William Cobbett, the Press and Rural England - Radicalism and the Fourth Estate, 1792-1835

"William Cobbett, the Press and Rural England offers a thorough re-appraisal of the work of William Cobbett (1763-1835), examining his pioneering journalism, identification with rural England and engagement with contemporary debates. It offers a new interpretation of Cobbett as a Burkean radical, whose work cuts across the 'revolution controversy' of the 1790s and combines Tom Paine's common sense and transatlantic radicalism with Edmund Burke's emphasis on tradition, patriotism and the domestic affections. To Hazlitt, Cobbett came to represent 'a kind of fourth estate in the politics of the country', becoming the virtual embodiment of both rural England and the campaign for parliamentary reform. This study draws on Cobbett's published writings and unpublished correspondence to show how he achieved this status. Individual chapters focus on his writings as Peter Porcupine, publication of parliamentary debates, imprisonment in Newgate, exile on Long Island, role in the Queen Caroline affair, Rural Rides, his prosecution after the Captain Swing riots and his wide-ranging legacies"--

List of contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction: Digging up the 1790s 1. From the Soldier's Friend to Peter Porcupine 2. William Windham and the Hampshire Hog 3. Prison, Paper Money and Cobbett's 'Twopenny Trash' 4. Long Island Pastoral 5. Cobbett and Queen Caroline 6. Rural Rides and the 1820s 7. 'Rural War' and the July Revolution Postscript: Cobbett's Legacies Bibliography Index

Report

"James Grande's engaging and beautifully written narrative blends stories from William Cobbett's life and letters along with scholarly analysis of highlights from Cobbett's twenty million published words. ... Like Cobbett Grande cares about language. But he's a better writer. This is a model for students and academics looking for a style to emulate." (John Gardner, Notes and Queries, Vol. 63 (2), June, 2016)
"James Grande's conceptually nuanced and compelling study adds an epistolary dimension to the range of recent scholarship engaging with Cobbett's multifaceted cultural project. ... William Cobbett, the Press and Rural England significantly develops what is already a formidable body of scholarship on the most influential contemporary English prose writer of the Romantic period. ... this major new study is more than simply a synthesis and presentation of valuable archival research." (Alex Benchimol, The BARS Review, Issue 48, Autumn, 2016)

Product details

• Authors: J. Grande, James Grande
• Publisher: Palgrave UK
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.07.2014
• EAN: 9781137380074
• ISBN: 978-1-137-38007-4
• No. of pages: 263
• Series: Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture; Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth; Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture; Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); B, Cultural Studies, Cultural Theory, Fiction, Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900, Literature: history & criticism, Literary studies: general, Literary theory, Culture—Study and teaching, European Literature, Literature, Modern—19th century, Nineteenth-Century Literature, British literature, British and Irish Literature, Early Modern/Renaissance Literature, Fiction Literature, Palgrave Literature Collection, Literature—Philosophy, Early Modern and Renaissance Literature, Literature, Modern, bibliography;England;knowledge;press;revolution