Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century witnessed a revolution in taste; from an aristocratic conception of taste linked to the power to rule, disinterestedness, and universality to a more democratic model. This radicalisation of taste occurred in part as a result of the impact of the debates following the American and French revolutions. During this period, disputes over taste frequently took place in marginalised forms themselves regarded as being in bad taste: the Gothic, the sentimental novel, the romance, and the tale. The book traces the discussion of taste from the illuminating remarks made by Clara Reeve and Anna Letitia Barbauld on the value of tradition to Sydney Owenson's critique of Romantic aesthetics in Florence Macarthy.