David Williams' Lessons to a young prince : publisher influence and reader response
This thesis presents an interpretation of David Williams' (1738-1816) Lessons to a young prince (1790) ostensibly from a publisher-centric viewpoint. Through close analysis of its English-language editions it argues that Lessons has been consistently misattributed, misread, and otherwise taken out of context. The agglomeration of both contextual and particular factors contributed to this general negligence, but the most important factors were anonymity and the transformation of the text by the addition of a tenth lesson on Edmund Burke's Reflections, which altered the way Lessons was read by contemporaries in light of the revolution controversy. The thesis suggests that the explicit ad-hominen attack on Burke in the tenth lesson overshadowed what amounted to an implicit attack on Burke-in-transition towards Reflections contained in the original nine lessons. Using a significant body of previously unknown material to identify Williams' intended audience and the effects of anonymity, genre, and advertising on reader-response to Lessons, the thesis adds to existing knowledge about Williams' intentions and to the way his texts were read and understood by contemporaries. More particularly it underscores the importance
Robinson, Peter
B Philosophy (General) ; PR0441 18th century
David Williams' Lessons to a young prince : publisher influence and reader response. This thesis presents an interpretation of David Williams' (1738-1816) Lessons to a young prince (1790) ostensibly from a publisher-centric viewpoint. Through close analysis of its English-language editions it argues that Lessons has been consistently misattributed, misread, and otherwise taken out of context. The agglomeration of both contextual and particular factors contributed to this general negligence, but the most important factors were anonymity and the transformation of the text by the addition of a tenth lesson on Edmund Burke's Reflections, which altered the way Lessons was read by contemporaries in light of the revolution controversy. The thesis suggests that the explicit ad-hominen attack on Burke in the tenth lesson overshadowed what amounted to an implicit attack on Burke-in-transition towards Reflections contained in the original nine lessons. Using a significant body of previously unknown material to identify Williams' intended audience and the effects of anonymity, genre, and advertising on reader-response to Lessons, the thesis adds to existing knowledge about Williams' intentions and to the way his texts were read and understood by contemporaries. More particularly it underscores the importance
williams young prince publisher influence reader_response present interpretation williams person young prince ostensibly publisher centric viewpoint close_analysis english_language edition argue consistently otherwise take context contextual particular factor_contribute general important_factor anonymity transformation text addition tenth lesson burke alter way read contemporary light revolution controversy suggests explicit attack burke tenth lesson overshadow implicit attack burke transition towards contain original lesson using significant_body previously_unknown material identify williams intended audience effect anonymity genre advertise reader_response add exist_knowledge williams intention way texts read understood contemporary particularly underscore importance