'The Laurel of Liberty': The Culture of Popular Radicalism in London 1792-5
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: English and Comparative Literary Studies
Abstract
The Laurel of Liberty will provide an account of popular radical literary culture in London 1792-5. The book is an exploration of the culture brought into being in London by the French Revolution of 1789 and, especially, by publication of Thomas Paine's Rights of Man (1791-2). This cultural efflorescence was effectively driven underground by the passing of the Gagging Acts at the end of 1795. As well as volumes of poetry and prose published by the participants, the monograph will also explore more ephemeral pamphlets, satires, ballads, poems, and songs in the culture of literary sociability found in the bookshops, taverns, and debating societies where they circulated. Those involved aspired to create a literal and metaphorical republic of letters out of the opportunities created by the Revolution in France and Paine's book in the face of Pitt's repression.
The book will have two parts. A long first chapter will explore the conditions created by revolutionary optimism out of the expansion of print culture that preceded 1789 as they collided with the government repression and surveillance. It culminates with the trial of Paine in absentia in 1792. The second part will look at a series of particular case studies: Robert Merry, Charles Pigott, Richard 'Citizen' Lee, and John Thelwall, relating their work to a network of other radical writers, including the W. H. Reid, Thomas Spence, Robert Thompson, and publishers such as Daniel Isaac Eaton, James Ridgway, and H. D. Symonds to give a sense of the complex landscape of popular radicalism in these heady years.
The period is frequently seen as the immediate background to Romantic period. Canonical studies of poets such as William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Wordsworth often refer to their involvement in it, but the 'culture' in itself has rarely been studied as a whole as a distinctive republic of letters. Similarly political historians tend to focus on narrow questions of the agenda for reform, often castigating those involved for failing to come up with a coherent program. This last approach ignores the fact that those involved were responding to cultural changes and aspirations that reached beyond questions of political reform narrowly conceived. Many had written poetry, contributed to journals, joined in popular debating societies in the expansion of print culture in the years before the French Revolution. By making available a handlist of the publications produced in this culture available in limited copies in various scattered archives and providing a workshop on the nature and potential of these resources, the project aims to disseminate a sense of the fecundity and possibilities of this archive for other literary and historical studies in the period and beyond.
The book will have two parts. A long first chapter will explore the conditions created by revolutionary optimism out of the expansion of print culture that preceded 1789 as they collided with the government repression and surveillance. It culminates with the trial of Paine in absentia in 1792. The second part will look at a series of particular case studies: Robert Merry, Charles Pigott, Richard 'Citizen' Lee, and John Thelwall, relating their work to a network of other radical writers, including the W. H. Reid, Thomas Spence, Robert Thompson, and publishers such as Daniel Isaac Eaton, James Ridgway, and H. D. Symonds to give a sense of the complex landscape of popular radicalism in these heady years.
The period is frequently seen as the immediate background to Romantic period. Canonical studies of poets such as William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Wordsworth often refer to their involvement in it, but the 'culture' in itself has rarely been studied as a whole as a distinctive republic of letters. Similarly political historians tend to focus on narrow questions of the agenda for reform, often castigating those involved for failing to come up with a coherent program. This last approach ignores the fact that those involved were responding to cultural changes and aspirations that reached beyond questions of political reform narrowly conceived. Many had written poetry, contributed to journals, joined in popular debating societies in the expansion of print culture in the years before the French Revolution. By making available a handlist of the publications produced in this culture available in limited copies in various scattered archives and providing a workshop on the nature and potential of these resources, the project aims to disseminate a sense of the fecundity and possibilities of this archive for other literary and historical studies in the period and beyond.
Planned Impact
The primary goal of my application is the completion of my monograph The Laurel of Liberty, planned for completion at the end of summer 2013, with a planned publication date in 2014. I have always found this period to be intrinsically fascinating, not least for the drama of revolution and repression, as well as crucial for understanding the background for the emergence of Romanticism. I would attempt to disseminate my knowledge of the period through
a) A programme on the Radio 4 series Document focussing on the letter - currently in the Treasury Solicitor's Papers at the National Archive - seized when John Thelwall was arrested for treason in 1794.
b) A list of the printed works currently dispersed in various public archives that would be freely accessible on-line via my university web-page (I will also explore with the eventual publisher the possibility of an up-datable webpage associated with the book, something OUP have done in the past). I will also make this list available to the National Archives for their use in improving their knowledge of what is in their collections.
c) A workshop based on this material aimed at graduate students, archivists, teachers, and 6th formers. Professor John Barrell has agreed to address the workshop.
d) A podcast based on this workshop to be freely disseminated via my university website.
a) A programme on the Radio 4 series Document focussing on the letter - currently in the Treasury Solicitor's Papers at the National Archive - seized when John Thelwall was arrested for treason in 1794.
b) A list of the printed works currently dispersed in various public archives that would be freely accessible on-line via my university web-page (I will also explore with the eventual publisher the possibility of an up-datable webpage associated with the book, something OUP have done in the past). I will also make this list available to the National Archives for their use in improving their knowledge of what is in their collections.
c) A workshop based on this material aimed at graduate students, archivists, teachers, and 6th formers. Professor John Barrell has agreed to address the workshop.
d) A podcast based on this workshop to be freely disseminated via my university website.
| Description | I have discovered the key role played by print in defining ideas of 'the people' in the age of democratic revolutions. I have also developed the term 'print magic' to speak to the idea of the medium of print as inherently emancipatory (rather than simply assuming it is) |
| Exploitation Route | I think there is room for thinking about the way the project discusses the idea of the emancipatory assumptions that surround new media (for instance, the idea of the inherently democratic nature of the internet) |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | Graduate workshop at the National Archive, June 4 , 2013 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The workshop was attended by 7 graduate students from across the country (another participant dropped out), Chris Barnes, a curator at the National Archive, and Dr Mark Phil, Oriel College, Oxford. The day involved an introduction to the various papers relating to popular radicalism in the 1790s, principally from TS 11. After an introduction by myself, Chris Barnes introduced recent work done by the NA on HO 40 and 42. Various materials from TS 11 w |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |