The Emancipation of Writing : German Civil Society in the Making, 1790s-1820s.
Title:
The Emancipation of Writing : German Civil Society in the Making, 1790s-1820s.
Author:
McNeely, Ian.
ISBN:
9780520928527
Personal Author:
Edition:
1st ed.
Physical Description:
1 online resource (347 pages)
Series:
Studies on the History of Society and Culture ; v.48
Studies on the History of Society and Culture
Contents:
Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- PART I. OFFICIAL POWER AND THE PAPER TRAIL -- 1. The Civic Landscape -- 2. The Tutelage of the Scribes -- 3. The Black Forest Cahier -- 4. Constitutional Fetishism -- PART II. INSCRIBING A SPACE OF FREEDOM -- 5. Transcending "Textual Serfdom" -- 6. Reading, Writing, and Reform -- 7. Cataloging the Social World -- 8. The Intelligence Gazettes -- Conclusion -- Glossary -- A -- B -- C -- E -- G -- I -- L -- M -- N -- O -- S -- T -- V -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Sources -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W.
Abstract:
The Emancipation of Writing is the first study of writing in its connection to bureaucracy, citizenship, and the state in Germany. Stitching together micro- and macro-level analysis, it reconstructs the vibrant, textually saturated civic culture of the German southwest in the aftermath of the French Revolution and Napoleon's invasions. Ian F. McNeely reveals that Germany's notoriously oppressive bureaucracy, when viewed through the writing practices that were its lifeblood, could also function as a site of citizenship. Citizens, acting under the mediation of powerful local scribes, practiced their freedoms in written engagements with the state. Their communications laid the basis for civil society, showing how social networks commonly associated with the free market, the free press, and the voluntary association could also take root in powerful state institutions.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
Genre:
Electronic Access:
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