Writing and Constructing the Self in Great Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century

Allan Ingram

ISBN 10: 1526123363 / ISBN 13: 9781526123367

Published by Manchester University Press, GB, 2018

About this Item

The injunction, 'Know thyself!', resounding down the centuries, has never lost its appeal and urgency. The 'self' remains an abiding and universal concern, something at once intimate, indispensable and elusive; something we take for granted and yet remains difficult to pin down, describe or define. This volume of twelve essays explores how writers in different domains - philosophers and thinkers, novelists, poets, churchmen, political writers and others - construed, fashioned and expressed the self in written form in Great Britain in the course of the long eighteenth century from the Restoration to the period of the French Revolution. The essays are preceded by an introduction that seeks to frame several key aspects of the debate on the self in a succinct and open-minded spirit. The volume foregrounds the coming into being of a recognisably modern self.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781526123367

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Writing and Constructing the Self in Great Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century
• Publisher: Manchester University Press, GB
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1526123363
• ISBN 13: 9781526123367
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 508 grams

About this title

Synopsis

This volume explores the various ways the ‘self’ was perceived, fashioned and written in the course of the long eighteenth century in Great Britain. Following a chronological narrative which highlights the problematic and intriguing nature of what we call the ‘self’ across time and from different perspectives, this book illustrates the diversity of vision, and the abiding unity of the subject, while foregrounding the emergence of a recognisably modern, individualistic, ‘sustainable’ self.

This collection assembles contributions from both established and emerging researchers from Britain, Europe and the United States. The studies explore the interface between literature and philosophy, and include discussion of philosophers and thinkers such as Locke, Shaftesbury, Mandeville, Hutcheson and Hume; churchmen such as Isaac Barrow and John Tillotson; the novelists Eliza Haywood, Samuel Richardson and Laurence Sterne; the poets Anne Killigrew, Alexander Pope, William Blake and William Wordsworth; and the writers and sometime diarists Samuel Johnson and James Boswell. The twelve essays are preceded by an introduction that frames the problematic history of the notion of the ‘self’. 

With its interdisciplinary scope, Writing and constructing the self in Great Britain in the long eighteenth century will appeal to a wide readership. It will prove invaluable to Literature and Humanities researchers and students at all levels, particularly those interested in the Enlightenment period, as well as anybody interested in questions of identity and consciousness, and their formulation in the past and present.

About the Author

John Baker is Senior Lecturer in English at Panthéon-Sorbonne University – Paris 1

Marion Leclair is a doctoral student at Sorbonne Nouvelle University – Paris 3 and a research and teaching assistant at the Université de Cergy-Pontoise

Allan Ingram is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle

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