BEYOND THE FORBIDDEN BEST-SELLERS OF PRE-REVOLUTIONARY FRANCE

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARK CURRAN
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Digital Humanities ◽  
Book Trade ◽  
Empirical Survey ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
Best Sellers ◽  
On Line ◽  
Order Books

ABSTRACTRobert Darnton's acclaimed 1995 work on the late eighteenth-century francophone illegal book trade, The forbidden best-sellers of pre-revolutionary France, has become one of the most cited and studied texts in its field. The culmination of thirty years' archival research and reflection, it roots Darnton's previous case-study-driven articles and monographs in a wide-ranging empirical survey of the order books of the Swiss printer-booksellers, the Société typographique de Neuchâtel. It claims to offer readers a picture of what illegal books went into bookshops everywhere in pre-revolutionary France. The first fruits of the French Book Trade in Enlightenment Europe project, a digital humanities initiative that has created an on-line database revealing the STN's entire trade, this article challenges Darnton's interpretation of the nature and utility of the Neuchâtel archive. It demonstrates that the STN's order books are an unreliable gauge of general French demand. It goes further. It argues for a nuanced polycentric understanding of the eighteenth-century Francophone book trade, and outlines a bibliometric digital humanities pathway that might lead us there.

HERMENEUTICS AND THE NEW FORMENLEHRE: AN INTERPRETATION OF HAYDN'S ‘OXFORD’ SYMPHONY, FIRST MOVEMENT

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
MATTHEW RILEY
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Music Theory ◽  
Human Action ◽  
First Century ◽  
Sonata Form ◽  
Primary Mode ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
Twenty First Century

This article establishes a dialogue between twenty-first-century music theory and historical modes of enquiry, adapting the new Formenlehre (Caplin, Hepokoski/Darcy) to serve a historically oriented hermeneutics. An analytical case study of the first movement of Haydn's Symphony No. 92 (1789) traces the changing functional meanings of the opening ‘caesura prolongation phrase’. The substance of the exposition consists largely of things functionally ‘before-the-beginning’ and ‘after-the-end’, while the recapitulation follows a logic of suspense and surprise, keeping the listener continually guessing. The analysis calls into question Hepokoski and Darcy's restriction of the mode of signification of sonata-form movements to the narration of human action. The primary mode of signification of the recapitulation is indexical: it stands as the effect of a human cause. This account matches late eighteenth-century concepts of ‘genius’.

JEAN-PAUL MARAT'S THE CHAINS OF SLAVERY IN BRITAIN AND FRANCE, 1774–1833

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 641-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
RACHEL HAMMERSLEY
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Jean Paul ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
British Commonwealth

Originally published in London in 1774 and subsequently republished in French in 1793 and 1833, Marat's The chains of slavery offers an interesting case study on the exchange of ideas between Britain and France during the late eighteenth century. It is suggested that the key to understanding this hitherto neglected work lies in reading it alongside other publications by Marat from the 1770s and in setting it firmly in the context in which it was published and disseminated in both Britain and France. Prompted by debates surrounding the election of 1774, the work embodies Marat's own particular version of the British commonwealth tradition, and can be linked to the Wilkite movement in both Newcastle and London. Despite its British origins, Marat and his followers were able to utilize the work after 1789 in order to engage in a number of French debates. It thus constitutes one of the means by which English republican ideas made their way across the Channel.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Kathryn N. Jones ◽  
Carol Tully ◽  
Heather Williams
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Contact Zone ◽  
Major Theme ◽  
Travel Destination ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Political Alliances ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
Theoretical Issues ◽  
Over Time

The growth in the popularity of Wales as travel destination in the late eighteenth century is sketched, while the relative ‘invisibility’ of Wales in travel writing as well as in scholarship is noted. ‘Europe’ is presented as a fluid entity, and the ‘nationalities’ of the travellers discussed is problematized (e.g. a number of the French travellers studied identify as Breton, and the notion of ‘Germany’ encompasses numerous states and political alliances over time). Since Wales’s ‘Celticness’ is a major theme for travellers throughout the periods under discussion, the changing uses of the term ‘Celtic’ (and its derivatives) are explored. Wales is positioned as a case study or an exemplar of a particular type of relationship between peripheral and hegemonic culture(s), through a discussion of general theoretical issues surrounding the ethics of travel, the contact zone and the notion of the travellee. This draws on work by Cronin on minorities, Forsdick on ethics, Pratt on the contact zone and travellees, and Urbain on endotic/exotic travel.

The Romanesca as a Spiritual Sign in the Operas of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven

2020 ◽  
pp. 163-192
Author(s):  
Olga Sánchez-Kisielewska
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Musical Structure ◽  
Spiritual Dimension ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter explores the role of a musical pattern, the Romanesca schema, as a signifier of spiritual meanings in opera. It addresses the relationship between the Romanesca and the hymn topic and argues that the schema, semantically empty in its origins, acquired in the late eighteenth century connotations of ceremony, solemnity, alterity, and even transcendence. Several vignettes from operas by Haydn and Mozart illustrate how composers deployed the pattern in scenes depicting worship, prayers, and ritual actions. Beethoven’s Fidelio occupies the final section, a case study that shows the Romanesca interacting with other elements of the musical structure for expressive purposes. The chapter provides a novel interpretation of certain moments of the opera, suggesting that Beethoven relied on the sacred implications of the Romanesca—arguably available to historical listeners—to intensify the spiritual dimension of the drama.

Book Ownership in Late Eighteenth-Century Scotland: a Local Case Study of Dumfriesshire Inventories

2012 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivienne Dunstan
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Scottish Enlightenment ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Print Material ◽  
Local Case ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Late eighteenth-century Scotland saw a period of growth in the availability of print material set against the backdrop of the Scottish Enlightenment. Yet despite much scholarly attention having been paid to the Enlightenment and an increasing interest in the books people were reading, little attention has been paid to the books that would have been found in individual Scottish houses and what they reveal about Scottish mindsets in these years. This paper addresses this topic, using a local case study of after-death inventories of personal possessions. These rich records reveal the size of household libraries, the varieties of books they contained, variation by occupation and social class, and the extent to which their owners engaged with and were influenced by debates and ideas of the time. In addition, the evidence allows us to consider the uses to which different types of books were put, examine differences between urban and provincial Scotland, and consider how and where people bought their books.

Slavery as Social Mobility? Western Slaves in Late Eighteenth Century Algiers

Rough Waters ◽  
2010 ◽  
pp. 207-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine E. Sears
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Social Mobility ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Career Advancement ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Relative Success ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter explores the relationship between American merchants and diplomats and Barbary corsairs in the late-eighteenth century, by offering a case study of two American prisoners who managed to escape slavery and go on to become American consuls. Captain Richard O’Brien and Seaman James L. Cathcart used the connections they established during enslavement and the knowledge they gained of North Africa to expand their networks and gain their consul positions in an unusual but successful manner. It determines that both men managed to utilise their skillsets and networks they developed during enslavement as means of career advancement, and held positions normally reserved for non-sailors with relative success.

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