Adrian J Wallbank - Dialogue, Didacticism and the Genres of Dispute: Literary Dialogues in the Age of Revolution

DIALOGUE, DIDACTICISM AND THE GENRES OF DISPUTE: LITERARY DIALOGUES IN AN AGE OF REVOLUTION

THE ENLIGHTENMENT WORLD: POLITICAL AND INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF THE LONG EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

TITLES IN THIS SERIES

1 Harlequin Empire: Race, Ethnicity and the Drama of the Popular Enlightenment

David Worrall

2 The Cosmopolitan Ideal in the Age of Revolution and Reaction, 17761832

Michael Scrivener

3 Writing the Empire: Robert Southey and Romantic Colonialism

Carol Bolton

4 Adam Ferguson: History, Progress and Human Nature

Eugene Heath and Vincenzo Merolle (eds)

5 Charlotte Smith in British Romanticism

Jacqueline Labbe (ed.)

6 The Scottish People and the French Revolution

Bob Harris

7 The English Deists: Studies in Early Enlightenment

Wayne Hudson

8 Adam Ferguson: Philosophy, Politics and Society

Eugene Heath and Vincenzo Merolle (eds)

9 Rhyming Reason: The Poetry of Romantic-Era Psychologists

Michelle Faubert

10 Liberating Medicine, 17201835

Tristanne Connolly and Steve Clark (eds)

11 John Thelwall: Radical Romantic and Acquitted Felon

Steve Poole (ed.)

12 The Evolution of Sympathy in the Long Eighteenth Century

Jonathan Lamb

13 Enlightenment and Modernity: The English Deists and Reform

Wayne Hudson

14 William Wickham, Master Spy: The Secret War against the French Revolution

Michael Durey

15 The Edinburgh Review in the Literary Culture of Romantic Britain: Mammoth and Megalonyx

William Christie

16 Montesquieu and England: Enlightened Exchanges, 16891755

Ursula Haskins Gonthier

17 The Sublime Invention: Ballooning in Europe, 17831820

Michael R. Lynn

18 The Language of Whiggism: Liberty and Patriotism, 18021830

Kathryn Chittick

19 Romantic Localities: Europe Writes Place

Christoph Bode and Jacqueline Labbe (eds)

20 William Godwin and the Theatre

David OShaughnessy

21 The Spirit of the Union: Popular Politics in Scotland

Gordon Pentland

22 Ebenezer Hazard, Jeremy Belknap and the American Revolution

Russell M. Lawson

23 Robert and James Adam, Architects of the Age of Enlightenment

Ariyuki Kondo

24 Sociability and Cosmopolitanism: Social Bonds on the Fringes of the Enlightenment

Scott Breuninger and David Burrow (eds)

FORTHCOMING TITLES

British Visions of America, 17751820: Republican Realities

Emma Vincent Macleod

DIALOGUE, DIDACTICISM AND THE GENRES OF DISPUTE: LITERARY DIALOGUES IN AN AGE OF REVOLUTION

BY

Adrian J. Wallbank

First published 2012 by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited

Published 2016 by Routledge

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Taylor & Francis 2012
Adrian J. Wallbank 2012

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BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA

Wallbank, Adrian J.

Dialogue, didacticism and the genres of dispute: literary dialogues in the age of revolution. (The Enlightenment world)

1. Dialogue in literature. 2. Direct discourse in literature. 3. Dialogues, English History and criticism. 4. Didactic literature, English History and criticism. 5. Persuasion (Rhetoric) 6. Persuasion (Rhetoric) in literature. 7. Romanticism Great Britain. 8. English literature 18th century History and criticism. 9. English literature 19th century History and criticism.

I. Title II. Series

820.92609033-dc23

ISBN-13: 978-1-84893-279-1 (hbk)

Typeset by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited

The bird of wisdom flies low, and seeks her food under hedges: the eagle himself would be starved if he always soared aloft and against the sun (Walter Savage Landor, Imaginary Conversations of Greeks and Romans [Diogenes and Plato], 1829)

Those who are acquainted with me know that I often keep my cards very close to my chest, and as such the debts that I have accrued during the course of my studies are worth acknowledging all the more. In the early days E. N. Brown and all of the staff at Maple Hayes School and Research Centre did an incredible job of helping me overcome my dyslexia to the extent that I can compete on equal terms with my peers. Mike Benford helped lay the foundations of my enthusiasm for the Romantic period during my time at Burton College, while at Staffordshire University, Aidan Arrowsmith, Peter Heaney and Sue McPherson helped to foster my interests in ever more productive ways. At York, Jane Moody and Jack Donovan first introduced me to dialogues and encouraged me to pursue this research, while John Barrell provided useful initial feedback. At Warwick, I would like to thank Karen OBrien, Jacqueline Labbe, Jonathan Bate, Thomas Docherty and Catherine Bates, all of whom have read sections of this work and have provided useful comments. In particular, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Jon Mee, who has offered invaluable encouragement and even suggested the title, and Michael John Kooy, who has been outstandingly patient and diligent in his support and guidance for many years. I am sure he will be all too glad to see the back of both me and my dialogues!

I also owe a great deal of gratitude to the numerous people who have helped in non-academic ways. In the absence of any form of funding, I would like to thank my parents and also Warwickshire County Council for providing me with regular employment. My colleagues at the Severn Valley Railway have helped keep my feet firmly on the ground, particularly Phil Oliver whose various quirky obsessions have been a constant source of amusement. Wendy and Brian C. Fletcher have worked miracles in keeping body and soul together, Rachel Hargreaves did a fantastic job of supporting and understanding me, while Halal, Ajay, Jules and all of the team at India Garden have done a superb job of keeping me both fed and watered for many years. Finally, I would like to express my particular thanks to my mother and my dog, both of whom have faced all of the various crises I could throw at them with love, good humour and patience.