Finance and Fictionality in the Early Eighteenth Century : Accounting for Defoe / Sandra Sherman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sherman, Sandra.

Series:

Cambridge books online.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economics--England--History--18th century.

Economics.

Finance--England--History--18th century.

Finance.

Economics in literature.

Finance in literature.

Fiction--Technique.

Fiction.

History.

England.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (236 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1996.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

PDF

Summary:

In the early eighteenth century, the increasing dependence of society on financial credit provoked widespread anxiety. The texts of credit - stock certificates, IOUs, bills of exchange - were denominated as potential "fictions", while the potential fictionality of other texts was measured in terms of the "credit" they deserved. Sandra Sherman argues that in this environment finance is like fiction, employing the same tropes. She goes on to show how the work of Daniel Defoe epitomized the market's capacity to unsettle discourse, demanding and evading "honesty" at the same time. Defoe's oeuvre, straddling both finance and literature, theorizes the unsettlement of market discourse, elaborating strategies by which an author can remain in the market, perpetrating fiction while avoiding responsibility for doing so.

Notes:

Title from publishers bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Mar 2012).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9780511582219

9780521481540

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.