A Pecuniary Explication of William Makepeace Thackeray's Critical Journalism
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University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2011 "Show Me the Money!": A Pecuniary Explication of William Makepeace Thackeray's Critical Journalism Gary Simons University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons, English Language and Literature Commons, History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons, and the Journalism Studies Commons Scholar Commons Citation Simons, Gary, ""Show Me the Money!": A Pecuniary Explication of William Makepeace Thackeray's Critical Journalism" (2011). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3347 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “Show Me the Money!”: A Pecuniary Explication of William Makepeace Thackeray’s Critical Journalism by Gary Simons A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Pat Rogers, Ph.D., Litt. D. Marty Gould, Ph.D. Regina Hewitt, Ph.D. Laura Runge, Ph.D. Date of Approval March 24, 2011 Keywords: W. M. Thackeray, British Literature, Literary Criticism, Periodicals, Art Criticism Copyright © 2011, Gary Simons Dedication To my wife Jeannie, my love, my companion and partner in life and in learning, who encouraged me to take early retirement and enter graduate school, shared with me the pleasures of the study of English literature and thereby intensified them, patiently listened to my enthusiasms, and urged me onward at every stage of this work, Acknowledgments I would like to thank Dr. Pat Rogers for his general guidance of the work reported in this dissertation and for his personal example of the essence of academic scholarship. I would also like to thank the other members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Marty Gould, Dr. Regina Hewitt, and Dr. Laura Runge for their counsel and support both in and outside of the classroom. The embryonic idea behind this study was developed in a course taught by Dr. Gould, and I particularly thank him for that early encouragement and for an early detailed review of a portion of this dissertation. Dr. William Scheuerle provided guidance and support and introduced me to the study of Victorian periodicals. Dr. Peter Shillingsburg encouraged my early interest in the writings of William Makepeace Thackeray and generously sent me back copies of an invaluable resource, The Thackeray Newsletter. I also want to acknowledge the information regarding the British periodical Punch kindly provided by Dr. Patrick Leary and the assistance of Michael St. John McAlister of the British Library. Throughout this effort my wife Jean Simons has been a constant source of support, contributing ideas of substance, editorially improving the manuscript, and offering encouragement. This dissertation could not have been written without her. i Table of Contents List of Tables .................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... iv Abstract ......................................................................................................................v Introduction ......................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 “Make up my account now directly”: Reconciling the Accounts of a Victorian Journalist ..............................................................................................................8 1.1 The Account Book for 1838 ............................................................................12 1.1.1 Reconciling Accounts .......................................................................12 1.1.2 Thackeray’s Strike Against Fraser’s Magazine ...............................15 1.2 The Virtual Account Book from 1838 to 1843 ................................................18 1.2.1 The Quarterly Reviews .....................................................................20 1.2.2 Biblio-Economic Reconciliations .....................................................27 1.2.3 Punch in 1842 ...................................................................................30 1.3 The Account Book for 1844 ............................................................................32 1.4 The Virtual Account Book 1844-1848 ............................................................37 1.4.1 Punch 1844-1848 ..............................................................................40 1.4.2 Biblio-Economic Answers and Questions ........................................43 1.5 Payment Practices and Rates ...........................................................................45 Notes ....................................................................................................................48 Chapter 2 “Five guineas for a week’s work”: The Victorian World in the Times .............54 2.1 Thackeray and the Times .................................................................................55 2.2 Bibliographic Background ...............................................................................57 2.3 Following the Biblio-Economic Money Trail..................................................62 2.3.1 New Attributions ...............................................................................64 2.3.2 A Thackeray Times Bibliography .....................................................75 2.4 What the Large Loose Baggy Monsters Left Out ............................................80 2.4.1 Colonial Emigration and Imperialism ...............................................83 2.4.2 International Affairs ..........................................................................87 2.4.3 Attitudes Toward Religion ................................................................93 2.4.4 Thackeray’s Medievalism .................................................................98 Notes ..................................................................................................................102 Chapter 3 “Getting good pay always thinking”: The Victorian World in the Morning Chronicle...........................................................................................................108 3.1 Thackeray and the Morning Chronicle ..........................................................109 3.2 Bibliographic Background .............................................................................114 ii 3.3 Bibliographic Analyses: Contents, Circumstances, and Cash .......................116 3.3.1 New Attributions .............................................................................119 3.3.2 A Thackeray Morning Chronicle Bibliography ..............................134 3.4 National Identity: Foreigners and Englishmen ..............................................140 3.4.1 The Irish Question...........................................................................141 3.4.2 The Englishman’s East ...................................................................145 3.4.3 English Middle-Class Identity ........................................................149 Notes ..................................................................................................................154 Chapter 4 “No money from Hume”: The Squab - Idler Newspaper Correspondence................................................................................................................159 4.1 James Hume and the Calcutta Star ................................................................161 4.2 Thackeray’s Letters to the Calcutta Star .......................................................166 4.3 Personalities and Personal Commentaries .....................................................172 4.4 England’s Game With the World ...................................................................179 Notes ..................................................................................................................191 Chapter 5 “I could turn an honest penny”: The Chronicler of the Paris and London Art Exhibitions .................................................................................................................196 5.1 The Journalist Art Critic ................................................................................199 5.1.1 A Narrative Chronology .................................................................201 5.1.2 A New Attribution ..........................................................................206 5.2 Characterizing Thackeray’s Art Criticism .....................................................208 5.3 The Early Victorian Conversation on Art ......................................................223 Notes ..................................................................................................................241 Chapter 6 “The proceeds of that last masterpiece”: The Tradesman of Literature from Critic to Novelist .....................................................................................................246 6.1 The Economics of Literature .........................................................................249