History and the Early English Novel Matters of Fact from Bacon to Defoe [Paperback]

Exploration of the meaning of 'history' and its relevance for the origins of the modern English novel.Robert Mayer argues that the modern English novel emerged from historical writing. Historical discourse in the seventeenth century embraced not only 'history' in its modern sense, but also fiction, polemic, gossip, and marvels. Mayer shows how the narratives of Daniel Defoe u unlike those of his contemporaries Aphra Behn and Delarivièr Manley u were read, in their own time, as history, making connections which later novelists developed. This new study makes an important contribution to the continuing debate about the origins of the novel in Britain.Robert Mayer argues that the modern English novel emerged from historical writing. Historical discourse in the seventeenth century embraced not only 'history' in its modern sense, but also fiction, polemic, gossip, and marvels. Mayer shows how the narratives of Daniel Defoe u unlike those of his contemporaries Aphra Behn and Delarivièr Manley u were read, in their own time, as history, making connections which later novelists developed. This new study makes an important contribution to the continuing debate about the origins of the novel in Britain.Robert Mayer argues that the modern English novel emerged from historical writing. Historical discourse in the seventeenth century embraced not only history in its modern sense, but also fiction, polemic, gossip, and marvels. Mayer shows how the narratives of Daniel Defoe--unlike those of his contemporaries Aphra Behn and Delarivière Manley--were read, in their own time, as history, making connections that later novelists developed. This new study makes an important contribution to the continuing debate about the origins of the novel in Britain.Introduction; 1. Baconian historiography: the contours of historical discourse in seventeenth-century England; 2. 'Idle trash' or 'Reliques of something true'? the fate of Brute and Arthur and the power of trl³g