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Letters

Dayton Haskin

in John Donne in the Nineteenth Century

Of the thousands of decisions, large and small, taken in the 19th century by persons seeking to make John Donne's writings available in print, few were as influential as the publisher and the editor ... More

Of the thousands of decisions, large and small, taken in the 19th century by persons seeking to make John Donne's writings available in print, few were as influential as the publisher and the editor of The Works of John Donne, D.D. in the 1830s. John W. Parker published six volumes, instead of the requested four, for a new edition of the sermons. His liberality made it possible to include the sermons in their entirety. He also had to make a number of unexpected decisions. The most important was what to do with the additional space. Henry Alford chose to include works that had a conspicuously biographical interest: the Devotions, which according to Izaak Walton contained Donne's ‘most secret thoughts,’ poems mostly on religious subjects, especially holy dying, and virtually all the letters in prose and in verse. As it turned out, the prose letters became the most widely read section of the Works.Less

Sharing Public Spaces

Susan E. Whyman

in Walking the Streets of Eighteenth-Century London: John Gay's Trivia (1716)

This chapter examines the concept of public space and asks how individuals move through and interact in public arenas. It compares London street life in John Gay's Trivia: or, the Art of Walking the ... More

This chapter examines the concept of public space and asks how individuals move through and interact in public arenas. It compares London street life in John Gay's Trivia: or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London to a wide range of personal letters that link the poem to changes in transport and communications during the eighteenth century. Part literary, part historical, letters act as a bridge between the experiential world of the social historian and the textual world of the literary critic. The chapter finds permeable borders between the east and west ends of London, different types of genres, and disciplinary boundaries across the humanities. Reading Gay's Trivia means more than just crossing the streets of London. It also means crossing intellectual borders and entering a world where fact and fiction, history and literature, are muddled together.Less

Gold from Dirt (1737–1742)

Paul Baines and Pat Rogers

in Edmund Curll, Bookseller

This chapter discusses the continued fight between Curll and Pope. It mentions several published materials of Curll which are his own versions of earlier published works of other writers. It presents ... More

This chapter discusses the continued fight between Curll and Pope. It mentions several published materials of Curll which are his own versions of earlier published works of other writers. It presents letters containing Curll's thefts. It explains that the Chancery suit of Pope versus Curll holds great significance on a number of different levels. It remains a leading case in English law as the first important test regarding copyright in personal letters. The chapter evaluates the main contentions on Pope's and on Curll's side, and also discusses the satisfaction that was obtained by Pope from his legal battles with Curll, and associates Curll with four of the works on Merryland.Less

Embracing Opportunities the Construction of the Personal Letter

in The Postal Age: The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America

This chapter considers the practice of personal letter-writing from the perspective of new users. As increasing number of people were able and inclined to send letters in the public post, they ... More

This chapter considers the practice of personal letter-writing from the perspective of new users. As increasing number of people were able and inclined to send letters in the public post, they adjusted to shifting expectations of contact, formulated new models of correspondence, and wrestled with slippery notions of confidentiality. Taking a closer look at the epistolary texts of everyday life, the chapter examines the forms and conceptions of intimacy that grew up around the personal letter.Less

Private Letters: An Alternative Sphere for Cultural Discourse

Natalie Naimark-Goldberg

in Jewish Women in Enlightenment Berlin

This chapter discusses the role of personal correspondence as a vehicle for circulating ideas and opinions of enlightened Jewish women. The network of correspondence they sustained with many people ... More

This chapter discusses the role of personal correspondence as a vehicle for circulating ideas and opinions of enlightened Jewish women. The network of correspondence they sustained with many people in many cities in the German lands and even further afield constituted from their point of view a crucial means of participating in cultural discourse. Personal letters were an important channel through which these women could not only expand their horizons and acquire knowledge, but also demonstrate their intellectual abilities and participate in public discourse on literature, theatre, politics, and religion, among many other subjects. Thus, a study of their correspondence enables one to assess the involvement of these Jewish women in the contemporary world of culture — an involvement at times hidden from the public gaze and partly revealed in their epistles. Women also employed the epistolary form in order to participate in the intellectual activity of the Haskalah, but this happened only in a later period.Less

The Thing-Bag: A Public-Private Place

Brandon M. Schechter

in The Stuff of Soldiers: A History of the Red Army in World War II through Objects

This chapter studies the soldier's knapsack, exploring the few personal items that soldiers carried, from knickknacks to print propaganda to personal letters. Given the nomadic nature of soldiers' ... More

This chapter studies the soldier's knapsack, exploring the few personal items that soldiers carried, from knickknacks to print propaganda to personal letters. Given the nomadic nature of soldiers' existence and the lack of free space in their packs, these items had to be either useful or precious. The thing-bag was the closest thing soldiers had to a private place. However, like everything else in the army, the soldier's pack was subject to random inspections. Superiors could look into thing-bags if they so desired, and they were encouraged to do so. The only nonmilitary items that soldiers were encouraged to carry in their packs were ephemera. Books, magazines, and newspapers were published to raise soldiers' morale, allowing them to expand their knowledge and distract themselves from the miseries of life at the front. In an army learning on the job, they also provided useful information about how to fight and transmitted the latest tactical innovations. Finally, this was the medium where soldiers could find explanations of the meaning of the war and their place in it. Of even greater importance were letters, which reified connections with home and allowed soldiers to participate in the lives of distant relatives.Less

Autobiography and Polemic: A Lay Theologian Amid the Conflicts of Confessional Divisions

in Church Mother: The Writings of a Protestant Reformer in Sixteenth-Century Germany

In the 1550s, Katharina Schütz Zell felt compelled to defend her own religious integrity and that of the first-generation reformers, both privately and publicly, in writings which have shaped the way ... More

In the 1550s, Katharina Schütz Zell felt compelled to defend her own religious integrity and that of the first-generation reformers, both privately and publicly, in writings which have shaped the way she has been remembered. This chapter presents a broad picture of the period when the divisions in the reform movement had become institutionalized. This process not only reflected development in both theology and practical ecclesiastical structures, but also sometimes required reinterpreting—or changing—what the first reformers had intended. Beyond finding themselves in an uncomfortable, shifting world, if they refused—as Schütz Zell did—to take sides, they often endured criticism or worse from the varied parties who were determined to label them one way or another and make them fit the new confessions or suffer the consequences.Less

Tod’s knowledge exchanges with his contemporaries in India

Florence D’Souza

in Knowledge, mediation and empire: James Tod's journeys among the Rajputs

Chapter 6 aims to arrive at a complete a picture of Tod as possible through his written mentions of and exchanges during his stay in India. Tod’s family had Scottish connections and his two maternal ... More

Chapter 6 aims to arrive at a complete a picture of Tod as possible through his written mentions of and exchanges during his stay in India. Tod’s family had Scottish connections and his two maternal uncles, names Heatly, were members of the Bengal Civil Service in India. Mentions of encounters with wild animals, hunting and fishing in India provide light entertainment for Tod’s readers, in the midst of his dense historical and political accounts. Allusions to tensions about British appointments and responsibilities, and a textual ellipsis in the travel narrative of Tod’s third journey from Mewar (June 1821 to March 1822) reveal official distrust between Tod and his hierarchical superior, David Ochterlony. Similarly, very few mentions of illness during the early years of Tod’s stay in Rajasthan (1819-1820), contrasted with more frequent experiences of ill health from 1820 onwards, indicate increased official pressures and professional worries. Tod’s field account book covering 30 months, from November 1819 to April 1822, provides some precise amounts Tod had to spend in his official capacity. Eleven letters in the local Urdu dialect, written from field positions in Rajasthan and Gujarat, by Tod to Rana Bheem Singh of Mewar, reveal Mewar political matters and the personal relationship between Tod and the Rana. Through a study of the various mentions and documents, we catch glimpses of a tormented but committed Tod.Less

The Man within: Ghubar-i-Khatir

Syeda Saiyidain Hameed

in Maulana Azad, Islam and the Indian National Movement

Ghubar-i-khatir contains Abul Kalam Azad’s personal letters, written during the first two years of his life inside the Ahmednagar Fort Prison (1942–5). These letters were addressed ... More

Ghubar-i-khatir contains Abul Kalam Azad’s personal letters, written during the first two years of his life inside the Ahmednagar Fort Prison (1942–5). These letters were addressed to Azad’s friend Nawab Sadr Yar Jung, Habibur Rahman Khan Sherwani, Rais of Bhikampur, Zilla Aligarh. The letters detail the circumstances of Azad’s imprisonment and highlight his views on a variety of subjects, such as how life must be lived fully and without fear of making mistakes; sin and morality; philosophy, religion, aesthetics and ethics; and the concept of God.Less

Conclusion

Ruth Nicole Brown

in Hear Our Truths: The Creative Potential of Black Girlhood

This concluding chapter features a series of personal letters that underscore the necessity of envisioning Black girlhood differently than it is described on mainstream television; popular magazines; ... More

This concluding chapter features a series of personal letters that underscore the necessity of envisioning Black girlhood differently than it is described on mainstream television; popular magazines; through statistics; and in policies that punish, segregate, and silence. The letters are addressed to people whose love and compassion is a testament to continue this work and who intimately know the necessity of maintaining personal healing while also advocating for the abolition of all forms of Black girl servitude. Moreover, it emphasizes that SOLHOT is not meant to be prescriptive and does not offer itself as a successful model of girl programming. The letters represent a kind of personal meditation that on the sly challenges systemic inequalities, appealing to those who inspire and motivate Black girlhood renewal as a space of freedom.Less

Oxford's Letters

in Monstrous Adversary: The Life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford

This chapter describes Oxford's surviving correspondence. These can be roughly divided into five groups: personal letters 1563 to 1604, mostly to William and (later) Robert Cecil (44); draft ... More

This chapter describes Oxford's surviving correspondence. These can be roughly divided into five groups: personal letters 1563 to 1604, mostly to William and (later) Robert Cecil (44); draft interrogatories, January 1581 (2); personal memoranda, 1591 to 1597 (4); letters on Cornish tin–mining 1595 to 1599 (18); and memoranda on the same 1595 to 1599 (9). Seventy–four items are entirely in Oxford's italic hand, while two are partly and one entirely in the hand of an amanuensis. The total number of words surviving from Oxford's pen surpasses 50,000.Less