Penelope J. Corfield is a historian, lecturer and education consultant. She recently served as the President of the International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ISECS).
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MONTHLY BLOG 154, IN PRAISE OF (JUDICIOUS) REGULATION
/in Civics, Monthly Blog/by Penelope J. CorfieldHumans are wondrously inventive. It’s the cultural trademark of the species. Simultaneously, however, humans are also reflective creatures. They eventually realise – with greater or less reluctance – that their inventions and innovations need good framework regulations to operate successfully. Unless the impact of significant change remains fully monitored, there is always a risk that creative inventions may help in one direction but may simultaneously cause unintended collateral damage in another…
MONTHLY BLOG 153, ACKNOWLEDGING THE PASSING OF TIME
/in Monthly Blog, Personal/by Penelope J. CorfieldThis personal BLOG is very short but very determined. It expresses my commitment to expand my daily exercise routine. Currently, I walk at least a mile and swim for half an hour daily, pushing myself to exercise all limbs with all-out effort. It’s very enjoyable. On the way to the pool, I sometimes yawn and am often bleary-eyed. On the way back, however, I sing cheerfully, feeling at one with the world…
MONTHLY BLOG 152, SHORT AND CHEERFUL MEDITATIONS UPON RETURNING TO LIVE IN A (currently) TEMPERATE CLIMATE
/in Current Affairs, Monthly Blog/by Penelope J. CorfieldReturning from great heat of Rome to live in a temperate climate has made me appreciate the great merits of fresh cool air, breezes, rain, and clouds, as never before.
First of all: fresh cool air. Breathe deeply. Wonderful. As a Danish proverb observes: ‘Fresh air impoverishes the doctor’. Then breezes and wind: anything from the lightest zephyr to tempestuous gales…
MONTHLY BLOG 151, Reflections upon Roaming in Rome, after a Return Visit to The City
/in Current Affairs, Monthly Blog/by Penelope J. CorfieldRome is a matchless city for reflective walkers. Ok – best to choose a time of year when the heat is not too intense. And essential not to be in a hurry. But for those who like to stroll, to take in the views, and to reflect upon the workings of time, Rome is matchless…
MONTHLY BLOG 150, Tribute to the Gracious International City of Geneva – Historic Home of Three Hegemonc Radical Thinkers – and, Additionally, Thronged with Sparrows
/in History, Monthly Blog/by Penelope J. CorfieldReflections upon Geneva, prompted by a recent visit (late May 2023): Geneva is a gracious city, situated at the point where the River Rhône rushes headlong out of Lake Geneva en route for its journey to the Mediterranean. The city is full of trees, and the trees are full of sparrows….
MONTHLY BLOG 149, Tracking Down The Fugitive History of the Body Louse
/in History, Monthly Blog/by Penelope J. CorfieldEighteenth-century Britons knew all about body lice. But – the subject was rarely mentioned. It was not just polite company that avoided any reference; but people in the wider society too. Body lice – those tiny human parasites – were well known as itchy, infernal nuisances…
MONTHLY BLOG 148, Tracking down Eighteenth-Century Optimists and Pessimists in order to write The Georgians
/in History, Monthly Blog/by Penelope J. CorfieldMany people have asked, since the publication of my book on The Georgians1 , why I note on the dust-cover that I am an optimist. There is a reason (apart from the fact that it’s true). But to explain, I need to take a step back. So please bear with me while I tell you first about how I decided to introduce my cast of eighteenth-century Britons…
MONTHLY BLOG 147, A Great Painted Tribute to an Eighteenth-Century Cultural Ambassador between Global East & West
/in Civics, History, Monthly Blog/by Penelope J. CorfieldAs British sailors and explorers increasingly travelled the world in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, so the public back home clamoured to read all about it. Fictional fantasias like Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726) became instant best-sellers…
MONTHLY BLOG 146, Towards Democracy: The Significance of Britain’s Eighteenth-Century Electorate
/in Current Affairs, History, Monthly Blog/by Penelope J. CorfieldDemocracy is not a flawless form of government. Nor do all democracies survive for all time. Nonetheless, representative democracies uphold the ideal notion of a rational politics, in which all citizens have an equal vote – all exercise their judgment in choosing representatives, who in turn vote to run the country on behalf of their fellow citizens – and all calmly accept the outcome of a majority vote…
MONTHLY BLOG 145, Being a Citizen whilst Living under a Hereditary Monarchy
/in Civics, History, Monthly Blog/by Penelope J. CorfieldIt was infuriating twice over: firstly, to be informed by a contributor to the New York Review of Books that the British people are ‘subjects, not citizens’;1 and, secondly, to realise that my protesting Letter to the Editor, sent twice in case it went astray first time round, is not going to be published in the NYRB columns…