Fanny to William
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Eleonora Chiavetta
Abstract
This paper applies Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis approach (1992, 2001, 2003) to the correspondence of Frances Leonora Macleay (1793–1836) with her brother William, a well-known naturalist. Frances Leonora (Fanny) Macleay was born in England, but moved to New South Wales in 1826. Frances’s letters to William span twenty-four years, and though William’s letters to Fanny have not survived, it is still possible to deduce their content from Fanny’s intertextual references. Thus, the letters shed some light on a sister/brother relationship, in an English middle class family of the period. As Fairclough’s three dimensional model will be used, the analysis will take into consideration text, social practice, and discursive practices. In the area of social practice, the domains of science and gender will be given special attention.
Abstract
This paper applies Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis approach (1992, 2001, 2003) to the correspondence of Frances Leonora Macleay (1793–1836) with her brother William, a well-known naturalist. Frances Leonora (Fanny) Macleay was born in England, but moved to New South Wales in 1826. Frances’s letters to William span twenty-four years, and though William’s letters to Fanny have not survived, it is still possible to deduce their content from Fanny’s intertextual references. Thus, the letters shed some light on a sister/brother relationship, in an English middle class family of the period. As Fairclough’s three dimensional model will be used, the analysis will take into consideration text, social practice, and discursive practices. In the area of social practice, the domains of science and gender will be given special attention.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- The study of correspondence 13
- A historical digital archive of Portuguese letters 31
- Between linguistic creativity and formulaic restriction 45
- Performing identities and interaction through epistolary formulae 65
- Fanny to William 89
- An atypical commercial correspondence 105
- Reporting the news in English and Italian diplomatic correspondence 121
- Letters as loot 139
- The problem of reading dialect in semiliterate letters 163
- “I will be expecting a letter from you before this reaches you” 179
- Letters in mechanically-schooled language 205
- Teaching grammar and composition through letter writing in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England 229
- Index 251
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- The study of correspondence 13
- A historical digital archive of Portuguese letters 31
- Between linguistic creativity and formulaic restriction 45
- Performing identities and interaction through epistolary formulae 65
- Fanny to William 89
- An atypical commercial correspondence 105
- Reporting the news in English and Italian diplomatic correspondence 121
- Letters as loot 139
- The problem of reading dialect in semiliterate letters 163
- “I will be expecting a letter from you before this reaches you” 179
- Letters in mechanically-schooled language 205
- Teaching grammar and composition through letter writing in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England 229
- Index 251
