Horace Walpole and his correspondents : social network analysis in a historical context / Froukje Henstra.

Utrecht : LOT, Netherlands Graduate School c2014.

273 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

Horace Walpole (1717-1797) was not only a politician, author and patron of the arts, he was also one of the most prolific letter writers in all of English history. Many of the letters which he sent and received have been collected, edited and published. They are a treasure trove of information on eighteenth-century politics, arts and society. However, the current study rather focuses on Walpole's social network and the language as contained in the letters of the network members. Although Walpole and his correspondents wrote their letters during a period in which the standard language was being established and written down in grammars, this book challenges the view that the language use of these members of the upper class was uniformly standard. Several case studies are used to map linguistic variety in the network and demonstrate the functionality of social network analysis in a historical context.

Books / Dissertations & Theses

English; Dutch

October 22, 2014

Dissertation Leiden University in order to obtain the degree of Doctor in the year 2014.

With summary in Dutch.