The Making of the Modern Self: Identity and Culture in Eighteenth-Century England

by Dror Wahrman

Toward the end of the eighteenth century, a radical change occurred in notions of self and personal identity. This was a sudden transformation, says Dror Wahrman, and nothing short of a revolution in the understanding of selfhood and of identity categories including race, gender, and class. In this pathbreaking book, he offers a fundamentally new interpretation of this critical turning point in Western history.
Wahrman demonstrates this transformation with a fascinating variety of cultural evidence from eighteenth-century England, from theater to beekeeping, fashion to philosophy, art to travel and translations of the classics. He discusses notions of self in the earlier 1700s―what he terms the ancien regime of identity―that seem bizarre, even incomprehensible, to present-day readers. He then examines how this peculiar world came to an abrupt end, and the far-reaching consequences of that change. This unrecognized cultural revolution, the author argues, set the scene for the array of new departures that signaled the onset of Western modernity.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Academic

414 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[Bryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a long, dense read but absolutely fascinating about how people construct their own identities and very specifically about how it changed during a few decades of the 18th century -- and yes, it is very particular, it is about 18th century English people in specific, but it was full of information I didn't know before about older models of selfhood and understandings of gender and sex and class and it felt very relevant to the ways I see people reimagining selfhood today.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

v informative book that covers a wide range of material-- tho prone to generalisation, as I guess it has to be given the topic.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the Broadview Anthology, I read the portions of this needed for my class. I intend to read more because the subject is quite interesting, but I haven't gotten to it yet. Perhaps I will when I'm preparing for SEASECS in March.

[Jonathan Megerian · Rating 1 out of 5]

garbage

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genius.