The Rise of the Public in Enlightenment Europe

ISBN-13: 9780521469692 / Angielski / Miękka / 2001 / 300 str.

James Van Horn Melton; T. C. W. Blanning; William Beik

Opis

James Melton's accessible study examines the rise of "the public" in eighteenth-century Europe. Focusing on England, France, and the German-speaking territories, this is the first critical reassessment of what the philosopher JUrgen Habermas called the "bourgeois public sphere" of the eighteenth century. Topics include the growing importance of public opinion in political life, transformations of the literary public realm, eighteenth-century authorship, theater publics, and new practices of sociability as they developed in salons, coffeehouses, taverns and Masonic lodges.

Recenzje

'The Rise of the Public in Enlightenment Europe is a well-written and coherent synthesis of Habermas' argument in the French, English and German contexts and is grounded in an impressive body of international, mainly Anglo-Saxon scholarship … it will certainly be of vital interest to advanced undergraduate and graduate students …'. Europa

Spis treści

Introduction: what is the public sphere? Part I. Politics and the Rise of Public Opinion: The Cases of England and France: 1. The peculiarities of the English; 2. Opacity and transparency: French political culture in the eighteenth century; Part II. Readers, Writers and Spectators: 3. Reading publics: transformations of the literary public sphere; 4. Eighteenth century authorship; 5. From courts to consumers: theatre publics; Part III. Being Sociable: 6. Enlightenment salons; 7. Drinking in public: taverns and coffeehouses; 8. Freemasons; Conclusion.