February 21  The Rise of the Public

key terms: bourgeoisie, the public, coffee house, extensive reading

I. The age of coffee

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

The cat won't give up its mouse,
Girls stay faithful coffee-sisters
Mother loves her coffee habit,
Grandpa sips it gladly too--
Why then shout at the the daughters?

nobility and gentry
bourgeoisie
lower orders


European population
1550
85,000,000
1650
80,000,000
1700
118,000,000
1750s
140,000,000
1800
187,000,000

II. The growth of a middle-class public
the public sphere
Jurgen Habermas, Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (1962)
the Enlightenment vs. enlightenment(s)
James Melton, The Rise of the Public in Enlightenment Europe
public opinion

III. The reading public
A. literacy



England
Scotland
France
1640s
30%
25%

1686-90


29% (women: 14%)
1750s
60% (women: 35-40%)
65%

1786-90


48% (women: 27%)

B. the transformation of print culture
traditional genres
religious works
almanacs
Vox Stellarum
chapbooks

Percentage of theological and devotional works
at the Leipzig book fair
1740
38.5%
1770
24.5%
1800
13.5%

Percentage of religious titles published in France
1690s
50%
1720s
33%
1750s
25%
1790s
10%

from intensive to extensive reading
James Boswell, Life of Johnson

C. new genres
periodicals
novels
moral weeklies
The Tatler
The Spectator
other genres: the epistolary novel, the autobiography, memoires judiciaries
pornography

New novels appearing

Germany
France
1701-10

136
1751-60
73
285
1781-90
907
662
1791-1800
1,623
735


D. new institutions