A Cosmography of Man : Character Sketches in "The Tatler" and "The Spectator" / Theresa Schön.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Schön, Theresa, Author.

Series:

Hallesche Beiträge zur europäischen Aufklärung ; 61.

Hallesche Beiträge zur Europäischen Aufklärung ; 61

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Characters and characteristics in literature.

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

English literature.

Tatler (London, England : 1709).

Spectator (London, England : 1711).

England--Social life and customs--18th century.

England.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vi, 347 pages) : illustrations (some colour)

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter, [2020]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Designed to reform contemporary British society, Joseph Addison and Richard Steele's The Tatler (1709-1711) and The Spectator (1711-1712, 1714) rely heavily on the representation of contemporary manners. In shaping such behavioural images, the authors made use of the satirical character sketch. Their character sketches (re)create social interactions between fictionalised representatives of moral types of men and women located in contemporary London. This study examines how Addison and Steele employed the character sketch to create a 'cosmography' of (wo)man by actively engaging with the observational approaches of contemporary naturalists. Addison and Steele adapted distinctly empirical methods (e.g. induction and deduction, note taking, repeated and collective observation) and appropriated the (medico-legal) case study to communicate and disseminate socio-moral knowledge. At the same time, the character sketch served them as a means to establish a taxonomic order of the socio-moral knowledge conveyed in the texts. The study sheds new light on the literary techniques and the methodological frameworks of two journals essentially associated with the British - and the European - Enlightenment.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Acknowledgements

Contents

Introduction

Chapter One. Character and Knowledge in Early Eighteenth-Century English Periodicals

Chapter Two. Epistemic Categories

Chapter Three. The Tatler: The 'Individual' Gaze

Chapter Four. The Spectator: A Community of Modern Observers

Chapter Five. Ordering Characterological Knowledge in The Tatler and The Spectator

Conclusion

Appendix

Works Cited

Table of Figures

Notes:

Diss. Univ.Halle-Wittenberg 2017.

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 06. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9783110613674

3110613670

9783110612134

3110612135

OCLC:

1138537249