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The “Long” Eighteenth Century

The “Long” Eighteenth Century. 1660-1815. 1660-1815. Restoration to Waterloo The Great Plague to Industrial Revolution Samuel Pepys to Jane Austen. What’s in a Name?. Age of Reason (Neo)Classicism Enlightenment. History: Civil War. 1642-1651 Civil Wars 1649 Charles I executed

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The “Long” Eighteenth Century

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  1. The “Long” Eighteenth Century 1660-1815

  2. 1660-1815 • Restoration to Waterloo • The Great Plague to Industrial Revolution • Samuel Pepys to Jane Austen

  3. What’s in a Name? • Age of Reason • (Neo)Classicism • Enlightenment

  4. History: Civil War • 1642-1651 Civil Wars • 1649 Charles I executed • 1649-1653 Commonwealth • 1653-1658Protectorate (Cromwell in power) • 1658-1659 Commonwealth, again

  5. 1660: Restoration of Charles II

  6. James II

  7. 1688: Glorious Revolution

  8. Tory vs. Whig

  9. 18th-century London

  10. This?

  11. Or this?

  12. Literature 1660-1700 • Courtly Poetry • Religious autobiography • Few ways to make $$ in print • Theater Aphra Behn

  13. What happens after 1700?

  14. Changing Times=More Stuff • Economic globalization • Consumer market • World travel • Interior improvements more efficient distribution (of food, luxury items, BOOKS)

  15. Changing Times=New Values Rise of the middle class • Politeness/Social rules • Discourse over violence • “Self-made” instead of inherited riches • Changing gender roles

  16. Let’s do the math... More stuff pre-made+ More shopping venues + New class values =More Leisure Time (esp. for women) Bible-based religion +increase in print products =Higher Literacy Rates

  17. THE BOOK RULES!! More leisure time + Higher literacy =MORE READING Novels, newspapers, poetry, conduct manuals, sermons, the Bible, novels

  18. Literature after 1700 • New media forms: journalism, periodical essay • Rise of the novel • Professional authorship (incl. women!) • Ancients vs. Moderns ~Classics vs. New & novel ~Bee vs. Spider • Satire

  19. New Media Forms • Newspapers and periodicals (Addison and Steele, The Tatler, The Spectator and many more) • Pamphlets, ballads, broadsides • Autobiographies • Travelogues • Plays in print and theater • Romances • NOVEL

  20. Aphra Behn 1640-1689 Tory Spy Playwright Novelist? First woman to make a living by her pen

  21. All I ask, is the Priviledge for my Masculine Part the Poet in me...to tread in those successful Paths my Predecessors have so long thriv’d in….If I must not, because of my Sex, have this Freedom, but that you will usurp all to your selves; I lay down my Quill, and you shall hear no more of me. . . .I shall be kinder to my brothers of the pen, than they have been to a defenseless woman; for I am not content to write for a Third Day only. I value Fame as much as if I had been born a hero; and if you rob me of that, I can retire form the ungrateful World, and scorn its fickle Favours. --AphraBehn, preface to The Lucky Chance (1687)

  22. "All women together, ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn... for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.” --Virginia Woolf

  23. Oroonoko and the Triangular Trade

  24. Slavery in Suriname – Stedman

  25. The slides that follow do not apply to 3120

  26. Early 18th Century • 1702: Queen Anne • Rise of parties • 1714: King George I (2nd cousin and Protestant) • Robert Walpole—first Prime Minister

  27. William III and Mary II • “Bloodless Revolution” • William and Mary enthroned • Only joint appointment in British history • 1689 Toleration Act • 1701 Settlement Act

  28. Increase in Literacy • Number of readers doubled or tripled between 1600 and 1800: 25%  60-70% • Rose especially for women and lower classes • Four times as many books were published in 1790 than in 1700. • Nonetheless, 75% of the English population is still rural farmers who do not need to read regularly.

  29. Reign of Charles II • 1666 Plague/Fire • 1673 Test Act • 1678 Popish Plot; Exclusion Crisis • 1685 King James II

  30. Literacy • In a Protestant country it was important that everyone be able to read The Bible and devotional literature • Useful for servants especially in urban centers • Cause of much anxiety over WHAT and WHO should read

  31. New Media Networks • Subscription publication • Circulating libraries • Capital-intensive publishing • End of guild control • End of aristocratic patronage • New authors, new readers

  32. Public Sphere • Places where people read, shared and discussed media, art, values, politics, gossip • Coffee Houses • Gentleman’s clubs • Taverns • Democracy of ideas

  33. Resistance to the New • Swift, Battle of the Books: Spider vs. Bee, Ancients vs Moderns • Pope, Dunciad: anti-pop culture, anti-critic, anti-hack, anti-woman. • Values of an earlier day: neoclassicism

  34. Literature 1660-1700 • Pilgrim’s Progress vs. Charles II • Print for an urban, urbane, educated audience • Heroic, ornate, neoclassical poetry (Dryden) with an inflated tone and a topical bent • French romances • Bawdy theater (restored) • Scandalous women

  35. Literature 1700-1750 • Satire, irony, social criticism • Still engaging classicism in early years • Clearer prose styles • Rise of the novel • Stage stars more heralded than authors. Plays become more moralistic • Domestic women writers

  36. Literature 1750-1815 • Novel takes off • More diverse authors and audiences (relatively) • Debates over who should be included • Rights and revolutions debated • Gothic • Romanticism

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