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Chapter 5. A modest proposal in The Gentleman’s Magazine

A peculiar eighteenth-century advertisement
  • Howard Sklar and Irma Taavitsainen
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Diachronic Developments in English News Discourse
This chapter is in the book Diachronic Developments in English News Discourse

Abstract

The Gentleman’s Magazine (GM, 1732–1922) was the first periodical magazine targeted at an educated lay readership from polite society. Medical items and related issues were a regular feature, e.g. suicide was a recurring topic in its early years. One example of this was a 1755 mock advertisement advocating a discreet “remedy against life” suitable to “any nobleman, gentleman, or other man of wit, humour, and pleasure”. We approach our task from the point of view of historical pragmatics paying attention to the sociocultural context, and providing a rhetorical analysis to make sense of this peculiar advertisement. The ad seems to build on the dark side of a recently-deceased (1751), notorious Tory politician, who had been a central figure of polite society for decades, but the actual target of the satire must have been something else. We argue that the sociohistorical context with its shared knowledge, as well as the rhetorical structure and stylistic content of the ad itself, provide keys for making sense of the text.

Abstract

The Gentleman’s Magazine (GM, 1732–1922) was the first periodical magazine targeted at an educated lay readership from polite society. Medical items and related issues were a regular feature, e.g. suicide was a recurring topic in its early years. One example of this was a 1755 mock advertisement advocating a discreet “remedy against life” suitable to “any nobleman, gentleman, or other man of wit, humour, and pleasure”. We approach our task from the point of view of historical pragmatics paying attention to the sociocultural context, and providing a rhetorical analysis to make sense of this peculiar advertisement. The ad seems to build on the dark side of a recently-deceased (1751), notorious Tory politician, who had been a central figure of polite society for decades, but the actual target of the satire must have been something else. We argue that the sociohistorical context with its shared knowledge, as well as the rhetorical structure and stylistic content of the ad itself, provide keys for making sense of the text.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface 1
  4. Chapter 1. English news discourse from newsbooks to new media 3
  5. Part I. Changing or maintaining conventions?
  6. Chapter 2. Of hopes and plans 15
  7. Chapter 3. Religious lexis and political ideology in English Civil War newsbooks 39
  8. Chapter 4. Contemporary observations on the attention value and selling power of English print advertisements (1700–1760) 61
  9. Chapter 5. A modest proposal in The Gentleman’s Magazine 81
  10. Chapter 6. Lexical bundles in news discourse 1784–1983 97
  11. Part II. Widening audiences
  12. Chapter 7. British popular newspaper traditions 119
  13. Chapter 8. The Poor Man’s Guardian 137
  14. Chapter 9. Diffusing political knowledge in illustrated magazines 157
  15. Chapter 10. From adverts to letters to the editor 175
  16. Chapter 11. The public identity of Jack the Ripper in late nineteenth-century British newspapers 199
  17. Part III. New practices
  18. Chapter 12. Narrative vs. “objective” style 219
  19. Chapter 13. Astride two worlds 241
  20. Chapter 14. Newspaper funnies at the dawn of modernity 267
  21. Index 295
https://doi.org/10.1075/ahs.6.05skl

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface 1
  4. Chapter 1. English news discourse from newsbooks to new media 3
  5. Part I. Changing or maintaining conventions?
  6. Chapter 2. Of hopes and plans 15
  7. Chapter 3. Religious lexis and political ideology in English Civil War newsbooks 39
  8. Chapter 4. Contemporary observations on the attention value and selling power of English print advertisements (1700–1760) 61
  9. Chapter 5. A modest proposal in The Gentleman’s Magazine 81
  10. Chapter 6. Lexical bundles in news discourse 1784–1983 97
  11. Part II. Widening audiences
  12. Chapter 7. British popular newspaper traditions 119
  13. Chapter 8. The Poor Man’s Guardian 137
  14. Chapter 9. Diffusing political knowledge in illustrated magazines 157
  15. Chapter 10. From adverts to letters to the editor 175
  16. Chapter 11. The public identity of Jack the Ripper in late nineteenth-century British newspapers 199
  17. Part III. New practices
  18. Chapter 12. Narrative vs. “objective” style 219
  19. Chapter 13. Astride two worlds 241
  20. Chapter 14. Newspaper funnies at the dawn of modernity 267
  21. Index 295
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