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Gentlemen and Dancing-Masters: Thoughts on Fielding, Chesterfield, and the Genteel
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1967
Year
Literal OneBritish LiteratureSmall Class-conscious EpisodePopular CultureMusicologyAmerican LiteratureDance MedicinePerformance TheoryDance For HealthLanguage StudiesModern DanceDanceTheatreContemporary DanceVisual CultureCostume DesignDance HistoryLiterary HistoryPerformance StudiesMrs. EllisonEnglish CulturePlaywritingArtsTheatre StudyMusic History
7FHE DANCING-MASTER will be recurring figure in this paper. The paper is not about dancing-masters as such. And I shall not be dealing with the cosmic in any world picture, 2 nor with the dance as an emblem in aesthetic theory,3 though both these topics, and especially the latter, have larger connections with my immediate subject. The dancing-master here will usually be literal one, but his purpose is to help to define certain social attitudes of Fielding. I begin with small class-conscious episode from Amelia. Sergeant Atkinson visits Mrs. Ellison's house, where Booth, Amelia, and Mrs. Bennet are having tea. Atkinson is shy with women, and social inferior. Mrs. Ellison makes some condescending but welcoming remarks to the effect that a serjeant of the guards is gentleman: