D. Gigante (éd.), The Great Age of the English Essay. An Anthology

The Great Age of the English Essay An Anthology, Yale University Press, 2008, 464 p.

Édition de Denise Gigante

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• ISBN: 9780300141962
• ISBN-10: 0300141963

Présentation de l'éditeur:

From the pens of spectators, ramblers, idlers, tattlers, hypochondriacs, connoisseurs, and loungers, a new literary genre emerged in eighteenth-century England: the periodical essay.  Situated between classical rhetoric and the novel, the English essay challenged the borders between fiction and nonfiction prose and helped forge the tastes and values of an emerging middle class.

This authoritative anthology is the first to gather in one volume the consummate periodical essays of the period. Included are the Spectator cofounders Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, literary lion Samuel Johnson, and Romantic recluse Thomas De Quincey, addressing a wide variety of topics from the oddities of virtuosos to the private lives of parrots and the fantastic horrors of opium dreams.

In a lively and informative introduction, Denise Gigante situates the essayists in the context of the contemporary Republic of Letters and highlights the stylistic innovations and conventions that distinguish the periodical essay as a literary form.  Critical notes on the essays, a chronology, descriptions and a map of key London sites, and a glossary of eighteenth-century English terms complete the anthology—a uniquely pleasurable survey of the golden era of British essays.
Denise Gigante is associate professor of English at Stanford University and the author of Taste: A Literary History, published by Yale University Press (voir aussi cette page: http://www.fabula.org/actualites/article13473.php)

Table:

Acknowledgments xi
Note on the Text xiii
Introductionxv
Map of Eighteenth-Century Londonxxxiv

1. richard steele(1672–1729)
The Tatler(1709–11)
No. 1. [Introducing the Tatler] 2
No. 60. [Tom Wildair &c.] 6
No. 89. [Sir Isaac Bickerstaff, Censor of Great Britain] 10
No. 132. [The Old Prattlers' Club] 14
No. 214. [The Political Barometer] 19

2. joseph addison(1672–1719)
The Tatler(1709–11)
No. 155. [The Upholsterer] 24
No. 158. [Tom Folio] 28
No. 163. [Ned Softly, Sonneteer] 31
No. 216. [Nicholas Gimcrack, the Virtuoso] 35
No. 220. [The Church Thermometer] 39
The Spectator(1711–12, 1714)
No. 1. [Introducing Mr. Spectator] 43
No. 26. [On Westminster Abbey] 46
No. 46. [The Spectator's Notes] 50
No. 58. [On True and False Wit] 54
No. 81. [Party Patches] 58
No. 106. [A Visit to Sir Roger's] 62
No. 112. [Sir Roger at Church] 65
No. 130. [Sir Roger and the Gypsies] 68
No. 235. [The Trunk-Maker as Drama Critic] 71
No. 409. [On Taste] 74
No. 411. [The Pleasures of the Imagination] 78
No. 529. [On Rank and Precedence] 81

3. elizahaywood(c. 1693–1756)
The Female Spectator(1744–46)
No. 1. [Martesia and Clitander] 86
The Parrot(1746)
No. 1. [Introduces Herself and Anticipates Critics] 93
No. 2. [Oram] 101

4. samuel johnson(1709–84)
The Rambler(1750–52)
No. 4. [On Modern Romances, or Novels] 107
No. 14. [On the Life of an Author vs. His Writing] 112
No. 82. [On a Virtuoso] 117
No. 113. [On the Trials of Courtship] 122
No. 161. [On the Previous Inhabitants of His Garret] 126
No. 188. [On Being Liked vs. Being Respected] 131
No. 191. [A Young Belle's Complaint] 134
“The Idler,” The Universal Chronicle(1758–60)
No. 1. [Introducing the Idler] 138
No. 17. [On Scientists and Cruelty to Animals] 140
No. [22]. [The Vulture's Speech on War] 143
No. 36. [On the Bugbear Style] 145
No. 44. [The Burden of Memory] 148
No. 60. [Dick Minim, the Critic] 150
No. 84. [On Biography vs. Autobiography] 155
No. 94. [On the Abatement of Learning and Bad Writing] 157
No. 103. [On Last Things] 159

5. henryfielding(1707–54)
The Covent Garden Journal(1752)
No. 1. Introduction to a Journal of the Present Paper War 163
No. 4. [On the Meaning of Common Words] 165
No. 6. [Uses to Which Learning Is Put] 169
No. 27. [On Betters and the Mob] 174

6. william cowper(1731–1800)
The Connoisseur(1754–56)
No. 111. [On Mothers' Sons] 180
No. 115. [On Being a Bachelor] 184
No. 119. [On Keeping a Secret] 188
No. 138. [On Conversation] 192

7. olivergoldmsith(c. 1730–74)
The Bee(1759)
Introduction198
Happiness, in a Great Measure, Dependent
on Constitution200
The Sagacity of Some Insects 203

8. james boswell(1740–95)
“The Hypochondriack,” The London Magazine(1777–83)
No. 39. On Hypochondria 211
No. 52. On Past and Present 214
No. 58. On Hospitality 220
No. 70. On Concluding 227

9. henrymackenzie(1745–1831)
The Mirror(1779–80)
No. 14. On Indolence 232
No. 16. Of Spring—Effects of That Season on
Some Minds 236
The Lounger(1785–87)
No. 4. The Author Becomes Acquainted with
Col. Caustic 239
No. 32. Account of the Colonel's Family and Occupations
in the Country 244
No. 33. Relation of a Visit at the House of Lord Grubwell 248

10. leigh hunt(1784–1859)
“The Round Table,” The Examiner(1815–17)
No. 1. Introduction255
No. 6. On Common-Place People 260
The Indicator(1819–21)
No. 1. Introduction264
No. 38. Of Sticks 267
“The Indicator,” The Literary Examiner(1823)
No. 77. My Books 276

11. william hazlitt(1778–1830)
“The Round Table,” The Examiner(1815–17)
No. 4. On Classical Education288
No. 28. On Imitation291
No. 29. On Gusto296
No. 46. On Common-Place Critics 300
The Plain Speaker(1821)
No. 20. On Reading Old Books 305
Table-Talk(1821–22)
No. 24. On Familiar Style 319
The Monthly Magazine(1831)
The Letter-Bell 327

12. charles lamb(1775–1834)
“Essays of Elia,” The London Magazine(1820–25)
Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago337
The Two Races of Men352
Mackery End, in Hertfordshire 358
Dream-Children; A Reverie 363
Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading367
Old China 374
Captain Jackson380
The Superannuated Man385

13. thomas de quincey(1785–1859)
“Confessions of an English Opium Eater,” The London
Magazine(1821)
Preliminary Confessions 394
The Pleasures of Opium407

Chronology 413
Glossary of Places 419
Glossary of Terms 423  contents