The Eighteenth Century Background

A selective list of online articles on Eighteenth-Century British literature, favoring signed articles by recognized scholars, articles published in reviewed sources, and web sites that adhere to the Modern Language Association Guidelines for Authors of Web Pages

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Introduction

Norton Anthology Introduction to the Eighteenth Century contains brief chapters on the cultural and political context, including the slave trade and the expanding British empire.

Cavalier and Puritan, from the Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Older literary history.

The Age of Dryden, from the Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Older literary history.

From Steele and Addison to Pope and Swift, from the Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Older literary history.

The Age of Johnson, from the Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Older literary history.

The Period of the French Revolution, from the Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Older literary history.

A feature page on the Restoration from the BBC for a basic introduction to the period 1660-1713 (removed).

A feature page on the Georgians from the BBC for a basic introduction to the period 1714-1837(removed).

Britain and the French Revolution, by Dr Mark Philp. Cultural and historical background, from the BBC (removed).

Special Topics

18th century dancing, an extended essay on social dance traditions in eighteenth century England, part of a web site focusing on the history of English country dancing.

18th Century Evangelical Revival in England, a short history from an Anglican church site in Jakarta.

Primitivism in the Eighteenth Century, from the Dictionary of the History of Ideas

Reviews and Bibliography

On the revisionist thesis in Jonathan Clark's English Society in 1985, (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1985) Clark counters the traditional view of 18th century England that emphasized its constitutional traditions, parliamentary government, the rule of law, and religious toleration. In Clark, England is presented "less as a liberal society than as an ancien regime, similar in many ways to the absolutist societies of the continent." By Professor Frank O'Gorman, for Institute of Historical Research.

A review of Fashioning Masculinity: National Identity and Language in the Eighteenth Century, by Michèle Cohen (Routledge, 1996); Reviewer: Robert B. Shoemaker. History in Focus, 8 (Spring 2005)

Review of Romantic Genius: The Prehistory of a Homosexual Role, by Andrew Elfenbein. NY: Columbia University Press, 1999. Reviewed by Petra Dierkes-Thrun for RMMLA

Oxford Univ. bibliography Modern History: Politics, Reform, and Imperial Crisis 1774-1784.

Two books reviewed: Elfenbein, Andrew. Romantic Genius: The Prehistory of a Homosexual Role, (Columbia Univ. Press, 1999) and Haney, David P. The Challenge of Coleridge: Ethics and Interpretation in Romanticism and Modern Philosophy (Pennsylvania State Univ. Press, 2001). Reviewed by Margaret Russett, University of Southern California. In New Books in Nineteenth-Century Studiesn (removed).

Review of Romanticism and Gender, by Anne K. Mellor. (Routledge, 1993), reviewed by Diane Long Hoeveler, Marquette University (removed from ucpress.edu).

Review of An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age: British Culture 1776-1832. Ed. Iain McCalman (Oxford Univ. Press, 1999), reviewed by Alex Benchimol for Romantic Circles, 2000 (removed).

Extended bibliography for Romanticism and Romantic Authors, from Professor Nicholas Hamli (removed).

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