Enlightenment in Ruins

The Geographies of Oliver Goldsmith

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, British, Nonfiction, History, Biography & Memoir, Literary
Cover of the book Enlightenment in Ruins by Michael Griffin, Bucknell University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Michael Griffin ISBN: 9781611485066
Publisher: Bucknell University Press Publication: August 15, 2013
Imprint: Bucknell University Press Language: English
Author: Michael Griffin
ISBN: 9781611485066
Publisher: Bucknell University Press
Publication: August 15, 2013
Imprint: Bucknell University Press
Language: English

Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774) moved between the genres and geographies of enlightenment writing with considerable dexterity. As a consequence he has been characterized as a passive purveyor of enlightenment thought, a hack, a harried translator of the French enlightenment for an English audience, an ideological lackey, and a subtle ironist. In poetry, he is either a compliant pastoralist or an engaged social critic. Yet Goldsmith’s career is as complex and as contradictory as the enlightenment currents across which he wrote, and there is in Goldsmith’s oeuvre a set of themes—including his opposition to the new imperialism and to glibly declared principles of liberty—which this book addresses as a manifestation of his Irishness.

Michael Griffin places Goldsmith in two contexts: one is the intellectual and political culture in which he worked as a professional author living in London; the other is that of his nationality and his as yet unstudied Jacobite politics. Enlightenment in Ruins thereby reveals a body of work that is compellingly marked by tensions and transits between Irishness and Englishness, between poetic and professional imperatives, and between cultural and scientific spheres.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774) moved between the genres and geographies of enlightenment writing with considerable dexterity. As a consequence he has been characterized as a passive purveyor of enlightenment thought, a hack, a harried translator of the French enlightenment for an English audience, an ideological lackey, and a subtle ironist. In poetry, he is either a compliant pastoralist or an engaged social critic. Yet Goldsmith’s career is as complex and as contradictory as the enlightenment currents across which he wrote, and there is in Goldsmith’s oeuvre a set of themes—including his opposition to the new imperialism and to glibly declared principles of liberty—which this book addresses as a manifestation of his Irishness.

Michael Griffin places Goldsmith in two contexts: one is the intellectual and political culture in which he worked as a professional author living in London; the other is that of his nationality and his as yet unstudied Jacobite politics. Enlightenment in Ruins thereby reveals a body of work that is compellingly marked by tensions and transits between Irishness and Englishness, between poetic and professional imperatives, and between cultural and scientific spheres.

More books from Bucknell University Press

Cover of the book Freedom of Speech by Michael Griffin
Cover of the book Modern Spanish Women as Agents of Change by Michael Griffin
Cover of the book Poetic Salvage by Michael Griffin
Cover of the book Legitimizing the Queen by Michael Griffin
Cover of the book From Enlightenment to Rebellion by Michael Griffin
Cover of the book Dark Assemblages by Michael Griffin
Cover of the book Rhetorics of Religion in American Fiction by Michael Griffin
Cover of the book The French Revolution Debate and the British Novel, 1790–1814 by Michael Griffin
Cover of the book Lycoming College, 1812–2012 by Michael Griffin
Cover of the book Eighteenth-Century Poetry and the Rise of the Novel Reconsidered by Michael Griffin
Cover of the book Writing Teresa by Michael Griffin
Cover of the book The Idea of Disability in the Eighteenth Century by Michael Griffin
Cover of the book James Arbuckle by Michael Griffin
Cover of the book Revealing Bodies by Michael Griffin
Cover of the book Robert Burns in Global Culture by Michael Griffin
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy