history was understood first and foremost as the study of how states developed—and lost—their political coherence. But at the same time, writers, preoccupied by contemporary social change, were coming to believe that economic progress was largely dependent on an ever-increasing variety of trades and occupations. Could this highly differentiated society still be understood as ‘unified’, and if so, by whom? Dr Barrell argues that these questions were of central importance not only to historians and social philosophers, but also to poets, novelists, essayists, and even writers of grammar and dictionaries.

First published in 1983, English Literature in History examines how, in response to these questions, an economic theory of society was developed out of an earlier political view of society as an area of conflicting interests which could be regulated by disinterested statesmen and gentlemen. It shows how this new economic theory was perceived as a threat to the function and status of the gentleman, whose character had to be redefined if his authority was to be legitimated. Some of the ways in which this was achieved are traced in detailed analysis of the poetry of James Thomson and John Dyer, and in the novels of Tobias Smollett. A central chapter, focusing on Johnson’s Dictionary, demonstrates how notions of ‘correct’ English were used to confirm the status of the gentleman and to reinforce the authority of the ruling class.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Barrell, John

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Strömungen & Epochen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literatur: Sammlungen, Anthologien
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: artificers and gentlemen  1. An unerring gaze: the prospect of society in the poetry of James Thomson and John Dyer   2. The language properly so-called: the authority of common usage  3. A diffused picture, an uniform plan: Roderick Random in the labyrinth of Britain

Über Autor(innen)

John Barrell is Emeritus Professor of English at Queen Mary University of London, UK. His work is multi-disciplinary, combining literary criticism, the history of art, and cultural and political history.