Receiving revolution : the newspaper press, revolutionary ideology and politics in Britain, 1789-1848
Through a close reading of Bristol newspapers this thesis considers the intrusion of revolutionary idioms into the English language. This was a far more hesitant and nuanced process than the 'logocide' argued for by Burke whose notion of a 'linguistic terror' is overly dramatic. In adopting a longer term perspective and considering the revolutionary examples of 1830 and 1848, the violence of Burke's model is replaced by a more nuanced understanding of the range of idiomatic choices presented to British politics by the French experience. A brief introductory section addresses key historiographical and methodological issues. Chapter one explores the development of revolutionary reporting in the Bristol newspapers between 1792 and 1848. The first half of the chapter examines the subtle combination of idioms and rhetorical devices evident in the five Bristol titles for 1792. Reports on French and British affairs operated within a consciously circular discourse founded on the interchangeability of 'signified' and 'referent'. In this way the revolutionary example was fictionalised, demonised and emptied of any political value. The second half of the chapter then focuses on the decline of this discursive loyalism
Jackson, Owen David
Bristol ; French revolution
Receiving revolution : the newspaper press, revolutionary ideology and politics in Britain, 1789-1848. Through a close reading of Bristol newspapers this thesis considers the intrusion of revolutionary idioms into the English language. This was a far more hesitant and nuanced process than the 'logocide' argued for by Burke whose notion of a 'linguistic terror' is overly dramatic. In adopting a longer term perspective and considering the revolutionary examples of 1830 and 1848, the violence of Burke's model is replaced by a more nuanced understanding of the range of idiomatic choices presented to British politics by the French experience. A brief introductory section addresses key historiographical and methodological issues. Chapter one explores the development of revolutionary reporting in the Bristol newspapers between 1792 and 1848. The first half of the chapter examines the subtle combination of idioms and rhetorical devices evident in the five Bristol titles for 1792. Reports on French and British affairs operated within a consciously circular discourse founded on the interchangeability of 'signified' and 'referent'. In this way the revolutionary example was fictionalised, demonised and emptied of any political value. The second half of the chapter then focuses on the decline of this discursive loyalism
revolution newspaper_press revolutionary ideology politics britain close_reading bristol newspaper considers intrusion revolutionary idiom english_language far nuanced process argue burke whose notion linguistic terror overly dramatic adopt long_term perspective consider revolutionary example violence burke model replace nuanced range idiomatic choice present british_politics french experience brief introductory_section address key historiographical methodological_issue explore development revolutionary reporting bristol newspaper examine subtle combination idiom rhetorical_device evident bristol title reports french_british affair operate_within consciously circular discourse found signified referent way revolutionary example political value second_half focus decline discursive