Romantic Sociability: Social Networks and Literary Culture in Britain, 1770–1840

by Clara Tuite (Editor), Gillian Russell (Editor)

Challenging the assumptions which underlie an understanding of the "Romantics" as solitary and anti-sociable, this volume introduces sociability to the field of Romantic literary and cultural studies. The volume focuses in particular on sociability in British radical culture of the 1790s as it moved away from eighteenth-century ideas of a masculine "public sphere", and on the gendered nature of sociability. In a range of essays the volume transforms our understanding of Romanticism by exploring the social networks of Romantic figures including Barbauld, Burney, Coleridge, Godwin, Hazlitt, Priestley, Thelwall and Wollstonecraft.

Genres: Romanticism

280 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Jessica DMJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had a premise I'm not sure was worth arguing. The premise was: ACTUALLY, the Romantics weren't antisocial; they constantly engaged with each other in a variety of ways, which affected their writing 🤓.

I'm just a lowly masters student, but I never once thought the Romantics were antisocial in any way. Especially given their proximity to the 1789 French Revolution, I would think this sort of "sociable intelligentsia" the book argues for, should be expected. Furthermore, the introduction was rather dry. However, there were a few interesting chapters in this edited collection. Some, on the other hand, are skippable. In any case, I'm not sure if the book was worth the time I spent reading.

The introduction is at least self-aware and notes that the book set off on a topic too big... My biggest gripe is, again, that I don't think the premise needs to be argued so much. It would be more interesting to explore the sociable relationships themselves rather than arguing they exist. But maybe I missed something...