R. P. Carroll
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780198263913
- eISBN:
- 9780191601187
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198263910.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This is the first of five chapters on the Old Testament and the reader, and addresses the question of the reader and the text. The first section looks at the social context of reading. The second ...
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This is the first of five chapters on the Old Testament and the reader, and addresses the question of the reader and the text. The first section looks at the social context of reading. The second outlines the three major groups of Bible readers: Jewish groups, Christian groups, and all other groups who read the Bible without commitment to either of these original/foundational groups—such as members of other religions and secularists. The third section discusses Enlightenment and post‐Enlightenment approaches taken to the Bible in the Western world in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and after, and also looks at postmodern critics of this approach. The fourth section, New Reading Strategies, discusses ideological criticism, the postmodern Bible, feminist readings, ethnicity, and fundamentalism.Less
This is the first of five chapters on the Old Testament and the reader, and addresses the question of the reader and the text. The first section looks at the social context of reading. The second outlines the three major groups of Bible readers: Jewish groups, Christian groups, and all other groups who read the Bible without commitment to either of these original/foundational groups—such as members of other religions and secularists. The third section discusses Enlightenment and post‐Enlightenment approaches taken to the Bible in the Western world in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and after, and also looks at postmodern critics of this approach. The fourth section, New Reading Strategies, discusses ideological criticism, the postmodern Bible, feminist readings, ethnicity, and fundamentalism.
Heather A. Haveman
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164403
- eISBN:
- 9781400873883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164403.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
This chapter looks at the history of American magazines during the period 1741–1860. It first traces the origins of magazines in Europe, where magazine publishing began in the late seventeenth ...
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This chapter looks at the history of American magazines during the period 1741–1860. It first traces the origins of magazines in Europe, where magazine publishing began in the late seventeenth century as printing presses became widespread. Among the early English-language magazines in this period were the Philosophical Transactions, A Review of the Affairs of France and of all Europe, and Gentleman's Magazine. The chapter proceeds by discussing the growth of the magazine industry in America from 1741 to 1860 as well as the evolving nature of magazine distribution in terms of audience, content, format, and genre variety, as well as publishing and readership geography. The chapter highlights the sharp distinction between the short-lived, small-circulation magazines of the mid-eighteenth century and the often long-lived, mass-circulation periodicals of the mid-nineteenth century.Less
This chapter looks at the history of American magazines during the period 1741–1860. It first traces the origins of magazines in Europe, where magazine publishing began in the late seventeenth century as printing presses became widespread. Among the early English-language magazines in this period were the Philosophical Transactions, A Review of the Affairs of France and of all Europe, and Gentleman's Magazine. The chapter proceeds by discussing the growth of the magazine industry in America from 1741 to 1860 as well as the evolving nature of magazine distribution in terms of audience, content, format, and genre variety, as well as publishing and readership geography. The chapter highlights the sharp distinction between the short-lived, small-circulation magazines of the mid-eighteenth century and the often long-lived, mass-circulation periodicals of the mid-nineteenth century.
Chana Kronfeld
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780804782951
- eISBN:
- 9780804797214
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804782951.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This chapter traces Amichai's reception and appropriation as a “national poet” of official celebrations in Israel and as a poet of simple religiosity in the Jewish American synagogue. Arguing that ...
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This chapter traces Amichai's reception and appropriation as a “national poet” of official celebrations in Israel and as a poet of simple religiosity in the Jewish American synagogue. Arguing that revolutionary poetry is too “dangerous” to be left alone to do its work, the chapter interrogates these misreadings not as mistakes that should be corrected but as informative expressions of hegemonic processes of canon formation. By contrast, the chapter illustrates the wrath with which early critics received his work, labeling it revolutionary and heretical – all this in an attempt to restore our ability to perceive these features in Amichai's poetry even today, despite its massive cooptation. The chapter also critiques the over-emphasis on thematics in literary studies, theorizing from Amichai's work a model for the politics of poetic form.Less
This chapter traces Amichai's reception and appropriation as a “national poet” of official celebrations in Israel and as a poet of simple religiosity in the Jewish American synagogue. Arguing that revolutionary poetry is too “dangerous” to be left alone to do its work, the chapter interrogates these misreadings not as mistakes that should be corrected but as informative expressions of hegemonic processes of canon formation. By contrast, the chapter illustrates the wrath with which early critics received his work, labeling it revolutionary and heretical – all this in an attempt to restore our ability to perceive these features in Amichai's poetry even today, despite its massive cooptation. The chapter also critiques the over-emphasis on thematics in literary studies, theorizing from Amichai's work a model for the politics of poetic form.
Tom Lockwood
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264706
- eISBN:
- 9780191734557
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264706.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, Milton Studies
This chapter examines Milton not as an absolute, but as a concept historically constructed and changing over time. It examines the ways in which the different Miltons are repaired and returned in the ...
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This chapter examines Milton not as an absolute, but as a concept historically constructed and changing over time. It examines the ways in which the different Miltons are repaired and returned in the twentieth century. Two of those many Milton revivals form the focus of the chapter: one constructed in polemic about how and why to read Milton; and the other constructed in and by the availability of actual Milton editions that were read over the century. The first section discusses Milton's changing place within academia and his movement from being the common property of men of letters and the common reader in general culture to become the sole preserve of the university-bound specialist in the narrower and less-rewarding culture of higher education. The second section examines Milton readership. It outlines Milton's different periodicities of publishing and reading through the twentieth century.Less
This chapter examines Milton not as an absolute, but as a concept historically constructed and changing over time. It examines the ways in which the different Miltons are repaired and returned in the twentieth century. Two of those many Milton revivals form the focus of the chapter: one constructed in polemic about how and why to read Milton; and the other constructed in and by the availability of actual Milton editions that were read over the century. The first section discusses Milton's changing place within academia and his movement from being the common property of men of letters and the common reader in general culture to become the sole preserve of the university-bound specialist in the narrower and less-rewarding culture of higher education. The second section examines Milton readership. It outlines Milton's different periodicities of publishing and reading through the twentieth century.
Lieve Van Hoof
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199583263
- eISBN:
- 9780191723131
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199583263.003.0010
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This chapter gives a list of Plutarch's practical ethics and summarizes the characteristics that set them apart from especially his Lives, works of technical philosophy, and Delphic dialogues. These ...
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This chapter gives a list of Plutarch's practical ethics and summarizes the characteristics that set them apart from especially his Lives, works of technical philosophy, and Delphic dialogues. These characteristics include the author's target readership, therapeutical practices, and self-presentation, which are shown to have two important consequences. The first is that Plutarch may be much closer to the Second Sophistic than is usually assumed: he is not just a philanthropic adviser, but also a sophisticated author strategically manipulating his cultural capital in pursuit of influence and glory. The second point is that Plutarch's practical ethics turn our attention away from doctrinal history and encourage us to look at imperial philosophy as a social phenomenon: in the practical ethics, philosophy is activated by Plutarch as a kind of symbolic capital engendering power and prestige both for his readers and for himself. In this way, Plutarch's practical ethics show the social dynamics of philosophy.Less
This chapter gives a list of Plutarch's practical ethics and summarizes the characteristics that set them apart from especially his Lives, works of technical philosophy, and Delphic dialogues. These characteristics include the author's target readership, therapeutical practices, and self-presentation, which are shown to have two important consequences. The first is that Plutarch may be much closer to the Second Sophistic than is usually assumed: he is not just a philanthropic adviser, but also a sophisticated author strategically manipulating his cultural capital in pursuit of influence and glory. The second point is that Plutarch's practical ethics turn our attention away from doctrinal history and encourage us to look at imperial philosophy as a social phenomenon: in the practical ethics, philosophy is activated by Plutarch as a kind of symbolic capital engendering power and prestige both for his readers and for himself. In this way, Plutarch's practical ethics show the social dynamics of philosophy.
A. D. H. Mayes (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780198263913
- eISBN:
- 9780191601187
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198263910.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This book is a collection of essays by members of the Society for Old Testament Study, and reviews new approaches and major developments in established approaches to Old Testament study over a wide ...
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This book is a collection of essays by members of the Society for Old Testament Study, and reviews new approaches and major developments in established approaches to Old Testament study over a wide range of topics. The scholarly study of the Old Testament is now marked by a rich diversity of approaches and concerns. In the last two decades of the twentieth century, an interest in the text and the implications for its interpretation of the fact that it is no longer the preserve of a single scholarly community have become central, while the reconstruction of the history of the people from whom it derived has been transformed by new methods. The Society for Old Testament Study decided that this latest volume in its series of its publications should reflect these changes and have a particular concentration on literary and historical study. In doing so, it has not only clearly recognized the diversity now inherent in Old Testament study but has also welcomed the integration into its field of the wide range of approaches available in current literary and historical investigation. The title, arrangement, and content of the present volume reflect these developments. The study of the biblical text and how it is received and interpreted by its various readerships has a certain logical priority over the study of its historical background and authorship, yet an ongoing investigation of issues relating to the latter cannot await definitive conclusions on the former. So, in the book, essays on the text and its reception discuss primary issues that arise in Old Testament study, while those on background and authorship reflect the continued vitality of, and the fresh perspectives possible in, more traditional scholarly concerns. The book is arranged in three parts: I The Old Testament and the Reader (5 chapters); II The Text of the Old Testament (5 chapters); and III The Old Testament and its authors (6 chapters).Less
This book is a collection of essays by members of the Society for Old Testament Study, and reviews new approaches and major developments in established approaches to Old Testament study over a wide range of topics. The scholarly study of the Old Testament is now marked by a rich diversity of approaches and concerns. In the last two decades of the twentieth century, an interest in the text and the implications for its interpretation of the fact that it is no longer the preserve of a single scholarly community have become central, while the reconstruction of the history of the people from whom it derived has been transformed by new methods. The Society for Old Testament Study decided that this latest volume in its series of its publications should reflect these changes and have a particular concentration on literary and historical study. In doing so, it has not only clearly recognized the diversity now inherent in Old Testament study but has also welcomed the integration into its field of the wide range of approaches available in current literary and historical investigation. The title, arrangement, and content of the present volume reflect these developments. The study of the biblical text and how it is received and interpreted by its various readerships has a certain logical priority over the study of its historical background and authorship, yet an ongoing investigation of issues relating to the latter cannot await definitive conclusions on the former. So, in the book, essays on the text and its reception discuss primary issues that arise in Old Testament study, while those on background and authorship reflect the continued vitality of, and the fresh perspectives possible in, more traditional scholarly concerns. The book is arranged in three parts: I The Old Testament and the Reader (5 chapters); II The Text of the Old Testament (5 chapters); and III The Old Testament and its authors (6 chapters).
Lea Shaver
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780300226003
- eISBN:
- 9780300249316
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300226003.003.0011
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
This chapter begins by describing an experience of Iceland that casts Samuel Johnson's claim that “No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money” into serious doubt. With only 350,000 speakers, ...
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This chapter begins by describing an experience of Iceland that casts Samuel Johnson's claim that “No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money” into serious doubt. With only 350,000 speakers, the potential readership for Icelandic books is truly small; yet Iceland's publishing scene is thriving. It discusses the counterproductive effect of financial rewards as the strongest for activities that people find psychologically rewarding because they are fun, culturally valued, or otherwise meaningful. An author can experience the writing process as play, in which the creator enjoys a high degree of control over the outcome and may also feel gratified for having made a contribution to society, advancing knowledge in an area that one cares about, or the pure satisfaction of self-expression. The chapter further clarifies that people internalize the notion that doing something for profit makes it less praiseworthy and being financially rewarded may undermine the sense of pride or virtue associated with it.Less
This chapter begins by describing an experience of Iceland that casts Samuel Johnson's claim that “No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money” into serious doubt. With only 350,000 speakers, the potential readership for Icelandic books is truly small; yet Iceland's publishing scene is thriving. It discusses the counterproductive effect of financial rewards as the strongest for activities that people find psychologically rewarding because they are fun, culturally valued, or otherwise meaningful. An author can experience the writing process as play, in which the creator enjoys a high degree of control over the outcome and may also feel gratified for having made a contribution to society, advancing knowledge in an area that one cares about, or the pure satisfaction of self-expression. The chapter further clarifies that people internalize the notion that doing something for profit makes it less praiseworthy and being financially rewarded may undermine the sense of pride or virtue associated with it.
Ian Green
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198208600
- eISBN:
- 9780191678097
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208600.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, History of Religion
This chapter considers some of the broader conclusions that can be drawn about the nature and impact of the message disseminated by print. Topics discussed include Orthodox Protestantism, the ...
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This chapter considers some of the broader conclusions that can be drawn about the nature and impact of the message disseminated by print. Topics discussed include Orthodox Protestantism, the possible impact of print on different readerships, the laity, the ‘middling sort’ of readers, and specialized readerships. As demand from the clergy for religious works was supplemented by demand from the landed elite and whole swathes of new readers from the middling ranks and the young, ‘divinity’ continued to dominate press output until the 18th century. Moreover, although print was initially disruptive in terms of the message it carried on doctrine, ecclesiology, and piety, and continued to be disruptive thereafter in the hands of minorities, print as a mass medium became much more conservative.Less
This chapter considers some of the broader conclusions that can be drawn about the nature and impact of the message disseminated by print. Topics discussed include Orthodox Protestantism, the possible impact of print on different readerships, the laity, the ‘middling sort’ of readers, and specialized readerships. As demand from the clergy for religious works was supplemented by demand from the landed elite and whole swathes of new readers from the middling ranks and the young, ‘divinity’ continued to dominate press output until the 18th century. Moreover, although print was initially disruptive in terms of the message it carried on doctrine, ecclesiology, and piety, and continued to be disruptive thereafter in the hands of minorities, print as a mass medium became much more conservative.
Ellen Gruber Garvey
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195108224
- eISBN:
- 9780199855070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195108224.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to examine how stories work within the magazine, in which all elements participate in selling. Rather than providing a ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to examine how stories work within the magazine, in which all elements participate in selling. Rather than providing a comprehensive overview of the magazines and advertising of the period under study, it analyzes points of interaction between fiction and advertising to learn both about fiction and about advertising's place in culture. The chapter then traces developments in magazine economics, covering changes in readership, circulation, and advertising in the 19th century. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to examine how stories work within the magazine, in which all elements participate in selling. Rather than providing a comprehensive overview of the magazines and advertising of the period under study, it analyzes points of interaction between fiction and advertising to learn both about fiction and about advertising's place in culture. The chapter then traces developments in magazine economics, covering changes in readership, circulation, and advertising in the 19th century. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
Lucy Valerie Graham
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199796373
- eISBN:
- 9780199933327
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199796373.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, World Literature, Women's Literature
This chapter considers three “black peril” novels with a focus on the difference between a novel written by a white woman, Francis Bancroft, and novels written by two white men, George Webb Hardy and ...
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This chapter considers three “black peril” novels with a focus on the difference between a novel written by a white woman, Francis Bancroft, and novels written by two white men, George Webb Hardy and George Heaton Nicholls. It considers the relationship between “black peril” rhetoric, the making of the South African Union (1910) and anxieties about black readerships and black political voice in early twentieth century South African literature. Examining Bancroft’s Of Like Passions (1907), Webb Hardy’s The Black Peril (1912) and Heaton Nicholls’s Bayete! (1923), it is argued that these classic and foundational literary texts are concerned with the politics of authorship and literary authority as well as political voice and exclusions of citizenship. The contests over political voice and textual authority staged by these writers have a bearing on later black authors who parody and restage “black peril” typecasts.Less
This chapter considers three “black peril” novels with a focus on the difference between a novel written by a white woman, Francis Bancroft, and novels written by two white men, George Webb Hardy and George Heaton Nicholls. It considers the relationship between “black peril” rhetoric, the making of the South African Union (1910) and anxieties about black readerships and black political voice in early twentieth century South African literature. Examining Bancroft’s Of Like Passions (1907), Webb Hardy’s The Black Peril (1912) and Heaton Nicholls’s Bayete! (1923), it is argued that these classic and foundational literary texts are concerned with the politics of authorship and literary authority as well as political voice and exclusions of citizenship. The contests over political voice and textual authority staged by these writers have a bearing on later black authors who parody and restage “black peril” typecasts.
Moyra Haslett
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184324
- eISBN:
- 9780191674198
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184324.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, Poetry
This study is a contextual reading of Byron's epic poem Don Juan which argues that the importance of the Don Juan legend has been considerably underestimated. Contemporary histories — critical, ...
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This study is a contextual reading of Byron's epic poem Don Juan which argues that the importance of the Don Juan legend has been considerably underestimated. Contemporary histories — critical, political, theatrical, and personal — reveal that innocent or neutral readings of the poem were precluded by the figure's notoriety. It demonstrates the invitation which the poem was seen to offer to specific categories of readership — especially those of women and of the working classes — and how their reading not only contributes to the meaning of the text but also makes that reading inherently political. The scope of the book includes other versions of the Don Juan legend. It also engages throughout with a critique of traditional myth-criticism, using instead Lèvi-Strauss's more inclusive definition of what constitutes a myth. It considers those discourses which have spoken of the Don Juan legend — philosophical, psychoanalytical, speech-act — and applies postmodernist and feminist theories to a consideration of both Byron's poem and the legend itself.Less
This study is a contextual reading of Byron's epic poem Don Juan which argues that the importance of the Don Juan legend has been considerably underestimated. Contemporary histories — critical, political, theatrical, and personal — reveal that innocent or neutral readings of the poem were precluded by the figure's notoriety. It demonstrates the invitation which the poem was seen to offer to specific categories of readership — especially those of women and of the working classes — and how their reading not only contributes to the meaning of the text but also makes that reading inherently political. The scope of the book includes other versions of the Don Juan legend. It also engages throughout with a critique of traditional myth-criticism, using instead Lèvi-Strauss's more inclusive definition of what constitutes a myth. It considers those discourses which have spoken of the Don Juan legend — philosophical, psychoanalytical, speech-act — and applies postmodernist and feminist theories to a consideration of both Byron's poem and the legend itself.
Jack Stillinger
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195130225
- eISBN:
- 9780199855209
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195130225.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
The author reasserts the book’s premise that the confluence of a complex authorship with a complex readership inevitably produces multiple interpretations of the complex literary piece being studied. ...
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The author reasserts the book’s premise that the confluence of a complex authorship with a complex readership inevitably produces multiple interpretations of the complex literary piece being studied. Such intricacy is seen to benefit both the author and his work by encouraging and sustaining discussion and interpretation, leading to canonicity for both. The chapter traces the rise in John Keats’s posthumous popularity to the beautiful and bewildering convolutions that characterize his work, giving birth to differing interpretations which have effectively sustained a never-ending fascination with his prose across generations of readers. Lastly, the book stresses that complex authorship alone does not guarantee canonicity and that a sufficiently diverse readership must find enough interest in and empathy for the literary piece to jumpstart the process of creativity necessary for diverse interpretation. Thus, the reader–work transaction should be treated as one seamless process in deciphering the meaning of any complex literary work.Less
The author reasserts the book’s premise that the confluence of a complex authorship with a complex readership inevitably produces multiple interpretations of the complex literary piece being studied. Such intricacy is seen to benefit both the author and his work by encouraging and sustaining discussion and interpretation, leading to canonicity for both. The chapter traces the rise in John Keats’s posthumous popularity to the beautiful and bewildering convolutions that characterize his work, giving birth to differing interpretations which have effectively sustained a never-ending fascination with his prose across generations of readers. Lastly, the book stresses that complex authorship alone does not guarantee canonicity and that a sufficiently diverse readership must find enough interest in and empathy for the literary piece to jumpstart the process of creativity necessary for diverse interpretation. Thus, the reader–work transaction should be treated as one seamless process in deciphering the meaning of any complex literary work.
Juliet John
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199257928
- eISBN:
- 9780191594854
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199257928.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
The Introduction argues that Dickens's consciousness of the emerging mass culture of his day was fundamental to his popular art and to his unique place in literary and cultural history. It ...
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The Introduction argues that Dickens's consciousness of the emerging mass culture of his day was fundamental to his popular art and to his unique place in literary and cultural history. It establishes that Dickens's popularity in his lifetime was so striking that it was seen as a cultural phenomenon in itself, transcending barriers of class, gender, age, and nation. It argues that numbers of readers were important to Dickens in a way that has not been fully appreciated, but that the statistical and sociological basis of Dickens's popularity is contested. It surveys Dickens's extra‐literary lives and suggests that the translatability of Dickens's works and image across multiple media has arguably been more crucial to his ability to establish a long‐term mass cultural presence than have sales of the novels themselves. It considers Dickens's mixed fortunes with literary critics and discusses theoretical approaches to the terms ‘mass culture’ and ‘popular culture’, and argues that ‘fancy’ or fantasy and a certain doubleness are integral to Dickens's cultural politics — in particular to his vision of an intimate public or imagined community existing between himself and a mass readership.Less
The Introduction argues that Dickens's consciousness of the emerging mass culture of his day was fundamental to his popular art and to his unique place in literary and cultural history. It establishes that Dickens's popularity in his lifetime was so striking that it was seen as a cultural phenomenon in itself, transcending barriers of class, gender, age, and nation. It argues that numbers of readers were important to Dickens in a way that has not been fully appreciated, but that the statistical and sociological basis of Dickens's popularity is contested. It surveys Dickens's extra‐literary lives and suggests that the translatability of Dickens's works and image across multiple media has arguably been more crucial to his ability to establish a long‐term mass cultural presence than have sales of the novels themselves. It considers Dickens's mixed fortunes with literary critics and discusses theoretical approaches to the terms ‘mass culture’ and ‘popular culture’, and argues that ‘fancy’ or fantasy and a certain doubleness are integral to Dickens's cultural politics — in particular to his vision of an intimate public or imagined community existing between himself and a mass readership.
Juliet John
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199257928
- eISBN:
- 9780191594854
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199257928.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter explores the ways in which Dickens's journalistic method, as well as his message, reinforces the importance of the personal and communal in a complex response to the larger ‘wholesale’ ...
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This chapter explores the ways in which Dickens's journalistic method, as well as his message, reinforces the importance of the personal and communal in a complex response to the larger ‘wholesale’ processes of the mass media which Dickens simultaneously resisted and accelerated. It traces Dickens's various attempts to develop a journal that would fulfil both his commercial and political aspirations for popular culture and the complex system of belief underpinning them about the place of the personal (including his personality) in mass journalism. It analyses the tension in Dickens's journalism between different drives: his desire to appeal to all classes and to the largest possible readership, and thereby make money, without compromising the quality of the journalism which Dickens saw as ensuring a cohesive reading community. It argues that though none of Dickens's journalist ventures achieved the perfect welding of concern for class, commerce and culture, they reveal his understanding of the matrix of forces affecting questions of social justice that helped Dickens to his unrivalled, if not unique position, as a commercially successful and artistically respected journalist who espoused popular and radical causes. The concluding section responds to accusations that his ‘Dickensy’ journalistic voice is dishonest by arguing that Dickens's forging of the Dickens persona was a response both instinctive and strategic to the mass market and suggests his desire to transform that market into an intimate public. His marketing and mythologizing of the personal were only partly driven by his celebrity; his humanism and what some have called his radicalism have in common a belief in the power of the transformative will, in imagination as an expression of political commitment (and vice versa).Less
This chapter explores the ways in which Dickens's journalistic method, as well as his message, reinforces the importance of the personal and communal in a complex response to the larger ‘wholesale’ processes of the mass media which Dickens simultaneously resisted and accelerated. It traces Dickens's various attempts to develop a journal that would fulfil both his commercial and political aspirations for popular culture and the complex system of belief underpinning them about the place of the personal (including his personality) in mass journalism. It analyses the tension in Dickens's journalism between different drives: his desire to appeal to all classes and to the largest possible readership, and thereby make money, without compromising the quality of the journalism which Dickens saw as ensuring a cohesive reading community. It argues that though none of Dickens's journalist ventures achieved the perfect welding of concern for class, commerce and culture, they reveal his understanding of the matrix of forces affecting questions of social justice that helped Dickens to his unrivalled, if not unique position, as a commercially successful and artistically respected journalist who espoused popular and radical causes. The concluding section responds to accusations that his ‘Dickensy’ journalistic voice is dishonest by arguing that Dickens's forging of the Dickens persona was a response both instinctive and strategic to the mass market and suggests his desire to transform that market into an intimate public. His marketing and mythologizing of the personal were only partly driven by his celebrity; his humanism and what some have called his radicalism have in common a belief in the power of the transformative will, in imagination as an expression of political commitment (and vice versa).
Joseph McAleer
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203292
- eISBN:
- 9780191675843
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203292.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
In order to understand the market for light fiction and its mass readership which were an established part of British culture after World War I, this chapter considers the growth of the Unknown ...
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In order to understand the market for light fiction and its mass readership which were an established part of British culture after World War I, this chapter considers the growth of the Unknown Public and the development of the publishing industry in the 19th century. Many factors stimulated a boom in reading and in publishing. These included the abolition of the ‘taxes on knowledge’, the extension of education and literacy, and the development of new (and cheaper) methods of production and distribution. Two schools of thought influenced the expanding market for popular fiction. One of these was a by-product of Victorian liberalism, Reformist in aspiration, namely, publishers such as the Religious Tract. The other school was wholly commercial and entrepreneurial. The state of the publishing industry and the reading market by 1914 was not simple. D. C. Thomson and Mills & Boon, represented a synthesis of these two attitudes.Less
In order to understand the market for light fiction and its mass readership which were an established part of British culture after World War I, this chapter considers the growth of the Unknown Public and the development of the publishing industry in the 19th century. Many factors stimulated a boom in reading and in publishing. These included the abolition of the ‘taxes on knowledge’, the extension of education and literacy, and the development of new (and cheaper) methods of production and distribution. Two schools of thought influenced the expanding market for popular fiction. One of these was a by-product of Victorian liberalism, Reformist in aspiration, namely, publishers such as the Religious Tract. The other school was wholly commercial and entrepreneurial. The state of the publishing industry and the reading market by 1914 was not simple. D. C. Thomson and Mills & Boon, represented a synthesis of these two attitudes.
C. Y. Ferdinand
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206521
- eISBN:
- 9780191677199
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206521.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter defines the readers by geography and by the material they wrote and read. It conducts a careful compilation and analysis of lists of newsagents that demonstrate significant patterns of ...
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This chapter defines the readers by geography and by the material they wrote and read. It conducts a careful compilation and analysis of lists of newsagents that demonstrate significant patterns of newspaper readership and influence in the provinces during the mid-eighteenth century. It notes that for the Salisbury Journal, the early years saw agencies that were few in number but extensive in geographical terms; later, in the face of growing competition and in order to make distribution more efficient, agencies were concentrated into smaller areas. It determines that the facts of readership and circulation are closely tied to the facts of distribution, for distribution is the means to readership and circulation. An examination of nine major lists of Salisbury Journal agents from 1739 to 1785 and comparison with those of other regional newspapers form the basis of this discussion.Less
This chapter defines the readers by geography and by the material they wrote and read. It conducts a careful compilation and analysis of lists of newsagents that demonstrate significant patterns of newspaper readership and influence in the provinces during the mid-eighteenth century. It notes that for the Salisbury Journal, the early years saw agencies that were few in number but extensive in geographical terms; later, in the face of growing competition and in order to make distribution more efficient, agencies were concentrated into smaller areas. It determines that the facts of readership and circulation are closely tied to the facts of distribution, for distribution is the means to readership and circulation. An examination of nine major lists of Salisbury Journal agents from 1739 to 1785 and comparison with those of other regional newspapers form the basis of this discussion.
Hannah Barker
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207412
- eISBN:
- 9780191677663
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207412.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter describes the influence and readership of London newspapers. By the later part of the eighteenth century, the debate concerning the liberty ...
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This chapter describes the influence and readership of London newspapers. By the later part of the eighteenth century, the debate concerning the liberty of the press, and the argument linking it to Englishmen's freedom, was well rehearsed. So too was the condemnation of newspapers which overstepped their bounds as ‘guardians of the constitution’ and became absorbed in gossip and invective. This was seen as a misuse of power. Despite their reputation, newspapers were considered to be extremely important by many politicians. For members of the political elite, the press proved to be a major weapon in the fight to influence public opinion. For historians, the foundation of newspapers' success in the eighteenth century must serve to complicate the contemporary meanings of their contents.Less
This chapter describes the influence and readership of London newspapers. By the later part of the eighteenth century, the debate concerning the liberty of the press, and the argument linking it to Englishmen's freedom, was well rehearsed. So too was the condemnation of newspapers which overstepped their bounds as ‘guardians of the constitution’ and became absorbed in gossip and invective. This was seen as a misuse of power. Despite their reputation, newspapers were considered to be extremely important by many politicians. For members of the political elite, the press proved to be a major weapon in the fight to influence public opinion. For historians, the foundation of newspapers' success in the eighteenth century must serve to complicate the contemporary meanings of their contents.
Joel Porte
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300104462
- eISBN:
- 9780300130577
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300104462.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
Ralp Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are the most celebrated odd couple of nineteenth-century American literature. Appearing to play the roles of benign mentor and eager disciple, they can also ...
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Ralp Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are the most celebrated odd couple of nineteenth-century American literature. Appearing to play the roles of benign mentor and eager disciple, they can also be seen as bitter rivals: America's foremost literary statesman, protective of his reputation, and an ambitious and sometimes refractory protege. The truth, this book maintains, is that Emerson and Thoreau were complementary literary geniuses, mutually inspiring and inspired. This book focuses on Emerson and Thoreau as writers. It traces their individual achievements and their points of intersection, arguing that both men, starting from a shared belief in the importance of “self-culture”, produced a body of writing that helped move a decidedly provincial New England readership into the broader arena of international culture.Less
Ralp Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are the most celebrated odd couple of nineteenth-century American literature. Appearing to play the roles of benign mentor and eager disciple, they can also be seen as bitter rivals: America's foremost literary statesman, protective of his reputation, and an ambitious and sometimes refractory protege. The truth, this book maintains, is that Emerson and Thoreau were complementary literary geniuses, mutually inspiring and inspired. This book focuses on Emerson and Thoreau as writers. It traces their individual achievements and their points of intersection, arguing that both men, starting from a shared belief in the importance of “self-culture”, produced a body of writing that helped move a decidedly provincial New England readership into the broader arena of international culture.
Frieda Klotz and Katerina Oikonomopoulou
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199588954
- eISBN:
- 9780191728907
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199588954.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The introduction sets forth the volume's primary interpretive concerns. While Table Talk cannot be taken at face value as a historical document, it nevertheless embeds itself in its society, and ...
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The introduction sets forth the volume's primary interpretive concerns. While Table Talk cannot be taken at face value as a historical document, it nevertheless embeds itself in its society, and yields rich insights into the imperial culture and intellectual mindset. By proposing a cultural-historical angle of study, the book takes a fresh stance on questions of its historicity and use as autobiographical (Plutarchan) testimony. The Introduction also draws attention to Table Talk's innovative genre, fusing as it does traditions of literary symposia, problems, and miscellany – a creative experimentation that played a large part in guaranteeing the text's early popularity. It explores the different way in which readers can negotiate the Table Talk's seemingly incoherent, miscellanistic surface by pointing to structural features and patterns; and, finally, it discusses Plutarch's ancient readership. The Introduction concludes with a summary of the essays in the volume.Less
The introduction sets forth the volume's primary interpretive concerns. While Table Talk cannot be taken at face value as a historical document, it nevertheless embeds itself in its society, and yields rich insights into the imperial culture and intellectual mindset. By proposing a cultural-historical angle of study, the book takes a fresh stance on questions of its historicity and use as autobiographical (Plutarchan) testimony. The Introduction also draws attention to Table Talk's innovative genre, fusing as it does traditions of literary symposia, problems, and miscellany – a creative experimentation that played a large part in guaranteeing the text's early popularity. It explores the different way in which readers can negotiate the Table Talk's seemingly incoherent, miscellanistic surface by pointing to structural features and patterns; and, finally, it discusses Plutarch's ancient readership. The Introduction concludes with a summary of the essays in the volume.
HAROLD LOVE
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199255610
- eISBN:
- 9780191719622
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199255610.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
This chapter focuses on the Town lampoon. While the Town lampoon and the court lampoon use a similar verse manner to attack many of the same members of the ruling elite, there is usually little ...
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This chapter focuses on the Town lampoon. While the Town lampoon and the court lampoon use a similar verse manner to attack many of the same members of the ruling elite, there is usually little problem in categorizing particular works as being written from a court or a Town perspective. A court satire is of the court, courtly: it is written for a court readership about court concerns of status, factional striving for power, and corporate style. It arises from a sense of the special identity of the court as a community and sets out to reinforce that community’s sense of exclusiveness. A Town satire speaks to a new social formation which was still in the process of fashioning its identity.Less
This chapter focuses on the Town lampoon. While the Town lampoon and the court lampoon use a similar verse manner to attack many of the same members of the ruling elite, there is usually little problem in categorizing particular works as being written from a court or a Town perspective. A court satire is of the court, courtly: it is written for a court readership about court concerns of status, factional striving for power, and corporate style. It arises from a sense of the special identity of the court as a community and sets out to reinforce that community’s sense of exclusiveness. A Town satire speaks to a new social formation which was still in the process of fashioning its identity.
