History and the early English novel : matters of fact from Bacon to Defoe / Robert Mayer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mayer, Robert, 1948- author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in eighteenth-century English literature and thought ; 33.

Cambridge studies in eighteenth-century English literature and thought ; 33

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731--Knowledge--History.

Defoe, Daniel.

Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626--Influence.

Bacon, Francis.

English fiction--18th century--History and criticism.

English fiction.

Literature and history--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Literature and history.

Historical fiction, English--History and criticism.

Historical fiction, English.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 246 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

History & the Early English Novel

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This new study of the origins of the English novel argues that the novel emerged from historical writing. Examining historical writers and forms frequently neglected by earlier scholars, Robert Mayer shows that in the seventeenth century historical discourse embraced not only 'history' in its modern sense, but also fiction, polemic, gossip, and marvels. Mayer thus explains why Defoe's narratives were initially read as history. It is the acceptance of the claims to historicity, the study argues, that differentiates Defoe's fictions from those of writers like Thomas Deloney and Aphra Behn, important writers who nevertheless have figured less prominently than Defoe in discussions of the novel. Mayer ends by exploring the theoretical implications of the history-fiction connection. His study makes an important contribution to the continuing debate about the emergence of what we now call the novel in Britain in the eighteenth century.

Contents:

1. Baconian historiography: the contours of historical discourse in seventeenth-century England

2. "Idle Trash" or "Reliques of Something True"?: the fate of Brut and Arthur and the power of tradition

3. The History of Myddle: memory, history, and power

4. Lifewriting and historiography, fiction and fact: Baxter, Clarendon, and Hutchinson on the English Civil War

5. The secret history of the last Stuart kings

6. "Knowing strange things": historical discourse in the century before Robinson Crusoe

7. "History" before Defoe: Nashe, Deloney, Behn, Manley

8. Defoe's historical practice: from "The Ages Humbles Servant" to Major Alexander Ramkins

9. "Facts that are form'd to touch the mind": Defoe's narratives as forms of historical discourse

10. From history to the novel: the reception of Defoe.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 24 Feb 2016).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780511089763

0511089767

9780511582066

0511582064

9780511000881

051100088X

Publisher Number:

2027/heb07553 hdl