The evolution of English prose, 1700-1800 : style, politeness, and print culture / Carey McIntosh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McIntosh, Carey.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English prose literature--18th century--History and criticism.

English prose literature.

Women--Books and reading--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Women.

Women--Books and reading.

Literacy.

History.

Written communication.

Literature publishing.

Great Britain.

Literature publishing--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Written communication--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Great Britain--Intellectual life--18th century.

Intellectual life.

Literacy--Great Britain--History--18th century.

English language--18th century--Rhetoric.

English language.

Rhetoric.

English language--18th century--Style.

Courtesy in literature.

Physical Description:

xi, 276 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, U.K. ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Summary:

At the beginning of the eighteenth century ordinary written English was close to speech; by 1800, people expressed themselves more formally, politely, and precisely. The new "writtenness" of prose coincided with the development of a mature print culture, the rise of women writers, the invention of prescriptive grammars, and a powerful new rhetoric. Carey Mcintosh traces these changes and illustrates them with comparisons of work by Defoe and Paine, Swift and Burke, Addison and Johnson, Shaftesbury and Godwin, and Astell and Wollstonecraft.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-267) and index.

ISBN:

0521624320

OCLC:

37761896