Institutions of the English Novel FROM THE PUBLISHER
In this book Homer Obed Brown takes issue with the generally accepted origin of the novel in the early eighteenth century. Brown argues that what we now call the novel did not appear as a recognized single "genre" until the early nineteenth century, when the fictional prose narratives of the preceding century were grouped together under that name. After analyzing the figurative and thematic uses of private letters and social gossip in the constitution of the novel, Brown explores what was instituted in and by the fictions of Defoe, Fielding, Sterne, and Scott, with extensive discussion of the way Scott's work played a pivotal role in the novel's rise to institutional status. This study is an intriguing demonstration of how these earlier narratives are involved in the development and institution of such political and cultural concepts as self, personal identity, the family, and history, all of which contributed to the later possibility of the novel.
FROM THE CRITICS
Booknews
Brown (English, U. of California, Irvine) dissents from the
prevailing opinion that "the novel" basically began with "Tom
Jones" in the 18th century, dismantling what is retrospectively the
coherent Age of Reason. He points out in the letters, gossip and
fictions of Defoe, Fielding, Sterne, and Scott, a multifaceted
engagement with the moment which became institutionalized in the
early 19th century under a single genre and constellation of
assumptions, thus contributing a new perspective to studies of both
the era and its literature.
Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.