Hypocrisy and the politics of politeness
Subtitle: manners and morals from Locke to Austen
By: Jenny Davidson.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2004
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 242
Subjects: Austen, Jane, 1775-1817 -- Ethics; Locke, John, 1632-1704 -- Ethics; English literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism; Courtesy in literature; Literature and society -- England -- History -- 18th century; Moral conditions in literature; Etiquette in literature; Hypocrisy in literature; Ethics in literature
Description: "In Hypocrisy and the Politics of Politeness, Jenny Davidson considers the arguments that define hypocrisy as a moral and political virtue in its own right. She shows that these were arguments that thrived in the medium of eighteenth-century Britain's culture of politeness. In the debate about the balance between truthfulness and politeness, Davidson argues that eighteenth-century writers from Locke to Austen come down firmly on the side of politeness. This is the case even when it is associated with dissimulation or hypocrisy. These writers argue that the open profession of vice is far more dangerous for society than even the most glaring discrepancies between what people say in public and what they do in private. This book explores what happens when controversial arguments in favor of hypocrisy enter the mainstream, making it increasingly hard to tell the difference between hypocrisy and more obviously attractive qualities like modesty, self-control and tact."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-229) and index.