This paper investigates the concealed manifesto of essay writing that Addison, Steele, and Johnson inserted in some clearly non-systematic, yet crucial, meta-essayistic passages of their periodical works. This ‘camouflaged’ eighteenth-century reflection on the genre reached its climax with Samuel Johnson’s 1755 Dictionary entry, where the arbiter literarum described the essay as “a loose sally of the mind”, quite unexpectedly sanctioning its nomadic and wandering nature in the normative context of a dictionary.

Bugliani, P. (2019). Regulating the Eighteenth-century Periodical Essay : a Poetics from The Tatler, The Spectator, and The Rambler. TEXTUS, 33(3), 13-33.

Regulating the Eighteenth-century Periodical Essay : a Poetics from The Tatler, The Spectator, and The Rambler

Paolo Bugliani
2019-01-01

Abstract

This paper investigates the concealed manifesto of essay writing that Addison, Steele, and Johnson inserted in some clearly non-systematic, yet crucial, meta-essayistic passages of their periodical works. This ‘camouflaged’ eighteenth-century reflection on the genre reached its climax with Samuel Johnson’s 1755 Dictionary entry, where the arbiter literarum described the essay as “a loose sally of the mind”, quite unexpectedly sanctioning its nomadic and wandering nature in the normative context of a dictionary.
2019
Pubblicato
Rilevanza internazionale
Articolo
Esperti anonimi
Settore L-LIN/10 - LETTERATURA INGLESE
English
Steele
Johnson
Dictionary
the essay (genre)
periodical literature
metaliterature
Addison
literary magazines
Bugliani, P. (2019). Regulating the Eighteenth-century Periodical Essay : a Poetics from The Tatler, The Spectator, and The Rambler. TEXTUS, 33(3), 13-33.
Bugliani, P
Articolo su rivista
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2108/313194
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