'This collection is a thoughtful and comprehensive extension of the scholarship, as it not only brings together various strands of criticism but also builds on them in imaginative ways. Rivero asserts that 'far from being obsolete or only of antiquary interest, the sentimental novel remains a vibrant and exciting area of study.' The strength of this enterprising collection proves Rivero's claim, and scholars will no doubt turn to this volume to enrich future studies of the sentimental novel.' Philip Trotter, The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats
Introduction Albert J. Rivero; 1. The sentimental novel and politics Gary Kelly; 2. Sensible readers: experiments in feeling in early prose fiction by women Ros Ballaster; 3. Reading for the sentiment: Richardson's novels Bonnie Latimer; 4. The virtuous in distress: David Simple, Amelia, Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph Barbara M. Benedict; 5. Sentiment from abroad: French novels after 1748 Gillian Dow; 6. Sterne's sentimental empiricism Jonathan Lamb; 7. Virtue not rewarded: The Man of Feeling and The Sorrows of Young Werther Maureen Harkin; 8. Slavery and the novel of sentiment Brycchan Carey; 9. Sentiment and the Gothic: failures of emotion in the novels of Mrs Radcliffe and the Minerva Press Hannah Doherty Hudson; 10. The sentimental novel in America: The History of Emily Montague, Charlotte Temple, The Power of Sympathy, The Coquette Joseph F. Bartolomeo; 11. Novel anachronisms: Sophia Lee's The Life of a Lover and Frances Burney's The Wanderer Melissa Sodeman; 12. Jane Austen and the sentimental novel Albert J. Rivero; Select bibliography; Index.