The Evolution of English Prose, 1700-1800 Style, Politeness, and Print Culture |
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| Author:
| McIntosh, Carey |
| ISBN: | 978-0-521-62432-9 |
| Publication Date: | Nov 1998 |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press
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| Book Format: | Hardback |
| List Price: | USD $108.00 |
Book Description:
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At the beginning of the eighteenth century ordinary written English was close to speech; by 1800, people expressed themselves more formally, politely, and precisely. The new 'writtenness' of prose coincided with the development of a mature print culture, the rise of women writers, the invention of prescriptive grammars, and a powerful new rhetoric. Carey McIntosh traces these changes and illustrates them with comparison of work by Defoe and Paine, Swift and Burke, Addison and Johnson,...
More DescriptionAt the beginning of the eighteenth century ordinary written English was close to speech; by 1800, people expressed themselves more formally, politely, and precisely. The new 'writtenness' of prose coincided with the development of a mature print culture, the rise of women writers, the invention of prescriptive grammars, and a powerful new rhetoric. Carey McIntosh traces these changes and illustrates them with comparison of work by Defoe and Paine, Swift and Burke, Addison and Johnson, Shaftesbury and Godwin, and Astell and Wollstonecracft.