Narratives of Enlightenment Cosmopolitan History from Voltaire to Gibbon [Paperback]

A reappraisal of the work of five major narrative historians (Voltaire, Hume, Robertson, Gibbon and Ramsay) in eighteenth-century Europe and America.Narratives of Enlightenment reappraises the work of five of the most important narrative historians of the eighteenth century SH Voltaire, David Hume, William Robertson, Edward Gibbon, and the historian of the American Revolution, David Ramsay SH in the context of political and national debates in France, Scotland, England and America. Where previous studies have emphasised the growth of nationalism in eighteenth-century literature, Karen O'Brien reveals the development of cosmopolitan ways of thinking beyond national cultural issues.Narratives of Enlightenment reappraises the work of five of the most important narrative historians of the eighteenth century SH Voltaire, David Hume, William Robertson, Edward Gibbon, and the historian of the American Revolution, David Ramsay SH in the context of political and national debates in France, Scotland, England and America. Where previous studies have emphasised the growth of nationalism in eighteenth-century literature, Karen O'Brien reveals the development of cosmopolitan ways of thinking beyond national cultural issues.Narratives of Enlightenment reappraises the work of five of the most important narrative historians of the eighteenth century--Voltaire, David Hume, William Robertson, Edward Gibbon, and the historian of the American Revolution, David Ramsay--in the context of political and national debates in France, Scotland, England and America. Where previous studies have emphasized the growth of nationalism in eighteenth-century literature, Karen O'Brien reveals the development of cosmopolitan ways of thinking beyond national cultural issues.Acknowledgements and author's note; 1. Introduction: cosmopolitanism, narrative, history; 2. Voltaire's neoclassical poetics of history; 3. European contexts in Hume's History of England; 4. William Robertson to the rescue of Scottish l³/