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Reading and Sociability in the Correspondence Networks of Elizabeth Montagu and Friends / Jack T.G. Orchard

DOI (Published version): 10.23889/Suthesis.50639

Abstract

This thesis and accompanying digital edition ‘Reading and Sociability in the Correspondence of Elizabeth Montagu and Friends’ published through Electronic Enlightenment, address the relationships between correspondence network formation and reading practices in the letters of the Bluestocking female...

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Published: Swansea 2019
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa50639
first_indexed 2019-06-05T11:08:04Z
last_indexed 2024-11-14T12:00:31Z
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recordtype RisThesis
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spelling 2024-07-11T15:42:11.8104724 v2 50639 2019-06-04 Reading and Sociability in the Correspondence Networks of Elizabeth Montagu and Friends 2019-06-04 This thesis and accompanying digital edition ‘Reading and Sociability in the Correspondence of Elizabeth Montagu and Friends’ published through Electronic Enlightenment, address the relationships between correspondence network formation and reading practices in the letters of the Bluestocking female intellectuals Catherine Talbot (1721-1770), Elizabeth Carter (1717-1806), and Elizabeth Montagu (1718-1800). This study investigates the ways in which the letters they wrote constituted spaces of creative freedom in which they could transform the dominant discourses in their cultural context. Chapter one explores the ways in which the Bluestocking reading of the letters of the French salonniere Madame de Sévigné (1626-1696) both diverged from conventional readings in contemporary print culture, and provided a framework for conceptualizing essential principles of Bluestocking identity, such as rational female creativity, and spiritualized community. Chapter two examines the ways in which the Bluestockings developed and altered aristocratic neoclassical discourses on citizenship and public morality which marginalized and excluded women as political subjects within their letters and print sphere texts like Dialogues of the Dead (1759) and translation of Epictetus (1758), in order to create a language of classical public virtue for bourgeois women. Chapter three begins by examining the correlation between interpretation and coterie power in Montagu’s relationship with two beneficiaries of her patronage, the poet James Woodhouse (1735-1820) and the classicist and clergyman Robert Potter (1721-1804). In both of these relationships Potter and Woodhouse fashion their identities and interpretative principles to respond to Montagu’s interests. The second half of the chapter addresses Montagu’s correspondence with Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, Lord Kames (1696-1782). Here Montagu’s attempts to generate an intellectually generative debate are rebuffed by Kames, as he attempts to define their exchange as merely light enjoyment, culminating in his editing of an ‘Essay on Ornament’ Montagu sent him from a historical-anthropological tract into a guide on interior design. E-Thesis Swansea letters, eighteenth century, enlightenment, correspondence, reading, women’s writing, women writers, feminism, history, literature, bluestocking 10 5 2019 2019-05-10 10.23889/Suthesis.50639 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Doctoral Ph.D AHRC 2024-07-11T15:42:11.8104724 2019-06-04T16:58:33.3519163 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing Jack T.G. Orchard 1 0050639-04062019170104.pdf Orchard_Jack_T_G_PhD_Thesis_Fianl.pdf 2019-06-04T17:01:04.5430000 Output 1802395 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true 2024-06-04T00:00:00.0000000 true
title Reading and Sociability in the Correspondence Networks of Elizabeth Montagu and Friends
spellingShingle Reading and Sociability in the Correspondence Networks of Elizabeth Montagu and Friends
,
title_short Reading and Sociability in the Correspondence Networks of Elizabeth Montagu and Friends
title_full Reading and Sociability in the Correspondence Networks of Elizabeth Montagu and Friends
title_fullStr Reading and Sociability in the Correspondence Networks of Elizabeth Montagu and Friends
title_full_unstemmed Reading and Sociability in the Correspondence Networks of Elizabeth Montagu and Friends
title_sort Reading and Sociability in the Correspondence Networks of Elizabeth Montagu and Friends
author ,
author2 Jack T.G. Orchard
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2019
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/Suthesis.50639
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing
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description This thesis and accompanying digital edition ‘Reading and Sociability in the Correspondence of Elizabeth Montagu and Friends’ published through Electronic Enlightenment, address the relationships between correspondence network formation and reading practices in the letters of the Bluestocking female intellectuals Catherine Talbot (1721-1770), Elizabeth Carter (1717-1806), and Elizabeth Montagu (1718-1800). This study investigates the ways in which the letters they wrote constituted spaces of creative freedom in which they could transform the dominant discourses in their cultural context. Chapter one explores the ways in which the Bluestocking reading of the letters of the French salonniere Madame de Sévigné (1626-1696) both diverged from conventional readings in contemporary print culture, and provided a framework for conceptualizing essential principles of Bluestocking identity, such as rational female creativity, and spiritualized community. Chapter two examines the ways in which the Bluestockings developed and altered aristocratic neoclassical discourses on citizenship and public morality which marginalized and excluded women as political subjects within their letters and print sphere texts like Dialogues of the Dead (1759) and translation of Epictetus (1758), in order to create a language of classical public virtue for bourgeois women. Chapter three begins by examining the correlation between interpretation and coterie power in Montagu’s relationship with two beneficiaries of her patronage, the poet James Woodhouse (1735-1820) and the classicist and clergyman Robert Potter (1721-1804). In both of these relationships Potter and Woodhouse fashion their identities and interpretative principles to respond to Montagu’s interests. The second half of the chapter addresses Montagu’s correspondence with Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, Lord Kames (1696-1782). Here Montagu’s attempts to generate an intellectually generative debate are rebuffed by Kames, as he attempts to define their exchange as merely light enjoyment, culminating in his editing of an ‘Essay on Ornament’ Montagu sent him from a historical-anthropological tract into a guide on interior design.
published_date 2019-05-10T07:32:14Z
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score 11.055693

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