Historical Etiquette: Etiquette Books in Nineteenth-Century Western Cultures

Description

This book is a groundbreaking study of etiquette in the nineteenth century when the success of etiquette books reached unprecedented heights in Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States. It positions etiquette as a fully-fledged theoretical concept within the fields of politeness studies and historical pragmatics. After tracing the origin of etiquette back to Spanish court protocol, the analysis takes a novel approach to key aspects of etiquette: its highly coercive and intricate scripts; the liminal rituals of social gatekeeping; the fear for blunders; the obsession with precedence. Interrogating the complex relationship between historical etiquette and adjacent notions of politeness, conduct, morality, convention, and ritual, the study prompts questions on gender stereotyping and class privilege surrounding the present-day etiquette revival. Through adopting a unique comparative approach and a corpus-based methodology this study seeks to revitalise our understandings of etiquette. This book will be of interest to scholars of historical linguistics and pragmatics, as well as those in neighbouring fields such as literary criticism, gender studies and family life, domestic and urban spaces. Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures List of Tables 1: Introduction 1.1 An Etiquette Revival 1.2 Etiquette Studies 1.3 Politeness Studies and Research Methods 1.4 Outline of the Book References Primary Texts and Translations Secondary Sources 2: Etiquette Books 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Courtesy Books and Conduct Books 2.2.1 Courtesy Books 2.2.2 Conduct Books 2.3 Etiquette Books, Social Class and Women Arbiters 2.4 Etiquette Books as a Product 2.4.1 France 2.4.2 The United Kingdom 2.4.3 The United States 2.4.4 The Netherlands 2.4.5 Italy 2.4.6 Conclusion 2.5 A Self-built Digital Corpus of Etiquette Books 2.5.1 The French Corpus 2.5.2 The UK-English Corpus 2.5.3 The US-English Corpus 2.5.4 The Dutch Corpus 2.5.5 The Italian Corpus 2.6 Conclusion References Primary Texts and Translations Corpora Secondary Sources 3: Defining Etiquette 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Etiquette and Politeness 3.2.1 A First Distinction 3.2.2 Politeness in Conduct Books 3.2.3 Politeness in Etiquette Books: On Varnish and Veneer 3.3 Definitions of Etiquette 3.3.1 The Customary Aspect 3.3.2 The Normative Aspect 3.3.3 The Gatekeeping Aspect 3.3.4 The Educational Aspect 3.3.5 Conclusion 3.4 Synonymy and Collocations of ‘Etiquette’ in My Self-built Corpus 3.4.1 The US-English Corpus 3.4.2 The UK-English Corpus 3.4.3 The Dutch Corpus 3.4.4 The French Corpus 3.4.5 The Italian Corpus 3.4.6 Conclusion 3.5 Conclusion References Primary Texts and Translations Secondary Sources 4: The Origin of Etiquette 4.1 Introduction 4.2 ‘Etiquette’ in Historical Corpora 4.2.1 US Data 4.2.2 UK Data 4.2.3 Dutch Data 4.2.4 French Data 4.2.5 Italian Data 4.2.6 Conclusion 4.3 ‘Etiquette’ in Dictionaries 4.3.1 French Dictionaries 4.3.2 Italian Dictionaries 4.3.3 Dutch Dictionaries 4.3.4 English Dictionaries 4.3.5 Conclusion 4.4 Court Etiquette 4.5 Conclusion References Primary Texts and Translations Dictionaries Corpora Secondary Sources 5: Scripts and Lines 5.1 Introduction 5.2 The Circumstances of Etiquette 5.3 On Choreographies and Scripts 5.4 The Drawing-Room Script 5.5 The Dining-Room Script 5.6 The Ball-Room Script 5.7 Script Lines 5.8 Conclusion References Primary Texts and Translations Secondary Sources 6: Blunders 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Fear of Embarrassment 6.3 Debutants and Debutantes 6.4 Parvenus 6.5 Language Blunders 6.6 Destructive Rituals 6.7 Ease and Tact 6.8 Conclusion References Primary Texts and Translations Secondary Sources 7: Precedence 7.1 Introduction 7.2 The Lesson of the Beef 7.3 Precedence and the Law 7.4 Precedence Scripts 7.4.1 Dining-Room Precedence 7.4.2 Drawing-Room Precedence 7.4.3 Ball-Room Precedence 7.4.4 Carriage Precedence 7.4.5 Riding Precedence 7.4.6 Promenade Precedence 7.4.7 Greeting Precedence 7.4.8 Introduction Precedence 7.4.9 Handshaking Precedence 7.4.10 Letter Writing: Expressing Deference 7.5 Conclusion References Primary Texts and Translations Secondary Sources 8: Concluding Remarks 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Etiquette and Inclusivity 8.3 Etiquette and Morality 8.4 Etiquette Organisation 8.5 Etiquette and Unease 8.6 Conclusion References Primary Texts and Translations Secondary Sources References Data Sources and Corpora Primary Texts and Translations Dictionaries Corpora Secondary Sources Index