The Writings of Thomas Pringle

Thomas Pringle (1789-1834) is remembered as a poet, journalist, travel writer, editor, political campaigner and anti-slavery activist, yet a thorough critical survey of his writings, including his poetry, journalism, letters, narratives and anti-sIavery propaganda, is lacking in Pringle scholarship. This dissertation undertakes the task of a critical survey, in order to bring the diverse range of his writings to the attention of a wider audience, and to lay the foundations for future critical interpretation of Pringle's work. Work published by Pringle during his lifetime appears between 1811 and 1834, originally in Scotland, and later in South Africa and England as well. Pringle's output is diverse, both in style, content and genre. Previous critical discussion of his writing has usually been limited to isolated aspects of his oeuvre - in particular, his 'South African' poetry - and does not take the entirety into account. In this dissertation, I seek to correct this imbalance by exploring the range of Pringle' s writings and establishing a general , chronological framework within which these various writings can be interpreted. I have found it necessary to adopt a chronological approach in order to underline the crucial links between Pringle's work and his life, as well as the influence of his developing political thought upon the style and content of his writing.
Harry Crossley Scholarship for study at Cambridge University (1992-1994) Le Bas Research Studentship (1992-1993) Smuts Memorial Fund Travel Grant (1992) Overseas Students Research Award (1993) ORS (1993-1994) Members' English Fund award (1994) St Edmund's College