A clearly written account of the development of the novel over the course of the long eighteenth century. This introductory book explains the developmentof the genre in its formative period in Britain. The reader will gain a thorough understanding of both prominent and lesser-known novels and novelists, keysocial and literary contexts, formal qualities and the novel's growth from a marginal to a culturally central genre. This introductory book explains the development of the genre in its formative period in Britain. The reader will gain a thorough understanding of both prominent and lesser-known novels and novelists, key social and literary contexts, formal qualities and the novel's growth from a marginal to a culturally central genre. In the eighteenth century, the novel became established as a popular literary form all over Europe. Britainproved an especially fertile ground, with Defoe, Fielding, Richardson and Burney as early exponents of the novel form. The Cambridge Introduction to the Eighteenth-Century Novel considers the development of the genre in its formativeperiod in Britain. Rather than present its history as a linear progression, April London gives an original new structure to the field, organizing it through three broad thematic clusters – identity, community and history. Within each of these themes, she explores the central tensions of eighteenth-century fiction: between secrecy and communicativeness, independence and compliance, solitude and family, cosmopolitanism and nation-building. The reader will gain a thorough understanding of both prominent and lesser-known novels and novelists, key social and literary contexts, the tremendous formal variety of the earlynovel and its growth from a marginal to a culturally central genre. INDICE: Introduction; Part I. Secrets and Singularity: 1. Daniel Defoe andthe power of singularity; 2. The virtue of singularity; 3. The punishment of singularity; Part II. Sociability and Community: 4. The reformation of family;5. Alternative communities; 6. The sociability of books; Part III. History and Nation: 7. History, novel, and polemic; 8. Historical fiction and generational distance; Guide to further reading; Index.
- ISBN: 978-0-521-89535-4
- Editorial: Cambridge University
- Encuadernacion: Cartoné
- Páginas: 260
- Fecha Publicación: 05/04/2012
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés