An Introduction to Eighteenth-Century Fiction: Raising the Novel

ISBN-13: 9780333776254 / Angielski / Miękka / 2001 / 317 str.

John Skinner

Opis

An Introduction to Eighteenth-Century Fiction deals with fiction of the 'long eighteenth century', using a clearly defined pool of texts and corpus of writers. The first part of the study discusses the broader issues of definitions and approaches, genre and gender, and canon formation; the second part, after a more general discussion of Richardson and Fielding, offers a series of five paired readings, juxtaposing texts by Behn and Defoe, Sterne and Smollett, Lennox and Burney, Radcliffe and Godwin and Austen.

Spis treści

Preface.- PART ONE: RAISING THE NOVEL.- Critics and Theorists.- Sounding the Canon.- Genre and Gender.- Two Literary Parabolas (i): Richardson from Familiar Letters to Grandison.- Two Literary Parabolas (ii): Fielding from Jonathan Wild to Amelia.- PART TWO: FICTIONAL PERSPECTIVES FROM BEHN TO AUSTEN.- Behn's Oroonoko and Defoe's Moll Flanders.- Sterne's Tristram Shandy and Smollett's Humphry Clinker.- Lennox's The Female Quixote and Burney's Evelina.- Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho and Godwin's Caleb Williams.- Austen's Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park.- Notes.- Appendix A: Mrs Barbauld's The British Novelists.- Appendix B: The Dictionary of Literary Biography.- Appendix C: The Chadwyck Healey Database.- Bibliography.- Index.

O autorze

JOHN SKINNER is Professor of English at the University of Turku, Finland.

Blurb

The formal and expressive range of canonic eighteenth-century fiction is enourmous: between them Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Smollett and Sterne seem to have anticipated just about every question confronting the modern novelist; and Aphra Behn even raises a number of issues overlooked by her male successors. But one might also reverse the coin: much of what is present in these writers will today seem remote and bizarre. There is, in fact, only one novelist from the 'long' eighteenth century who is not an endangered species outside the protectorates of university English departments: Jane Austen. Plenty of people read her, moreover, without the need for secondary literature. These reservations were taken into account in the writing of this book.

An Introduction to Eighteenth Century Fiction is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to English fiction from Aphra Behn to Jane Austen. It deals with novel criticism, canon formation and relations between genre and gender. The second part of the book contains an extensive discussion of Richardson and Fielding, followed by paired readings of major eighteenth-century novels, juxtaposing texts by Behn and Defoe, Sterne and Smollett, Lennox and Burney among others. The various sections of the book, and even the individual chapters, may be read independently or in any order. Works are discussed in a way intended to help students who have not read them, and even engage with some who never will. The author consumes eighteenth-century fiction avidly, but has tried to write a reader-friendly survey for those who may not.