The Feminization of Fame 1750–1830

251 Pages·2006·3.098 MB·English

by  Claire Brock (auth.)

PalgraveStudiesintheEnlightenment,RomanticismandCulturesofPrint
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Titlesinclude:
ClaireBrock
THEFEMINIZATIONOFFAME,1750–1830
BrycchanCarey
BRITISHABOLITIONISMANDTHERHETORICOFSENSIBILITY
Writing,Sentiment,andSlavery,1760–1807
E.J.Clery
THEFEMINIZATIONDEBATEIN18TH-CENTURYENGLAND
Literature,CommerceandLuxury
AdrianaCraciun
BRITISHWOMENWRITERSANDTHEFRENCHREVOLUTION
CitizensoftheWorld
PeterdeBolla,NigelLeaskandDavidSimpson(editors)
LAND,NATIONANDCULTURE,1740–1840
ThinkingtheRepublicofTaste
AnthonyS.Jarrells
BRITAIN’SBLOODLESSREVOLUTIONS
1688andtheRomanticReformofLiterature
MaryWaters
BRITISHWOMENWRITERSANDTHEPROFESSIONOFLITERARYCRITICISM,
1789–1832
Forthcomingtitlesintheseries:
IanHaywood
BLOODYROMANTICISM
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The Feminization of Fame,
1750–1830
Claire Brock
©ClaireBrock2006
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DOI 10.1057/9780230286450
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Brock,Claire,1977(cid:3)
Thefeminizationoffame,1750(cid:3)1830/ClaireBrock.
p. cm.“(PalgravestudiesintheEnlightenment,romanticism
andtheculturesofprint)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1. Europeanliterature“18thcentury“Historyandcriticism.
2. Europeanliterature“19thcentury“Historyandcriticism.
3. Europeanliterature“Womenauthors“Historyandcriticism.
4. Fame“History“18thcentury. 5. Fame“History“19thcentury.
I. Title. II. Series.
PN751.B762006
809(cid:2).892709409033“dc22 2006042626
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06
Transferred to Digital Printing in 2014
For Paul and Siân Brock
Contents
ListofFigures viii
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction:FeminizingFame 1
1 ‘ANewSortofGlory’:Jean-JacquesRousseau’s‘little
philosophicalchemistry’andtheReachofRousseauvian
FameinEighteenth-CenturyBritain 15
2 CatharineMacaulay:‘triumph[ant],whenalive,o’er
futurefate’ 46
3 MaryRobinsonandthe‘splendourofaname’ 77
4 InflatingFrancesBurney 109
5 GermainedeStaël:‘Whenonecannolongerfindpeace
ofmindinobscurity,itisnecessarytolookforstrength
incelebrity’ 137
6 WilliamHazlitt,OnBeingBrilliant:TheSpiritoftheAge 169
Afterword 194
Notes 197
Bibliography 224
Index 238
vii
List of Figures
1 TheStatueofMrsMacaulayerectedintheChurchofStStephen
Walbrook,London,inLady’sMagazine,VIII(October1777).
CourtesyoftheBritishLibrary. 69
2 ThomasGainsborough,MrsMaryRobinson(1781).Oilon
canvas,233(cid:2)7×63cm.BykindpermissionoftheTrusteesof
theWallaceCollection. 97
3 JoshuaReynolds,MrsRobinson(1784).Oiloncanvas,
76×63cm.BykindpermissionoftheTrusteesofthe
WallaceCollection. 98
viii
Acknowledgements
Researching a subject as fascinating as fame has offered me the oppor-
tunity to have so many valuable discussions, with both academic and
non-academic colleagues and friends. Fifteen minutes of fame should
beespeciallyawardedtothefollowing:MattAdams,ImogenAitchison,
Jennie Batchelor, Michael Bell, Maxine Berg, Richard Coulton, Amy
Culley,AaronDavies,NickyDawson,KathyandChrisDew,SimonDew,
Markman Ellis, Joseph Giddings, Rafe Hallett, David Higgins, Gemma
James, Anne Janowitz, Cora Kaplan, Andy Lamb, Emma Mason, Mike
and Nic Morley, Jane Rendall, Nick, Jacob and Reuben Selby, Beth
Stanley,BarbaraTaylor,MinnieWatkins(inmemoriam:1976–1999)and
KateWilliams.
Karen O’Brien was an enlightening PhD supervisor; Nigel Leask and
Jenny Uglow inspiring examiners. Maggie Selby has been supportive
beyond the call of friendly duty, reading and commenting upon
everything I have written. Her approbation means a great deal, and if
anyone deserves an award for lifetime achievement, it is she. Grateful
thanks also to the English Department at the University of Leicester,
whogenerouslyprovidedfundingfortheillustrations.
The loudest applause must go to my family: my grandparents, Ann
and the late Fred Brock and Francis and Vera Connolly, and my sister
HelenBrock.BenDewhasprovidedstellarsupportandencouragement
overthepastfewyears.Mygreatestdebtistomyparents,PaulandSiân
Brock,whosecontributionsimplycannotbequantified.
A version of Chapter 1 appeared as ‘Rousseauvian Remains’, History
WorkshopJournal,55(Spring2003),136–53;anearlydraftofChapter3
waspublishedas“‘Thensmileandknowthyselfsupremelygreat”:Mary
Robinsonandthe“splendourofaname”’,Women’sWriting,9.1(2002),
107–24;andpartsofChapter6areforthcomingas‘WilliamHazlitt:On
BeingBrilliant’,StudiesinRomanticism.
My thanks to the British Library for permission to use Figure 1; the
Wallace Collection for allowing me to reproduce Figures 2 and 3; and
theScienceandSocietyPictureLibraryforthejacketillustration.
ix
Introduction: Feminizing Fame
Fame is fickle, flirtatious and eternally female. The famed are always
men;womenhavebeenrelegatedtooccasionalfootnotesinthehistory
offame.Thisbookintendstoredressthebalancebyexaminingapartic-
ular cultural moment, from the mid-eighteenth century to the first
decadesofthenineteenth,whenfameasaconceptunderwentaprocess
of feminization and enabled women to embrace celebrity. In what has
becomeknownasthe‘ageofpersonality’,famewasdebatedintheory,
butalsoexperimentedwithinpractice,infullviewofthepublic.Fame
becamesomethingotherthananexclusiveandexclusionarybastionof
the socially privileged in this period and became, to borrow the words
of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a form of celebrity which was ‘more [one’s]
own’, something to be achieved and enjoyed in a lifetime rather than
asalifetimeachievement.1
Ithasbecomeafrustrating,criticalcommonplacetoacknowledgethis
democratizingprocessonlyinrelationtomen.2Whileprogresshasbeen
made in the study of eighteenth-century women’s writing, there still
remainsanapparentbarriertoallowingwomentheirshareofpublicity,
evenincaseswherethiswasrecognizedbytheircontemporaries.Inprac-
tice,womencameincreasinglytodominateafeminizedliteraryculture,
theircivilizedandcivilizinginfluencesprovidingthestandardbywhich
tojudgeculturalsophistication.Womenhavebeendescribedbycritics
largelyasspectatorsofthenewsortsofglory,shyingawayfromtheglare
of publicity. Female sociability and social influence were perceived by
eighteenth-centurycommentatorsasproductiveandthusprogressivein
thedevelopmentofanenlightenedandprosperoussociety,butwomen
were also intimately and actively involved in the quest for literary
laurels,andwerecelebratedfortheirachievementsbytheircontempor-
aries of both sexes. I want to readdress this critical marginalization of
1