Name: The Centre and the Margins in Eighteenth-Century British and Italian Cultures
SKU: 1-4438-4952-9
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The Centre and the Margins in Eighteenth-Century British and Italian Cultures

Edited By: Lia Guerra, Frank O'Gorman

£39.99

Who determines the ‘Centre’ of a culture and what the ‘Margins’? The Margins of one generation can become the Centre of another in a seismic cultural shift. How does this transformation occur and what does it reveal about the very nature of culture itself?

The relationship between the cultural Centre and cultural Margins has fascinated scholars for generations. Who, or what, determines what shall constitute the ‘Centre’ of a…

The relationship between the cultural Centre and cultural Margins has fascinated scholars for generations. Who, or what, determines what shall constitute the ‘Centre’ of a culture, its sacred and canonical forms and substance, and what the Margins? There are significant examples of the Margins of one generation moving to become the Centre of another. These are more than mere shifts of fashion and represent nothing less than a seismic cultural shift. How, and in what circumstances, can such a transformation occur? Discussion of such changes takes us not merely into the issue of Anglo-Italian culture in the eighteenth century, but more generally into the very nature of culture itself.

Frank O’Gorman is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University of Manchester, UK. He has published widely on the period of the long eighteenth century, with particular reference to political parties, political philosophy, parliamentary elections and electoral ritual. He is a past President of the British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies and still serves on its Executive Committee. He is at present engaged in preparing a second edition of his influential book, The Long Eighteenth Century: British Political and Social History. His next project will be a major work on popular political ritual in Britain during the long eighteenth century.

Lia Guerra teaches English Literature at the University of Pavia, Italy. Her research interests cover the eighteenth century British production in prose, travel literature, Mary Shelley and James Joyce. She is a member of the Società italiana di Studi Settecenteschi and of the Centro Interuniversitario di Studi Romantici.