Search

Republic of Letters [ National & Transnational cultures / Reading & Writing ]

… Abstract The Republic of Letters was an abstract intellectual community in the seventeenth and eighteenth-century that was comprised of numerous … and philosophical manuscripts, and political news and pamphlets. But the erudite epistolary backbone of the Republic of Letters was also enriched by networks grounded in institutions. These included scholarly networks created by the … and masonic lodges. Concepts > National & Transnational cultures Practices > Reading & Writing Keywords Republic of Letters Correspondence networks academies Transnational Community Voltaire The Republic of Letters was both an abstract …

Helen Maria Williams [ Art and Literature / Travel ]

… country it is social pleasure that sheds the most delicious flowers which grow on the path of life’ (H.M. Williams, Letters, 1790, 140  ) . This British author, who settled in Paris in 1792, contributed greatly to the circulation of … events from the Revolution to the Restoration. People > Art and Literature People > Travel Keywords Women Salon Letters travelogue French Revolution Girondins napoleonic era National specificities sociable spaces Helen Maria Williams … first chronicle of events across the Channel dates to this trip. This first volume was followed by seven more, forming Letters from France (1790-1796), which was published in London by T. Cadell (then G. G. and J. Robinson). 1 The first …

David Hume [ Philosophy ]

… ̶  he belonged to diverse clubs and societies in Scotland and London, then at Hume’s participation in the Republic of Letters, and finally at philosophy as the practice of sociability. People > Philosophy Keywords Philosophy Clubs Societies Salons Scottish Enlightenment Edinburgh London Paris Republic of Letters essay David Hume’s original position in eighteenth-century letters is linked to a paradox: he was both a marginal character (Scottish rather than English, British rather than …

Frances Glanville Boscawen [ Aristocracy / Art and Literature ]

… London as well as in the country . People > Aristocracy People > Art and Literature Keywords Bluestockings Conversation Letters Parties Drums London Politics Born in 1719, Frances Evelyn Glanville was a distant relative of diarist John … to exert a form of social politics in the manner described by Elaine Chalus: 1 . Admiral’s Wife: Being the Life and Letters of The Hon. Mrs. Edward Boscawen from 1719-1761, ed. Cecil Aspinall-Oglander (London, New York, Toronto: … that of other ladies of her acquaintance, Boscawen felt a sense of achievement, dutifully couched in submissive terms in letters to her husband: I cannot help flattering myself that you think your choice of a wife happy in that point – in …

William Blake [ Art and Literature ]

… to think about Blake and sociability. People > Art and Literature Keywords poetry Art Annotations Conversation Letters Friendship Salons Exhibitions Patronage Marketplace William Blake (1757-1827) was born into a dissenting family … (1757-1845), a civil servant, now recognised as Blake’s main collector. Many of Blake’s patrons were his friends - the letters make explicit familiarity and sympathy. Blake wrote to the Editor of the Monthly Review to defend Fuseli, whose … the depths of his relationships, personal or commercial, as well as spats with friends and employers from the surviving letters as well as the epigrams written into the Notebook that Blake inherited from his brother Robert. During his …

Salons [ Associational culture ]

… place throughout Paris. These weekly gatherings featured a mixed-gendered group of aristocrats, artists, and men of letters. The salons were social gatherings, involving conversation and games, but they were also sites for literary and philosophical discussion, and notably, for men of letters to network and secure protections and patronage. Practices > Associational culture Keywords Salon Enlightenment … various genres of entertainment, such as theater, gambling, oral readings of new literary texts or recently received letters, and of course, extensive conversation. 8   Madame Du Deffand frequently read the letters she received from …