Literature, Commerce, And The Spectacle Of Modernity, 1750-1800 (cambridge Studies In Romanticism)
by Paul Keen /
2012 / English / PDF
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Paul Keen explores how a consumer revolution which reached its peak
in the second half of the eighteenth century shaped debates about
the role of literature in a polite modern nation, and tells the
story of the resourcefulness with which many writers responded to
these pressures. From dream reveries which mocked their own
entrepreneurial commitments, such as Oliver Goldsmith's account of
selling his work at a 'Fashion Fair' on the frozen Thames, to the
Microcosm's mock plan to establish 'a licensed warehouse for wit,'
writers insistently tied their literary achievements to a
sophisticated understanding of the uncertain complexities of a
modern transnational society. This book combines a new
understanding of late eighteenth-century literature with the
materialist and sociological imperatives of book history and
theoretically inflected approaches to cultural history.
Paul Keen explores how a consumer revolution which reached its peak
in the second half of the eighteenth century shaped debates about
the role of literature in a polite modern nation, and tells the
story of the resourcefulness with which many writers responded to
these pressures. From dream reveries which mocked their own
entrepreneurial commitments, such as Oliver Goldsmith's account of
selling his work at a 'Fashion Fair' on the frozen Thames, to the
Microcosm's mock plan to establish 'a licensed warehouse for wit,'
writers insistently tied their literary achievements to a
sophisticated understanding of the uncertain complexities of a
modern transnational society. This book combines a new
understanding of late eighteenth-century literature with the
materialist and sociological imperatives of book history and
theoretically inflected approaches to cultural history.
