scholarly journals 'This Pestiferous Reading': The Social Basis of Reaction Against The Novel in Late Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century Britain

1985 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 183
Author(s):  
Gary Kelly
2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Calhoun

In this article I ask (1) whether the ways in which the early bourgeois public sphere was structured—precisely by exclusion—are instructive for considering its later development, (2) how a consideration of the social foundations of public life calls into question abstract formulations of it as an escape from social determination into a realm of discursive reason, (3) to what extent “counterpublics” may offer useful accommodations to failures of larger public spheres without necessarily becoming completely attractive alternatives, and (4) to what extent considering the organization of the public sphere as a field might prove helpful in analyzing differentiated publics, rather than thinking of them simply as parallel but each based on discrete conditions. These considerations are informed by an account of the way that the public sphere developed as a concrete ideal and an object of struggle in late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century Britain.


2019 ◽  
pp. 47-73
Author(s):  
Michelle Burnham

This chapter focuses on American mathematical schoolbooks from the age of revolutions, as well as associated genres such as manuals on bookkeeping, navigation, and insurance. Knowledge of these fields was crucial for the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century voyages of commerce and discovery that connected the Atlantic and Pacific, and these books introduced a wide variety of readers, including women, to the world of global trade. In their attention to the interrelated practices of calculation and speculation, these genres—in dialogue with literature on the lottery—taught readers the narrative dynamics of suspense that also informed the emerging genre of the novel. Like transoceanic travel narratives, novels were the textual companions to capitalism, offering readers regular practice in accommodating the sensations of expectation central to a world increasingly penetrated by global trade and its mechanisms of risk-taking and risk assessment. Novels emerged, in other words, as numberless representations of an increasingly number-driven world.


MANUSYA ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Choedphong Uttama

This paper interprets Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (1811) in the context of the literary and social debate about “sense” and “sensibility” in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century when the concept of sense was viewed with a suspicious eye as it might lead sensible persons to machination and manipulation; and, sensibility with a disapproving one as such it had been throughout the tradition of the anti-sentimental novel. This paper thus aims to argue that the portrayal of a female antagonist Lucy Steele who unites assumed sensibility and prudent, selfserving sense to achieve her ambitious aims shows that the novel was responsive to the belief promoted by the antisentimental works that sensibility could be feigned and used to dupe others and at the time rejected the idea that (too much) sense is a desirable quality.


Author(s):  
Benjamin Woods

This article contributes to a small body of criticism concerning Sylvester Judd’s 1845 novel Margaret. Largely described as a “Transcendentalist” novel that critiques the Calvinist theology prevalent in late-eighteenth-early-nineteenth century New England village society, I argue for an interpretation of the novel that is concerned the interaction between Calvinism and the Congregationalist model of social and religious organization over time. Rather than just exposing the negative social ramifications Calvinist doctrines like total depravity can have on New England society, I assert that the novel exposes the limitations in Puritan Congregationalist ideals espoused by early figures such as John Winthrop through the example of Livingston. The new Unitarian-congregationalist model Livingston adopts in discarding Calvinism suggests Judd’s resolute faith in Winthrop’s original Congregationalist mission. Judd does not imagine a radical Utopia, but instead offers a more pragmatic reform that is fundamentally Unitarian in its emphasis on humanity's essential goodness and limitless capacity for moral improvement.


Urban History ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
HANNAH BARKER

ABSTRACT:This article explores the nature of trust in the fast growing and rapidly changing urban environments of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century England through an examination of medical advertisements published in newspapers in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield between 1760 and 1820. The ways in which medicines were promoted suggest not just a belief that the market in medicines operated both rationally and fairly, but also a conception that a trustworthy ‘public’ existed that was not limited to the social elite but was instead constituted of a more socially diverse range of individuals.


Author(s):  
Benjamin Woods

This article contributes to a small body of criticism concerning Sylvester Judd’s 1845 novel Margaret. Largely described as a “Transcendentalist” novel that critiques the Calvinist theology prevalent in late-eighteenth-early-nineteenth century New England village society, I argue for an interpretation of the novel that is concerned the interaction between Calvinism and the Congregationalist model of social and religious organization over time. Rather than just exposing the negative social ramifications Calvinist doctrines like total depravity can have on New England society, I assert that the novel exposes the limitations in Puritan Congregationalist ideals espoused by early figures such as John Winthrop through the example of Livingston. The new Unitarian-congregationalist model Livingston adopts in discarding Calvinism suggests Judd’s resolute faith in Winthrop’s original Congregationalist mission. Judd does not imagine a radical Utopia, but instead offers a more pragmatic reform that is fundamentally Unitarian in its emphasis on humanity's essential goodness and limitless capacity for moral improvement.


Author(s):  
Paulo Henrique Trentin

ResumoEste texto faz uma reflexão acerca da importância sugerida pelos autores, tradutores e outros personagens responsáveis pela divulgação dos conhecimentos científicos do final do século XVIII ao início do século XIX no Brasil. Selecionamos, para nosso estudo, as seguintes obras:   Elementos de Astronomia, 1813, Tratado Elementar de Machanica, 1812, Tratado de Optica, 1813, Tratado Elementar de Physica tomo II, 181 e o Jornal O Patriota, 1813-1814. O estudo apresenta as expectativas manifestadas pelos autores, tradutores e editores dos textos selecionados, no que se refere a importância social, política ou econômica, que davam aos seus trabalhos. Especificamente, centramos na identificação das manifestações dos autores dos textos entendendo que, além do ambiente social, político e econômico ao qual pertenciam, seus anseios, desejos e expectativas também fizeram parte das obras que constituíram. Dialogamos com autores como: Luís Miguel Carolino; Maria Odila Leite da Silva Dias e Lorelai Kury, constituindo um pano de fundo nessa empreitada. O estudo que realizamos permitiu considerar que não há uma resposta definitiva e que não podemos apontar que ambições ou expectativas os editores, autores ou tradutores exatamente tiveram para divulgar conhecimentos científicos. Porém, no que se refere a “utilidade” que atribuíam ao conhecimento divulgado, pudemos aprofundar um pouco mais e trazer algumas considerações que podem contribuir com análises e reflexões sobre a temática.   Palavras-chave: Conhecimento Científico; Utilidade; Divulgação de Conhecimento; História da Ciência.AbstractThis text reflects on the importance suggested by authors, translators and other persons responsible for the dissemination of scientific knowledge, from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century in Brazil. We selected the following texts to support our study: Elementos de Astronomia, 1813, Tratado Elementar de Machanica, 1812, Tratado de Optica, 1813, Tratado Elementar de Physica tomo II, 181 e o Jornal O Patriota, 1813-1814. The analysis presents some expectations expressed by the authors, translators and editors of these selected texts regarding the social, political or economic importance they gave to their work. Specifically, we focused on the identification of the manifestations of the authors of the texts, understanding that, in addition to the social, political and economic environment to which they belonged, their yearnings, desires and expectations were also part of the works they constituted. We dialogue with authors like: Luis Miguel Carolino; Maria Odila Leite da Silva Dias and Lorelai Kury, constituting a background in this endeavor. The study we conducted allowed us to consider that there is no definitive answer and that we cannot point out what ambitions or expectations the editors, authors or translators had exactly to disseminate scientific knowledge. However, with regard to the "usefulness" they attributed to the knowledge disseminated, we were able to deepen a little more and bring some considerations that can contribute with analyzes and reflections on the subject.Keywords: Scientific knowledge; Usefulness; Knowledge Disclosure; History of Science


Author(s):  
Ritchie Robertson

Ritchie Robertson situates Lessing’s text within debates over the proper depiction of extreme suffering in art, focusing on Goethe’s essay on the Laocoon group (1798), as well as other late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century works on the representation of pain. The issue of suffering in art was of utmost significance to Goethe’s ideology of the classical, Robertson explains; more than that, the themes introduced in Lessing’s essay—above all, its concerns with how suffering can be depicted in words and images—proved pivotal within Goethe’s prescriptions about the relationship between idealism and individuality (or ‘the characteristic’) in art. As part of a larger campaign against what he called ‘naturalism’ in art, Goethe argued that the ancients did not share the false notion that art must imitate nature. For Goethe, responding to Lessing, the power of the Laocoon group lay precisely in its depiction of bodily suffering as something not just beautiful, but also anmutig (‘sensuously pleasing’).


Author(s):  
Leo Tolstoy

Resurrection (1899) is the last of Tolstoy's major novels. It tells the story of a nobleman's attempt to redeem the suffering his youthful philandering inflicted on a peasant girl who ends up a prisoner in Siberia. Tolstoy's vision of redemption achieved through loving forgiveness, and his condemnation of violence, dominate the novel. An intimate, psychological tale of guilt, anger, and forgiveness, Resurrection is at the same time a panoramic description of social life in Russia at the end of the nineteenth century, reflecting its author's outrage at the social injustices of the world in which he lived. This edition, which updates a classic translation, has explanatory notes and a substantial introduction based on the most recent scholarship in the field.


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