A reading of Christopher Smart's prose journalism

Abstract

Christopher Smart's prose journalism has been absurdly neglected in scholarship. Until very recently, Smart's journal The Midwife, or, the Old Woman's Magazine had rarely been granted any extensive research or scholarly exploration. Min Wild's 2008 publication, Christopher Smart and Satire: 'Mary Midnight' and the Midwife, was the first book to look at the journal in detail, while Smart's other journals, including the Student and Lilliputian, remain rarely read or studied in any depth. This thesis seeks to redress that neglect through a literary reading of the Midwife, and an historical contextualisation. The thesis investigates the work thematically and discusses some themes that have been neglected in scholarship on the Midwife. Where they overlap, or provide additional information, Smart's work in the Student, the Lilliputian, and the Universal Visiter are also considered. If possible I have suggested attributions for anonymous articles and correlated themes with Smart's better known works. In Chapter One, I have given an overview of the four journals with which Smart was associated as editor during the limited period of 1750-1753. I discuss the contributors and co-authors, as well as the publisher, John Newbery. In Chapter Two, I explore the influences on the creation of Mary Midnight, the purported editor of the Midwife, including her beginnings in the Student. Chapter Three discusses politics and gender in the Midwife, including the foreign politics within Richard Rolt's contributions. Chapter Four explores the Midwife's views on social issues of the time, and social justice. Overall, the thesis aims to open up the world of Mary Midnight and to understand the Midwife in relation to the culture in which it has a provenance.