Jon Hall
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195329063
- eISBN:
- 9780199870233
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195329063.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter discusses the social context of letter-writing during the Late Roman Republic, especially among the aristocracy and its concern with social manners. It also examines recent ...
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This chapter discusses the social context of letter-writing during the Late Roman Republic, especially among the aristocracy and its concern with social manners. It also examines recent sociolinguistic theories of politeness and facework (especially those of Erving Goffman and Brown and Levinson) and sets out the methodology to be applied to the letters of Cicero in the following chapters. In particular it identifies and defines three types of politeness regularly used in his correspondence: the politeness of respect, affiliative politeness, and redressive politeness. It is suggested that these forms of politeness derive in part from the Roman aristocrat's preoccupation with personal status (dignitas) and his need to form temporary political alliances with ambitious rivals. The relevance of these strategies of politeness to the correspondence of Pliny the Younger and Fronto is also addressed.Less
This chapter discusses the social context of letter-writing during the Late Roman Republic, especially among the aristocracy and its concern with social manners. It also examines recent sociolinguistic theories of politeness and facework (especially those of Erving Goffman and Brown and Levinson) and sets out the methodology to be applied to the letters of Cicero in the following chapters. In particular it identifies and defines three types of politeness regularly used in his correspondence: the politeness of respect, affiliative politeness, and redressive politeness. It is suggested that these forms of politeness derive in part from the Roman aristocrat's preoccupation with personal status (dignitas) and his need to form temporary political alliances with ambitious rivals. The relevance of these strategies of politeness to the correspondence of Pliny the Younger and Fronto is also addressed.
Jon Hall
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195329063
- eISBN:
- 9780199870233
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195329063.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book presents a fresh examination of the letters exchanged between Cicero and correspondents such as Pompey, Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony during the final turbulent decades of the Roman ...
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This book presents a fresh examination of the letters exchanged between Cicero and correspondents such as Pompey, Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony during the final turbulent decades of the Roman Republic. Drawing upon sociolinguistic theories of politeness, it argues that formal relationships between powerful members of the elite were constrained by distinct conventions of courtesy and etiquette. By examining in detail these linguistic conventions of politeness, the book presents new insights into the social manners that shaped aristocratic relationships. Specific topics include a discussion of the role of letter-writing within the Roman aristocracy; the epistolary use of linguistic politeness to convey respect to fellow members of the elite; the deployment of conventionalized expressions of affection and goodwill to cultivate alliances with ambitious rivals, and the diplomatic exploitation of “polite fictions” at times of political tension. The book also explores the strategies of politeness employed by Cicero and his correspondents when making requests and dispensing advice, and when engaging in epistolary disagreements (Cicero's exchanges with Appius Claudius Pulcher, Munatius Plancus, and Mark Antony receive particular attention).Less
This book presents a fresh examination of the letters exchanged between Cicero and correspondents such as Pompey, Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony during the final turbulent decades of the Roman Republic. Drawing upon sociolinguistic theories of politeness, it argues that formal relationships between powerful members of the elite were constrained by distinct conventions of courtesy and etiquette. By examining in detail these linguistic conventions of politeness, the book presents new insights into the social manners that shaped aristocratic relationships. Specific topics include a discussion of the role of letter-writing within the Roman aristocracy; the epistolary use of linguistic politeness to convey respect to fellow members of the elite; the deployment of conventionalized expressions of affection and goodwill to cultivate alliances with ambitious rivals, and the diplomatic exploitation of “polite fictions” at times of political tension. The book also explores the strategies of politeness employed by Cicero and his correspondents when making requests and dispensing advice, and when engaging in epistolary disagreements (Cicero's exchanges with Appius Claudius Pulcher, Munatius Plancus, and Mark Antony receive particular attention).
Jayne Elizabeth Lewis
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226476698
- eISBN:
- 9780226476711
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226476711.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
In this book, the author enlists her readers in pursuit of the elusive concept of atmosphere in literary works. She shows how diverse conceptions of air in the eighteenth century converged in British ...
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In this book, the author enlists her readers in pursuit of the elusive concept of atmosphere in literary works. She shows how diverse conceptions of air in the eighteenth century converged in British fiction, producing the modern literary sense of atmosphere and moving novelists to explore the threshold between material and immaterial worlds. The book links the emergence of literary atmosphere to changing ideas about air and the earth’s atmosphere in natural philosophy, as well as to the era’s theories of the supernatural and fascination with social manners—or, as they are now known, “airs.” The author thus offers a new interpretation of several standard features of the Enlightenment—the scientific revolution, the decline of magic, character-based sociability, and the rise of the novel—which considers them in terms of the romance of air that permeates and connects them. As it explores key episodes in the history of natural philosophy and in major literary works such as Paradise Lost, “The Rape of the Lock,” Robinson Crusoe, and The Mysteries of Udolpho, the book promises to change the atmosphere of eighteenth-century studies and the history of the novel.Less
In this book, the author enlists her readers in pursuit of the elusive concept of atmosphere in literary works. She shows how diverse conceptions of air in the eighteenth century converged in British fiction, producing the modern literary sense of atmosphere and moving novelists to explore the threshold between material and immaterial worlds. The book links the emergence of literary atmosphere to changing ideas about air and the earth’s atmosphere in natural philosophy, as well as to the era’s theories of the supernatural and fascination with social manners—or, as they are now known, “airs.” The author thus offers a new interpretation of several standard features of the Enlightenment—the scientific revolution, the decline of magic, character-based sociability, and the rise of the novel—which considers them in terms of the romance of air that permeates and connects them. As it explores key episodes in the history of natural philosophy and in major literary works such as Paradise Lost, “The Rape of the Lock,” Robinson Crusoe, and The Mysteries of Udolpho, the book promises to change the atmosphere of eighteenth-century studies and the history of the novel.
