The Rhetoric of Sensibility in Eighteenth-Century Culture

The Rhetoric of Sensibility in Eighteenth-Century Culture explores the burgeoning eighteenth-century fascination with the human body as an eloquent, expressive object. This wide-ranging study examines the role of the body within a number of cultural arenas - particularly oratory, the theatre, and the novel - and charts the efforts of projectors and reformers who sought to exploit the textual potential of the body for the public assertion of modern politeness. Paul Goring shows how diverse writers and performers including David Garrick, James Fordyce, Samuel Richardson, Sarah Fielding and Laurence Sterne were involved in the construction of new ideals of physical eloquence - bourgeois, sentimental ideals which stood in contrast to more patrician, classical bodily modes. Through innovative readings of fiction and contemporary manuals on acting and public speaking, Goring reveals the ways in which the human body was treated as an instrument for the display of sensibility and polite values.

• A fresh view of the eighteenth-century interest in politeness, the body, and rhetoric • Explores these themes in relation to the novel, theatre, and reading practices more generally • Includes a thorough study of oratory and acting theory and ideas of eloquence in the body

Introduction: moving bodies and cultural history; 1. Spectacular passions: eighteenth-century oratory and the reform of eloquence; 2. Bodies on the borders of politeness: ‘Orator Henley’, Methodist enthusiasm and polite literature; 3. Thomas Sheridan: forging the British body; 4. The art of acting: mid-century stagecraft and broadcast of feeling; 5. Polite reading: sentimental fiction and the performance of response; Epilogue.

‘… an excellent book. … The Rhetoric of Sensibility afforded me much pleasure; it is an entertaining as well as an erudite read and offered not only many new and valuable insights but also much-appreciated opportunities to smile and even, occasionally, to laugh …\' English

\'Paul Goring finds new angles on the phenomenon … lucid and reliable … a clever, erudite study.\' Times Literary Supplement

\'In this interesting book, Paul Goring covers many texts, both original elocutionary treaties and recent scholarly literature from different academic fields. The main quality of the study lies in Gorning\'s way of combining known and lesser-known texts and thus offering new and interesting insights. Paul Goring\'s book is a welcome addition to the increasing scholarship on elocutionary rhetoric.\' Rhetorical Review