Introduction
-
Laurent Curelly
Abstract
This introductory chapter describes the topic of the book as well as its conceptual framework. It is a theoretical and methodological reflection on the study of radicalism in early modern Britain. It states the terms of the scholarly debate about the appropriateness of using the “radical” label in an early modern context. It thus identifies and describes the various scholarly approaches to radicalism as well as the historiographical framework they relate to. The authors present two case studies to illustrate their theoretical assumptions. The first concerns the seventeenth-century “radical” newsbook The Moderate. The second case study is a presentation of the role that the “radical” New Model Army soldier Edward Sexy played as a conveyor of ideas in France during the Fronde in the early 1650s. By focusing on this actor of cultural transfer the authors wish to prove that the study of radicalism in Britain is best apprehended in a transnational context.
Abstract
This introductory chapter describes the topic of the book as well as its conceptual framework. It is a theoretical and methodological reflection on the study of radicalism in early modern Britain. It states the terms of the scholarly debate about the appropriateness of using the “radical” label in an early modern context. It thus identifies and describes the various scholarly approaches to radicalism as well as the historiographical framework they relate to. The authors present two case studies to illustrate their theoretical assumptions. The first concerns the seventeenth-century “radical” newsbook The Moderate. The second case study is a presentation of the role that the “radical” New Model Army soldier Edward Sexy played as a conveyor of ideas in France during the Fronde in the early 1650s. By focusing on this actor of cultural transfer the authors wish to prove that the study of radicalism in Britain is best apprehended in a transnational context.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction 1
-
PART I Radical language and themes
- 1 Community of goods 41
- 2 Thomas Paine’s democratic linguistic radicalism 60
- 3 English radicalism in the 1650s 80
-
PART II Radical exchanges and networks
- 4 Secular millenarianism as a radical utopian project in Shaftesbury 103
- 5 The diffusion and impact of Baron d’Holbach’s texts in Great Britain, 1765–1800 125
-
PART III Radical media and practices
- 6 The parliamentary context of political radicalism in the English revolution 151
- 7 Toasting and the diffusion of radical ideas, 1780–1832 170
-
PART IV Radical fiction and representation
- 8 Contesting the press-oppressors of the age 193
- 9 Ways of thinking, ways of writing 211
- 10 ‘The insane enthusiasm of the time’ 229
- Select bibliography 251
- Index 270
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction 1
-
PART I Radical language and themes
- 1 Community of goods 41
- 2 Thomas Paine’s democratic linguistic radicalism 60
- 3 English radicalism in the 1650s 80
-
PART II Radical exchanges and networks
- 4 Secular millenarianism as a radical utopian project in Shaftesbury 103
- 5 The diffusion and impact of Baron d’Holbach’s texts in Great Britain, 1765–1800 125
-
PART III Radical media and practices
- 6 The parliamentary context of political radicalism in the English revolution 151
- 7 Toasting and the diffusion of radical ideas, 1780–1832 170
-
PART IV Radical fiction and representation
- 8 Contesting the press-oppressors of the age 193
- 9 Ways of thinking, ways of writing 211
- 10 ‘The insane enthusiasm of the time’ 229
- Select bibliography 251
- Index 270
