Alexander Pope
JONES Emrys
As the most celebrated British poet of the early eighteenth century, Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was a highly influential figure in the formation and articulation of sociable ideals. However, while he prided himself on his capacity for friendship, his own relationship to the social expectations of his time was far from comfortable.
Anthony Ashley Cooper, third Earl of Shaftesbury
ALVAREZ David
MÜLLER Patrick
Anthony Ashley Cooper, third Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713), is unarguably among those authors who contributed most fundamentally to defining the concept of ‘sociability’ for thinkers in both Great Britain and the Continent.
Aphra Behn
LE PAPE Isabelle
Interpellant les consciences sur le thème de l’esclavage dans son roman Oroonoko (1688) et exaltant la liberté individuelle ou les droits des femmes dans ses pièces de théâtre, Aphra Behn est considérée comme une des premières femmes écrivains d’Angleterre.
Charles Macklin
ROCHE-TIENGO Virginie
In the history of sociability, Charles Macklin, born Cathal MacLochlainn (1699?–1797) exemplifies the Irish Enlightenment and successful access to British social circles, London theatres, Anglo-Irish debating and charitable societies.
Daniel Defoe’s Social Networks
COWAN Brian
Daniel Defoe was best known as a writer and his primary social networks grew out of his intense engagement with the print trade. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Defoe’s sociability relied much less on interpersonal ties of family, friendship, religion or civic obligation.
Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun
LEONARD-ROQUES Véronique
MESPLÈDE Sophie
Portraitiste officielle de Marie-Antoinette, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun émigre en octobre 1789, voyageant d’une cour à l’autre pendant près de vingt ans, de Rome à Saint-Pétersbourg, avant de séjourner en Angleterre. Artiste de la mondanité et de la mise en scène de soi et des autres, elle publie de 1835 à 1837 des Souvenirs où s’entrelacent chroniques de la vie des élites européennes et sociabilité artistique.