Conversable worlds : literature, contention, and community 1762 to 1830

330 Pages·2011·2.392 MB·English

by  Jon J. Mee

CONVERSABLE WORLDS
This page intentionally left blank
CONVERSABLE
WORLDS
Literature, Contention, and Community
1762 to 1830
JON MEE
1
3
GreatClarendonStreet,OxfordOX26DP
OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship,
andeducationbypublishingworldwidein
Oxford NewYork
Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi
KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi
NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto
Withofficesin
Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece
Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore
SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam
OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress
intheUKandincertainothercountries
PublishedintheUnitedStates
byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork
#JonMee2011
Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted
DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker)
Firstpublished2011
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,
withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,
orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate
reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction
outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,
OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove
Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover
andyoumustimposethesameconditiononanyacquirer
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
Dataavailable
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Dataavailable
TypesetbySPIPublisherServices,Pondicherry,India
PrintedinGreatBritain
onacid-freepaperby
MPGBooksGroup,BodminandKing’sLynn
ISBN 978–0–19–959174–9
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
‘ ’
for Jane sweet converse
Acknowledgements
Likeeveryotherbook,thisoneistheproductofconversations,including
many that took place before it was even conceived of as a project. The
award of a Philip J. Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship guaranteed
freedomtotalkandthinkoncetheprojecthadbegun, soIwillbeginby
acknowledging the generosity of the Leverhulme Trust. The Master and
Fellows of University College, Oxford, and the English Faculty of the
University of Oxford allowed me to take up the award in the first place.
AfterImovedtotheDepartmentofEnglishandComparativeLiteratures
at the University of Warwick, my colleagues there patiently put up with
myabsence.Ithankmycolleaguesatallthreeinstitutions.
The conversations that fed into this book took place across three
continents. Although I had left the Australian National University long
before I began writing it, conversations there with Dipesh Chakrabarty,
Ranajit Guha, Iain McCalman, and Gillian Russell played a part in
shaping many of the key ideas. I was lucky enough to return to the
HumanitiesResearch Centreat the ANUfor three monthsat the endof
2009 to finish my first draft. I am extremely grateful to the Director,
Debjani Ganguly, for granting me the fellowship, and to Leena Messina
for endless amounts of help sweetened with great good humour. Alex
Cook, Ned Curthoys, Ian Higgins, Kate Fullagar, Iain McCalman, Kate
Mitchell,andGinoMoliternomadesurethatconvivialityandideaswere
constantly flowing.Gillian was great support and inspiration onthis trip
asalways.ThanksalsotoBenandTom.ClaraTuitehasguidedmewith
Austenmorethanonce.IalsothankSusanConleyandDeirdreColeman
inMelbourne. JohnandMary-Ann Hughes havemadeSydney a second
home. ‘Barzura’ and ‘Missing Bean’ are neck and neck as my favourite
coffeeshopsintheworld.
IbenefitedgreatlyfromtwofellowshipsinNorthAmerica:theSchaff-
ner Visiting Professorship at the University of Chicago and a visiting
scholarshipattheYaleCentreforBritishArt.JimChandlerwasagenerous
hostandwonderfullyencouraginginChicago.IalsothankBillBrownand
LeelaGandhi.ThegraduateclassItaughttherehelpedfleshoutmanyof
the basic ideas in this book: I thank Anahid Nersessian, John Havard,
Darrel Chia, and Daniel Harris for their contributions. I also thank the
Director,AmyMeyers,fortheawardofthefellowshipattheYaleCenter
for British Art and Cassandra Albinson, Lisa Ford, Matthew Hargraves,
andMariaSingerfortheirhelpandadvice.I’malsogratefultotheCenter
Acknowledgements vii
forprovidingsomanyoftheillustrationsforthisbook.Whiletheywereat
the Center, Stacey Sloboda and Julius Bryant both kindly shared their
knowledge of English interiors with me. I am grateful to Elizabeth
Denlinger for help with the Hays letters in the Pforzheimer Collection
of the New York Public Library. Blair Worden and Steve Pincus invited
me to speak at the ‘Civil and Religious Liberty’ conference at Yale
University in July 2008. I also gained a great deal from the chance to
talkaboutmyideasonGodwinintheMiddleModernityLectureSeriesat
theUniversityofWisconsin.ThanksverymuchtoTheresaKelleyforthe
invitation.SomeofthematerialsinChapter3werefleshedoutinatalkat
the Clark Library in February 2009. I’m grateful to Saree Makdisi and
Michael Meranze for the opportunity to speak there. Thanks to Saree,
Christina,andthekidsforthehospitality.HelenDeutschhashelpedmea
lot with Johnson. I’m also very grateful to Felicity Nussbaum for the
invitationtotheUSC-HuntingtonEarlyModernStudiesSeminarandfor
sharing her thoughts on Piozzi. Whether in his American or British
circumstance, Kevin Gilmartin has been a constant source of support,
and generous in giving up his time to read my work and in allowing me
accesstohisown.IhopetoseetheconversableworldofLuckyBaldwin’s
Baragainsometimesoon.
JohnBarrellandHarrietGuestareacontinuingsourceofinspirationto
me.Muchofwhatisgoodinthisbookisindebtedtothem.TheCentre
forEighteenth-CenturyStudiesattheUniversityofYorkhasneverfailed
toprovideaconvivialenvironmentfortalkingaboutideas.EmmaMajor
generouslyletmeseeherworkonBarbauldandMontagu.ElizabethEger
has also helped me a great deal with Bluestocking sociability. Graham
Snell,SecretaryofBrooks’sClubLondon,providedElizabethandIwith
theopportunitytoviewthepaintingsbyKnaptonandReynoldsdiscussed
in Chapter 2. Josephine McDonagh and Luisa Calè have also been a
constantsourceofencouragementandideas.ThankstoJoforsettingup
that early symposium on the idea of conversation. Tone Brekke has
profoundlyshapedmyunderstandingofWollstonecraft.LarryKleinand
PhilConnellgenerouslyinvitedmetospeakatCambridgeonHazlitt.I’m
also indebted to Corinna Wagner for the chance to speak in Exeter on
some of the topics covered in Chapter 2 and to the Restoration and
Reform seminar in Oxford for the chance to try out my ideas on Austen
there. Tea-table conversation with Kathryn Sutherland helped me think
aboutAusten’sconversablestyleearlyonintheproject.Whiletowardsthe
end, Mike Suarez provided a stimulating and encouraging lunch at
Campion Hall. Susan Matthews and Ian Haywood gave me a chance to
workoutanoverviewformyselfbyinvitingmetodeliveraplenarylecture
attheBritishAssociationofRomanticStudiesconferenceatRoehamptonin
viii Acknowledgements
2009. Scotland figures regularly in this book, and visits there have been
sustained by the conviviality of Glasgow, especially with my old friend
DavidGoldie.Ifonlyhedidnotwalksofarinfrontofmeupthosehills,
we could probably have talked about the book more! Thanks anyway
to David and Debbie for all the years of warmth and welcome. Alex
Benchimol, Gerry Carruthers, Nigel Leask, and Murray Pittock have
shown me the spirit of Scottish sociability continues in rude health across
theirgreatcity.IthankPatriciaBoydoftheEdinburghSpecialCollections
DepartmentforprovidingmewithacopyoftheGeorgeDrummondessay.
QuotationsfromKatherinePlymley’sdiariesarebykindpermissionofthe
owners of the Corbett of Longnor collection currently held at the Shrop-
shire Archives. I am extremely grateful to Liz Young and the archivists in
Shrewsburyfortheirhelp.ReadingKathrynGleadle’sworkintroducedme
toPlymley.Coffee-shopconversationwithKathrynhelpedmeunderstand
evenmoreaboutit.LibrariansattheJohnRylandsLibrary,theHuntington
Library, and the Central Library at Reading have also been extremely
helpfulwithmanuscriptmaterials.
Much of the writing and research for this book took place in Oxford.
Peter McDonald’s influence is a pervasive one. Marilyn Butler’s tutored
me from very early on in the sociable idea of the academic life. The
BodleianLibraryremainsawonderfulplacetowork.Iparticularlythank
VeraRyhaljoformanyyearsofsupport(andachoiceselectionofbarbed
comments). While I was still at the University, I was lucky enough to
supervise a convivial cohort of graduate students, whom I’m glad still to
see often. Mark Crosby, David Fallon, James Grande, and David
O’Shaughnessy will be familiar with lots of things in this book, not least
because they generously read sections. Conversations with Georgina
Green about the 1790s have always been illuminating. Corin Thorsby
helped me think about Byron’s conversational style, although his lord-
ship’sappearancesaresomewhatfleetinginthebook.PamelaClemitand
Mark Philp have been extremely generous in sharing their knowledge of
Godwin’s letters and diaries with me. I was fortunate to be around in
Oxfordwhentheireditingworkwasinprogress.Mark’sinfluenceplayeda
partinshapingmyideasfromveryearlyon.WhilewewereatUniversity
Collegetogether,SarahHaggartyhelpedmethinkaboutsomeofthekey
concepts. Pablo Mukherjee has reintroduced me to convivial coffee-shop
addaaspartofeverydaylife.DespitenotbeingaresidentofthePeople’s
Republic of East Oxford, I salute its values and hope to have met Eliza
Hilton’s standards of creativity. I am sorry to have played a part in the
dispersalofthatparticularconversableworld,althoughitseemscapableof
constant renovation. This book has been written with a faith in the
productive power of conversation of all kinds. Throughout its gestation,
Acknowledgements ix
theHudson-Huygcollectivehasbeenincrediblysupportive.Myparents,
BobandSandra,andmysiblings,ChrisandBec,continuetoremindme
thatthe bestconversation isfunny, warm,andsometimes fractious.Jane
HuygandSharmilaJordan-Meehaveshownmethere’smoretolifethan
conversation and Nottingham Forest. Errors and omissions, of course,
remainthefaultoftheauthor,butperhaps,unknownreader,wecantalk
aboutthoseatsomefuturedate.