ABSTRACT
The Introduction establishes the book’s main themes. Central to the study is the question of how contemporaries in the 1790s were to determine the true desires of British radicals, or as often described, the “Jacobin” heart. Concentrating on the public articulation of these sentiments and the emotional investments of radicals, Seditious Hearts looks to capture the effervescent sense of possibility that characterized the decade. A central proposition stresses the importance of performance to our understanding of British radical culture. In exploring the connections among texts, actions, agency, and subjectivity, the authors have been influenced by scholars who have advanced the so-called performative turn. The task of recovering the motivations and affective desires of the subjects of this book has also been informed by the work of historians of the emotions. After discussing theoretical influences and premises, the introduction outlines the shape of the study, providing brief summaries of the chapters to follow: Part I consists of five chapters concentrating on the 1790s, while the three chapters that make up Part II concern the afterlives of British Jacobinism.
