{"product_id":"the-power-of-the-passive-self-in-english-literature-1640-1770-hardback-9780521810050","title":"The Power of the Passive Self in English Literature, 1640–1770 (Hardback) 9780521810050","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eThe Power of the Passive Self in English Literature, 1640–1770\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis book examines passivity, and disinterestedness, in English writing during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eScott Paul Gordon (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780521810050, Cambridge University Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 28 March 2002\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e292 pages\u003cbr\u003e23.6 x 15.9 x 2.1 cm, 0.56 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"The Power of the Passive Self is an impressive and original book that makes an important contribution to current scholarship on the origins of the modern individual.\"   Eighteenth-Century Fiction\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eChallenging recent work that contends that seventeenth-century English discourses privilege the notion of a self-enclosed, self-sufficient individual, The Power of the Passive Self in English Literature recovers a counter-tradition that imagines selves as more passively prompted than actively choosing. This tradition - which Scott Paul Gordon locates in seventeenth-century religious discourse, in early eighteenth-century moral philosophy, in mid eighteenth-century acting theory, and in the emergent novel - resists autonomy and defers agency from the individual to an external 'prompter'. Gordon argues that the trope of passivity aims to guarantee a disinterested self in a culture that was increasingly convinced that every deliberate action involves calculating one's own interest. Gordon traces the origins of such ideas from their roots in the non-conformist religious tradition to their flowering in one of the central texts of eighteenth-century literature, Samuel Richardson's Clarissa.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eIntroduction: 'spring and motive of our actions', disinterest and self-interest\u003cbr\u003e 1. 'Acted by another': agency and action in early modern England\u003cbr\u003e 2. 'The belief of the people': Thomas Hobbes and the battle over the heroic\u003cbr\u003e 3. 'For want of some heedfull Eye': Mr Spectator and the power of spectacle\u003cbr\u003e 4. 'For its own sake': virtue and agency in early eighteenth-century England\u003cbr\u003e 5. 'Not perform'd at all': managing Garrick's body in eighteenth-century England\u003cbr\u003e 6. 'I wrote my heart': Richardson's Clarissa and the tactics of sentiment\u003cbr\u003e Epilogue: 'A sign of so noble a passion': the politics of disinterested selves\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: History of science [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on History of science\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22History%20of%20science%20%5BPDX%5D%22\"\u003ePDX\u003c\/a\u003e], Philosophy of religion [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on Philosophy of religion\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22Philosophy%20of%20religion%20%5BHRAB%5D%22\"\u003eHRAB\u003c\/a\u003e], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22Literary%20studies:%20c%201500%20to%20c%201800%20%5BDSBD%5D%22\"\u003eDSBD\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Cambridge University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46265127797016,"sku":"9780521810050","price":70.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/2037\/5320\/products\/9780521810050i.jpg?v=1692019752","url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-power-of-the-passive-self-in-english-literature-1640-1770-hardback-9780521810050","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}