The Writing Life of Hugh Kelly: Politics, Journalism, and Theater in Late-Eighteenth-Century London - Couverture rigide

Bataille, Robert R.

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0809322889 ISBN 13 : 9780809322886

Editeur : Southern Illinois University Press, 2000

Synopsis

This work seeks to demonstrate that between 1767 and 1777, Anglo-Irish writer Hugh Kelly made major contributions in three areas of British culture: politics, journalism and theatre. Bataille shows how all three activities were integrated in Kelly's life, suggesting that such interrelationships often existed in the rough and ready London cultureduring the early reign of King George III. When he discovered several newspaper campaigns that Kelly orchestrated as a paid political propagandist for George III and his ministers, Bataille understood in part how important Kelly was to his era. In his capacity as propagandist, Kelly defended Hanoverian colonial policies on the eve of the American Revolution, served as a key opponent of the radical Wilkites, and promoted the acceptance of the 1774 Quebec Bill, which established, among other things, the right of the recently defeated French citizens of Quebec to maintain the French language. Kelly published theatre reviews and essays that played a major role in shaping the taste of his era. He wrote in defence of the controversial sentimental drama and promoted the major theatrical figure of the age, David Garrick. Under his editorship, the newspaper ""Public Ledger"" became a leading source of theatre information. Seeking to raise the status of the profession of journalism, he wrote essays and articles that provided his middle-class readers with an insider's view of the operations of the journalist. Assessing Kelly's contributions to the novel and drama, Bataille argues that this powerful journalist stands in the vanguard of the larger struggle against traditional attitudes supporting male superiority and aristocratic privilege. Kelly wrote in favour of gender equality and middle-class respectability, striving to inculcate what modern scholars refer to as the values of sensibility. Bataille also argues, however, that Kelly understood that he had to observe the needs of his audience.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Southern Illinois University Press
• Date d'édition: 2000
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0809322889
• ISBN 13: 9780809322886
• Reliure: Relié
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Nombre de pages: 256
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible