Chapter INTRODUCTION -- chapter 1 CONVERSATION AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE HONNÊTE HOMME IN SEVENTEENTH- CENTURY FRANCE -- chapter 2 THE ENGLISH GENTLEMAN AND HIS TONGUE -- chapter 3 POLITENESS -- chapter 4 THE GRAND TOUR OF THE ENGLISH GENTLEMAN -- chapter 5 THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE EIGHTEENTH- CENTURY LADY -- chapter 6 THE SEXED MIND -- chapter 7 TONGUES, MASCULINITY AND NATIONAL CHARACTER
Summary
The fashioning of English gentlemen in the eighteenth century was modelled on French practices of sociability and conversation. Michele Cohen shows how at the same time, the English constructed their cultural relations with the French as relations of seduction and desire. She argues that this produced anxiety on the part of the English over the effect of French practices on English masculinity and the virtue of English women. By the end of the century, representing the French as an effeminate other was integral to the forging of English, masculine national identity. Michele Cohen examines the
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 151-170) and index
