Society and Sentiment: Genres of Historical Writing in Britain, 1740-1820Princeton University Press, 2000 M05 1 - 369 pages A deepening interest in both social and interior experience was a distinguishing feature of the cultural life of eighteenth-century Britain, influencing writers in all genres from fiction to philosophy. Focusing on this interplay of ideas and genres, Mark Phillips explores the ways in which writers and readers of history, memoir, biography and related literatures responded to the social and sentimental concerns of a modern, commercial society. He shows that the writing of history, which once concentrated exclusively on political events, widened its horizons in ways that often paralleled better-known developments in the contemporary novel. Ultimately, Phillips proposes a new model for the study of historiographical narrative. Countering tropological readings identified with Hayden White, he offers a more historically nuanced approach that stresses questions of genre and reception as a guide to understanding how narratives were reshaped by new audiences and new social needs. |
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... Social life and customs—19th century. 5. Historiography—Social aspects—Great Britain. 6. Sentimentalism— Social aspects—Great Britain. 7. Great Britain—Historiography. 8. Literary form. I. Title. DA1 .P53 2000 907'.2041—dc21 99-048753 ...
... social interests and compete for the attention of readers. In my view, the communicative function of genre com- bined with its historical changeability promise to make genre study an ap- proach to historiography that is both sensitive ...
... social and sentimental interests of the age. It seems to me unquestionable that the eighteenth century was a critical moment in the adaptation of classical understandings of history to the needs of a mod- ern, commercial, and ...
... social ones. Thus a properly historical account also needs to find ways to embed formalist concerns in a larger context that includes the conceptual debates and social interests that are the domain of intellectual his- tory. Only then ...
... Social Life” ROBERT HENRY'S History of Great Britain from the Invasion by the Romans under Julius Caesar (1771–93) has never enjoyed the reputation of David Hume's more polished History and now is all but forgotten. Yet in many ways ...
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Society and Sentiment: Genres of Historical Writing in Britain, 1740-1820 Mark Phillips No preview available - 2000 |
Society and Sentiment: Genres of Historical Writing in Britain, 1740-1820 Mark Phillips No preview available - 2000 |