Abstracts
Abstract
In eighteenth-century London, publishing began to transition from a patronage system to a commercial business. An increase in literary reviews accompanied the shift. Publishing by subscription emerged as an evolving form of patronage where authors received monetary support from readers before publication. Women authors found subscription publishing welcoming as a means to avoid the commercial marketplace. Some authors used this publishing method in the name of seeking charitable support. Reviewers linked subscription publishing to female authors and acts of charity as reviewers attempted to circumvent the problem of potentially alienating their own readership, who could be subscribers. Through rhetorical analysis of 171 digitized bound volumes of 11 of London’s literary review periodicals, this paper argues that reviewers’ treatment of women authors and the associated use of subscription publications led to a disparaging perception of both by London’s growing reading public.
Keywords:
- Subscription publishing,
- women,
- London,
- reviewers,
- charity
Résumé
À Londres, au XVIIIe siècle, l’édition amorce une transition, d’un système axé sur le patronage vers une entreprise commerciale. Ce changement s’accompagne d’une augmentation du nombre de critiques littéraires. La souscription prend alors le relais du patronage, en permettant aux écrivaines de bénéficier du soutien financier de leur lectorat avant publication. En outre, la souscription présente à leurs yeux l’avantage de contourner le marché commercial. Pour certaines, ce type d’édition prend la forme d’un soutien d’ordre caritatif. Les critiques littéraires établissent un lien entre souscription, écrivaines et actes de bienfaisance, souhaitant éviter de heurter leur lectorat, parmi lequel pouvaient se trouver des souscripteurs. Le présent article s’appuie sur l’analyse rhétorique de 171 tomes numérisés de 11 périodiques de critique littéraire publiés à Londres. Il en ressort que la manière dont les critiques de l’époque associent l’oeuvre des écrivaines et la souscription en vient à créer une perception négative des deux chez un lectorat londonien alors en pleine croissance.
Mots-clés :
- Souscription,
- écrivaines,
- Londres,
- critiques,
- charité
Appendices
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