Debating England's Aristocracy in the 1790s: Pamphlets, Polemics and Political Ideas

ISBN-13: 9781843836476 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 224 str.

Amanda Goodrich

Opis

The 1790s saw a lively -French Revolution Debate- in England, with much space and intellectual energy, in classic texts by men such as Burke and Paine, and ensuing pamphlet literature, devoted characterisations and representations of the aristocracy; yet this is the first full-scale survey of the subject. Dr Goodrich takes a fresh approach to the topic, illustrating the complexities of the bitter battle fought out in such texts between radicals and loyalists, and highlighting the persistent viciousness and vitriol of a radical anti-aristocratic rhetoric. However, she demonstrates that the loyalist response contained the more innovative campaign, bringing out in particular the development of a commercial loyalism which promoted a new model of society with a modern aristocracy and an open elite; what emerges are English defences of aristocracy which are not simply reducible to ideas of an ancien regime or a Gothic institution. Amanda Goodrich is a lecturer in the history department of the Open University.