Hypocrisy and the politics of politeness : manners and morals from Locke to Austen / Jenny Davidson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Davidson, Jenny, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Austen, Jane, 1775-1817--Ethics.

Austen, Jane.

Locke, John, 1632-1704--Ethics.

Locke, John.

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

English literature.

Courtesy in literature.

Literature and society--England--History--18th century.

Literature and society.

Moral conditions in literature.

Etiquette in literature.

Hypocrisy in literature.

Ethics in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (242 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Hypocrisy & the Politics of Politeness

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Hypocrisy and the Politics of Politeness, Jenny Davidson considers the arguments that define hypocrisy as a moral and political virtue in its own right. She shows that these were arguments that thrived in the medium of eighteenth-century Britain's culture of politeness. In the debate about the balance between truthfulness and politeness, Davidson argues that eighteenth-century writers from Locke to Austen come down firmly on the side of politeness. This is the case even when it is associated with dissimulation or hypocrisy. These writers argue that the open profession of vice is far more dangerous for society than even the most glaring discrepancies between what people say in public and what they do in private. This book explores what happens when controversial arguments in favour of hypocrisy enter the mainstream, making it increasingly hard to tell the difference between hypocrisy and more obviously attractive qualities like modesty, self-control and tact.

Contents:

Introduction : the revolution in manners in eighteenth-century prose

1. Hypocrisy and the servant problem

2. Gallantry, adultery and the principles of politeness

3. Revolutions in female manners

4. Hypocrisy and the novel I : Pamela, or virtue rewarded

5. Hypocrisy and the novel II : a modest question about Mansfield Park

Coda : politeness and its costs.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-229) and index.

ISBN:

1-107-14975-4

1-280-47796-2

0-511-19538-9

0-511-19604-0

0-511-19399-8

0-511-32714-5

0-511-48417-8

0-511-19473-0

OCLC:

171138805