The correspondence of authors became increasingly recognized as a form of literary output throughout the eighteenth century. Compared to the output of other significant writers of the eighteenth century such as associates Edmund Burke and Samuel Johnson, only a small corpus of Goldsmith’s letters remains. This chapter gives an overview of Goldsmith’s extant correspondence, places it into discrete clusters, and considers why so few letters remain. The chapter suggests that the brevity of Goldsmith’s life prevented him from developing an equivalent epistolary vocation to his peers.

Not only money crossed the ocean: letters between the French orphans and their benefactors went in each direction across the Atlantic. The correspondence between France’s orphans supported through the FCFS and their American benefactors revealed both the power of the connection and the power dynamic between the recipients and the “godparents.” Letters from the fatherless children of France told of the moral and psychological support that accompanied the financial assistance that sponsorships provided. And while it seems that the correspondence helped open an ocean of hope and fostered the conviction that France was not alone in its fight against Germany, the letters from France also reflected the power dynamic of the sponsorship: those in need had to keep the assistance coming. The letters also show the FCFS at work: the instructions to the recipients of aid as to how they were to communicate with donors; the typed transcription and translations of the letters, most likely carried out by women in the Paris and New York offices; and the messaging to the benefactors, who were reminded that mothers needed money, but children cared more for the attention from a far-away friend.

This chapter analyzes a number of municipal decrees and honorary inscriptions from Campania which can be dated to the second century CE. In these texts freed persons receive honors and privileges as a reward for their benefactions towards the community. The phenomenon itself is not surprising, but most acts of generosity by freed persons were done in their capacity as Augustales. In all cases discussed in this chapter the benefactions were done on a voluntary basis after negotiations with representatives of the city’s main political bodies. The most striking aspect of these texts is the language in which the benefactors are praised. They are heralded as role models whose behavior should be imitated by their fellow-citizens and their acts of generosity are praised as contributions to the political landscape. The benefactors provide a service to the community which corresponds to the standing of the city. While these texts may not prove that freed persons at the municipal level were consistently viewed in a positive light, a case can be made that at least some of them were regarded as valued members of the community. This evidence can then be used to broaden our perspective on the integration of freed persons in Roman society.

Swift corresponded with over two hundred of his contemporaries across England and Ireland from a wide variety of social backgrounds and situations. Some of his very best letters are written to women friends, most significantly, Esther Johnson (Stella) and Esther Vanhomrigh (Vanessa). His letters include first-hand accounts of the last four years of English and Irish politics and commentary on the publication of his major works. They also provide painful insight into the declining health of his later years, as when he writes of his ailments in brutally honest terms. This chapter explores the surviving archive of Swift’s correspondence and the evolving style, character, and contents of these documents.

After a short discussion of the actual typescripts and manuscripts of Lowell’s letters, this chapter centers on the published books of letters, which have become a central, rewarding part of Lowell’s oeuvre. On the level of style, Lowell’s letters can help us hear the poems better: above all, they make audible the comic tones under-recognized in his poetry. On the level of content, the letters shed light on Lowell’s literary contexts, his interests, and his thinking in specific poems: When Lowell writes to other poets about their work, he frequently reveals quite a bit about his own. And finally, the letters create an autobiography that encompasses gossip, complaint, apology, argument, critique, and confession.

Chapter 6 focuses on a rebellion among Arabs in Bushehr in February 1827, and the diplomatic row that followed. Rather than providing a comprehensive account of early Qajar diplomacy – a subject that could fill volumes – this chapter zeroes in on one relatively minor affair, long forgotten in the annals of history. The choice is strategic: because it drew the involvement of the Shiraz-based Qajar governor and the British Resident in Bushehr, and because of the detailed Persian- and English-language correspondence it generated, it offers a window onto a constellation of subjects: the importance of Bushehr for both the Qajars and the British, the relationship between the Qajars and Arab tribes along the Persian Gulf coast, and relations between Qajar rulers in Fars and in Tehran. The chapter illustrates how an extremely local crisis offered an opportunity for the Qajars to articulate their sovereignty and their political authority, in the face of domestic crises and international challenges.

This chapter explores the form and practice of correspondence between Britain and India, uncovering the social and affective worlds of British non-elite families. Many of these correspondents had low levels of literacy and did not write for private audiences, but relied on others to read and transcribe their correspondence. Intimate details of private lives became public knowledge. Letters transported information about India back to Britain and spread it throughout communities of origin, far beyond the reach of a single letter. Correspondents based in India maintained ties to their communities at home as they consumed everything from family gossip to political news. Correspondence was central to maintaining the economic health of a family. But the same mechanisms that sustained families and communities could disrupt them as well. Scorned spouses shared their grievances with neighbors. Mothers relied on daughters to convey their intimate feelings to their husbands. The form of correspondence and the practicalities of writing across long distances determined how relationships were sustained or disrupted, how information about the empire was disseminated, and how the empire shaped family life.

This essay explores the unique insights into the lives and book ownership of the Paston family offered by its fifteenth-century correspondence. It looks at three Paston women ߝ Agnes Berry Paston, her daughter-in-law Margaret Mautby Paston, and Margaretߣs daughter Elizabeth Paston (Yelverton) ߝ and the books that were in their possession or that they may have read. Putting the evidence concerning book ownership provided by wills, for example, alongside that of letters provides intriguing insights into the spirituality and influence of women, and the value they placed on devotional and moral works. The Paston womenߣs reading also included secular romance, the interest of which may have been as much political as personal. The reading interests of such women, then, extended far beyond the narrowly domestic.

A summary of the information revealed by Collin’s letters with specific examples

This chapter deals with the formation of contracts under the civil code and shows that the process is effectively the same as in Western legal systems, requiring an offer and a corresponding acceptance, as well as common intention among the parties.

Only some of Daniel Defoe’s correspondence survives, much of that consisting of political exchange between Defoe and his spymaster Robert Harley. In particular, the correspondence relates to Defoe’s time agitating for the Union of Scotland and England in 1707.

Although a lot has been written (mainly in German) about field post in the German army during the Second World War and the many historiographical issues concerned with it, very little study has been devoted to the letter collections of the German generals. This chapter attempts first to consider this unique collection of sources and discuss where they have been used before and to what end. There is also a discussion about why they have not been used more generally in past operational histories. The problems with Kurrentschrift, and even the standardised Sütterlinschrift, are explained to make readers aware of the complexity inherent in tackling letters from a generation of men educated in the late nineteenth century. Another major focus of the chapter are issues concerned with veracity and verification of the correspondence. A statical analysis of each collection provides a remarkable insight into anomalies, which reveals that letters are missing (or were withheld) from the publicly available collection. This is an important qualification of the study and already points to an attempt by the generals to present a selective post-war image.

The question of what kind of recognition populism supplies to the people connects to the question of how populists understand and practice “democracy.” This chapter disputes the widespread assumption that populism is committed to a procedural conception of democracy, which rejects all substantive standards and constraints on popular decision-making. It argues that populism cannot be regarded as essentially democratic, while it is only against liberal constitutionalism. Indeed, from the perspective of democratic respect, the fault with populism is not that its understanding of democracy lacks substantive constraints on popular decision-making, but that it fails to appreciate the procedural value of democracy. The populist understanding of democracy fails to appreciate the importance of “procedural respect,” while it promotes “outcome respect” and “identification recognition.” However, outcome respect as a form of correspondence between public policy and people’s opinions is incompatible with the circumstance of disagreement, and populist leader-people identification has equally anti-pluralist implications. Finally, populism has a very limited understanding of democratic procedures, focusing on aggregative mechanisms such as referendums and elections, while it excludes a more expansive understanding of democracy, which includes free opinion-formation, activism, and deliberation in civil and political society.

Alevtina Kuzicheva surveys the intense family life that was the one constant of Chekhov’s existence by examining Chekhov’s correspondence with his parents, brothers, sister, and wife.

This chapter discusses the right to respect for ones private life as it is protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, other Council of Europe instruments, in EU law and in international instruments. A wide variety of different aspects of the right are discussed, including secret surveillance, personal identity, the right to respect for ones home and the freedom of correspondence. In the final section, a short comparison between the different instruments is made.

Guillaume Apollinaire is without doubt the most prolific French poet of the Great War. In addition to his major poetry collection, Calligrammes (1918), he wrote and published plays, stories, journalism, and criticism during the conflict. His writing is nothing if not wide ranging.He considered poetry a spiritual activity and an escape from the traditional classification of genre. He also believed there was no boundary between art and life – the two are inextricably linked – and, further, that art and life transform one another.This porous nature, not without its ambivalences and paradoxes, constitutes a major key to the interpretation of his work. The diversity and originality of his oeuvre, the trajectory of the author and the importance of his legacy help to explain how and why he became a poet of war in France, a country that ignored the tradition of 'war poets' that had developed in Great Britain.