British Literary Salons of the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries

"The reach of Schmid's analysis and her nuanced readings of these women, their circles, and their productions situate British salon culture at the heart of Romantic and early Victorian social, political, and literary life, making British Literary Salons an important contribution to the growing body of work on 18th and 19th century print culture. An important contribution to the growing body of work on 18th and 19th century print culture." - Kristin Samuelian, Associate Professor of English, George Mason University, USA "Schmid's comprehensive knowledge of the interrelated developments among the salonnieres of the Continent gives strength and relevance to her study of British Literary Salons. As she points out, the term salon can be applied only loosely in accounting for the vast differences among the prominent intellectual circles. The differences were dictated by the artistic or philosophical inclinations of those who attended as well as by those who presided. The differences, as Schmid reveals, become even greater amidst the cultural changes taking place with the French Revolution, or when one moves from France, to Italy, to Germany, or to Britain. With her mastery of these pan-European developments, she brings penetrating insight into the characteristics of the British circles presided over by Mary Berry, Lady Holland, and the Countess of Blessington. Through the conjuring power of her prose, Schmid enables her readers to witness these personalities in action. Along with the more extensive sisterhood of bluestockings, the British salonnieres were subjected to slander and derision. Schmid provides a rich foundation for reevaluating their extensive contribution." - Frederick Burwick, Research Professor, Department of English, University of California, Los Angeles, USA and author of Playing to the Crowd "Schmid offers a boldly revisionary analysis of the formation of British literary culture in British Literary Salons of the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries. This provocative and highly original study provides a comprehensive overview of the literary salons that served as gathering places for the exchange of ideas among British writers, editors, reviewers, painters, scholars, and politicians. By elucidating the role of the salon as an emerging social institution that enabled women to become actively engaged in the production of culture, Schmid develops a fascinating new perspective upon the social and intellectual contexts of British Romanticism." - James C. McKusick, author of Coleridge's Philosophy of Language and Green Writing: Romanticism and Ecology

British salons, with guests such as Byron, Moore, and Thackeray, were veritable hothouses of political and cultural agitation. Using a number of sources - diaries, letters, silver-fork novels, satires, travel writing, Keepsakes, and imaginary conversations - Schmid paints a vivid picture of the British salon between the 1780s and the 1840s.British salons, with guests such as Byron, Moore, and Thackeray, were veritable hothouses of political and cultural agitation. Using a number of sources - diaries, letters, silver-fork novels, satires, travel writing, Keepsakes, and imaginary conversations - Schmid paints a vivid picture of the British salon between the 1780s and the 1840s.