Men and the Emergence of Polite Society, Britain 1660-1800

Men and the Emergence of Polite Society, Britain 1660-1800 PDF Author: Philip (Research Editor, New Dictionary Of National Biography) Carter
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317882261
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
This book presents an account of masculinity in eighteenth century Britain. In particular it is concerned with the impact of an emergent polite society on notions of manliness and the gentleman. From the 1660s a new type of social behaviour, politeness, was promoted by diverse writers. Based on continental ideas of refinement, it stressed the merits of genuine and generous sociability as befitted a progressive and tolerant nation. Early eighteenth century writers encouraged men to acquire the characteristics of politeness by becoming urbane town gentlemen. Later commentators promoted an alternative culture of sensibility typified by the man of feeling. Central to both was the need to spend more time with women, now seen as key agents of refinement. The relationship demanded a reworking of what it meant to be manly. Being manly and polite was a difficult balancing act. Refined manliness presented new problems for eighteenth century men. What was the relationship between politeness and duplicity? Were feminine actions such as tears and physical delicacy acceptable or not? Critics believed polite society led to effeminacy, not manliness, and condemned this failure of male identity with reference to the fop. This book reveals the significance of social over sexual conduct for eighteenth century definitions of masculinity. It shows how features traditionally associated with nineteenth century models were well established in the earlier figure of the polite town-dweller or sentimental man of feeling. Using personal stories and diverse public statements drawn from conduct books, magazines, sermons and novels, this is a vivid account of the changing status of men and masculinity as Britain moved into the modern period.

Men and the Emergence of Polite Society, Britain 1660-1800

Men and the Emergence of Polite Society, Britain 1660-1800 PDF Author: Philip (Research Editor, New Dictionary Of National Biography) Carter
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317882261
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book presents an account of masculinity in eighteenth century Britain. In particular it is concerned with the impact of an emergent polite society on notions of manliness and the gentleman. From the 1660s a new type of social behaviour, politeness, was promoted by diverse writers. Based on continental ideas of refinement, it stressed the merits of genuine and generous sociability as befitted a progressive and tolerant nation. Early eighteenth century writers encouraged men to acquire the characteristics of politeness by becoming urbane town gentlemen. Later commentators promoted an alternative culture of sensibility typified by the man of feeling. Central to both was the need to spend more time with women, now seen as key agents of refinement. The relationship demanded a reworking of what it meant to be manly. Being manly and polite was a difficult balancing act. Refined manliness presented new problems for eighteenth century men. What was the relationship between politeness and duplicity? Were feminine actions such as tears and physical delicacy acceptable or not? Critics believed polite society led to effeminacy, not manliness, and condemned this failure of male identity with reference to the fop. This book reveals the significance of social over sexual conduct for eighteenth century definitions of masculinity. It shows how features traditionally associated with nineteenth century models were well established in the earlier figure of the polite town-dweller or sentimental man of feeling. Using personal stories and diverse public statements drawn from conduct books, magazines, sermons and novels, this is a vivid account of the changing status of men and masculinity as Britain moved into the modern period.

Men and the Emergence of Polite Society, Britain 1660-1800

Men and the Emergence of Polite Society, Britain 1660-1800 PDF Author: Philip (Research Editor, New Dictionary Of National Biography) Carter
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317882253
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
This book presents an account of masculinity in eighteenth century Britain. In particular it is concerned with the impact of an emergent polite society on notions of manliness and the gentleman. From the 1660s a new type of social behaviour, politeness, was promoted by diverse writers. Based on continental ideas of refinement, it stressed the merits of genuine and generous sociability as befitted a progressive and tolerant nation. Early eighteenth century writers encouraged men to acquire the characteristics of politeness by becoming urbane town gentlemen. Later commentators promoted an alternative culture of sensibility typified by the man of feeling. Central to both was the need to spend more time with women, now seen as key agents of refinement. The relationship demanded a reworking of what it meant to be manly. Being manly and polite was a difficult balancing act. Refined manliness presented new problems for eighteenth century men. What was the relationship between politeness and duplicity? Were feminine actions such as tears and physical delicacy acceptable or not? Critics believed polite society led to effeminacy, not manliness, and condemned this failure of male identity with reference to the fop. This book reveals the significance of social over sexual conduct for eighteenth century definitions of masculinity. It shows how features traditionally associated with nineteenth century models were well established in the earlier figure of the polite town-dweller or sentimental man of feeling. Using personal stories and diverse public statements drawn from conduct books, magazines, sermons and novels, this is a vivid account of the changing status of men and masculinity as Britain moved into the modern period.

Elite Women and Polite Society in Eighteenth-century Scotland

Elite Women and Polite Society in Eighteenth-century Scotland PDF Author: Katharine Glover
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 1843836815
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Women are shown to have played an important and very visible role in society at the time. Fashionable "polite" society of this period emphasised mixed-gender sociability and encouraged the visible participation of elite women in a series of urban, often public settings. Using a variety of sources (both men's and women's correspondence, accounts, bills, memoirs and other family papers), this book investigates the ways in which polite social practices and expectations influenced the experience of elite femininity in Scotland in the eighteenth century. It explores women's education and upbringing; their reading practices; the meanings of the social spaces and activities in which they engaged and how this fed over into the realm of politics; and the fashion for tourism at home and abroad. It also asks how elite women used polite social spaces and practices to extend their mental horizons and to form a sense of belonging to a public at a time when Scotland was among the most intellectually vibrant societies in Europe.

Polite Society

Polite Society PDF Author: Mahesh Rao
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525539964
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
"So funny, smart, sophisticated, and captivating, you just want to spend your whole life with it."--Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians In this modern reimagining of Jane Austen's Emma, Delhi's polite society is often anything but polite. Beautiful, clever, and more than a little bored, Ania Khurana has Delhi wrapped around her finger. Having successfully found love for her spinster aunt, she sets her sights on Dimple: her newest, sweetest, and most helpless friend. But when her aunt's handsome nephew arrives from America, the social tides in Delhi begin to shift. Surrounded by old money and new; relentless currents of gossip; and an unforgettable cast of socialites, journalists, gurus, and heirs, Ania discovers that her good intentions are no match for the whims and intrigues of Delhi's high society--or for her own complicated feelings toward her cherished childhood friend, Dev. Pairing razor-sharp observation and social comedy with moments of true tenderness, this delicious whirl through the mansions of India's dazzling elite celebrates that there's no one route to perfect happiness.

Politeness in the History of English

Politeness in the History of English PDF Author: Andreas H. Jucker
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108499627
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
From the Middle Ages up to the present day, this book traces politeness in the history of the English language.

Age and Identity in Eighteenth-Century England

Age and Identity in Eighteenth-Century England PDF Author: Helen Yallop
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317319729
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
Yallop looks at how people in eighteenth-century England understood and dealt with growing older. Though no word for ‘aging’ existed at this time, a person’s age was a significant aspect of their identity.

Man's Estate

Man's Estate PDF Author: Henry French
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199576696
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
The first study on masculinity to focus on the English landed gentry. It covers the period from 1700 to 1900 and is based on several thousand letters written by 19 families. It concentrates on the common experiences of sons' upbringing, particularly schooling, university or business, foreign travel, and the move to family life and fatherhood.

Masculinity, Militarism and Eighteenth-Century Culture, 1689-1815

Masculinity, Militarism and Eighteenth-Century Culture, 1689-1815 PDF Author: Julia Banister
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107195195
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
This book discusses the nature of masculinity in eighteenth-century literature and culture through the figure of the military man.

Patriarchy in Peril

Patriarchy in Peril PDF Author: Dennis Todd
Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press
ISBN: 1621908100
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
William Byrd II was a prominent eighteenth-century Virginian who at the time of his death owned over 180,000 acres and employed laborers and enslaved Africans to work his land. His letters, diaries, and surveying documents have become key texts in the study of American history, and he is one of the most quoted and discussed figures of his era. Byrd himself was perhaps the early colonial epitome of a patriarch, and typically, when historians examine Byrd and the prominence of patriarchal thought in colonial Virginia, they examine his relationships with his immediate family. In this book, however, Dennis Todd examines the patriarchal relations between Byrd and the workers on his plantations—his apprentices, his wageworkers, his overseers, his white servants, and especially his slaves. In doing so, this book illuminates a neglected stage in the formation of slavery in Virginia. Todd argues that patriarchal principles, which are often assumed to have justified slavery and to have offered a template for slave management, in fact did neither. Byrd was not the only Virginian to wrestle with the contradictions between patriarchal values and the realities of slavery, but few were as articulate. In examining Byrd through the twin lens of slavery and patriarchy, Patriarchy in Peril makes an important contribution to our understanding of the man and his place in Virginia society as well as the contentious formation of early America.

A Genealogy of the Gentleman

A Genealogy of the Gentleman PDF Author: Mary Beth Harris
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 1644533308
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
A Genealogy of the Gentleman argues that eighteenth-century women writers made key interventions in modern ideals of masculinity and authorship through their narrative constructions of the gentleman. It challenges two latent critical assumptions: first, that the gentleman’s masculinity is normative, private, and therefore oppositional to concepts of performance; and second, that women writers, from their disadvantaged position within a patriarchal society, had no real means of influencing dominant structures of masculinity. By placing writers such as Mary Davys, Eliza Haywood, Charlotte Lennox, Elizabeth Inchbald, and Mary Robinson in dialogue with canonical representatives of the gentleman author—Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, David Hume, Samuel Johnson, and Samuel Richardson—Mary Beth Harris shows how these women carved out a space for their literary authority not by overtly opposing their male critics and society’s patriarchal structure, but by rewriting the persona of the gentleman as a figure whose very desirability and appeal were dependent on women’s influence. Ultimately, this project considers the import of these women writers’ legacy, both progressive and conservative, on hegemonic standards of masculinity that persist to this day.