Eighteenth-Century Letters and British Culture

by Clare Brant

Overview

This important new book explores epistolary forms and practices in relation to important areas of British culture. Familiar ideas about epistolary fiction and personal correspondence, and public and private, are re-examined in the light of alternative paradigms, showing how the letter is a genre at the centre of Eighteenth-century life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230249080
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	04/12/2006
Edition description:	2006
Pages:	431
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

CLARE BRANT is a Senior Lecturer in English at King's College London, UK. She has previously held posts at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. She has co-edited three essay collections and published numerous articles on eighteenth-century literature and culture.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements A Letter of Introduction Learning to Write Writing as a Parent Writing as a Lover Writing as a Criminal Writing as a Citizen Writing as a Traveller Writing as a Historian Writing as a Christian Postscript Notes Short Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

Winner of the 2008 ESSE Book Award in the field of Literatures in the English Language

'[The] study is not a mere exploration of epistolary forms, but a lively introduction into a fascinating epoch, with its specific manners and life-style. The author's argument is engaging, bold and forceful, and its scope is really impressive.' - ESSE Book Award Committee

Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2006

'Brant makes illuminating connections between the practice of letter-writing and the development of print journalism... Eighteenth-Century Letters and British Culture is a dense book full of brilliant insights. It distils an immense amount of reading and fully vindicates its assertion of the cultural significance of letters.' - Times Literary Supplement

'...Clare Brant has produced a magisterial study of letters, an important and ground-breaking work...The breadth of coverage in this book is impressive, encompassing many kinds of epistolary exchange and a pleasing mix of obscure and well-known writers.' - Emma Major, Modern Language Review

From the Publisher