Finance and Fictionality in the Early Eighteenth Century Accounting for Defoe [Paperback]

Explores the blurring of distinctions between finance?and fictionality through the work of Daniel Defoe.In the early eighteenth century, the increasing dependence of society on financial credit provoked widespread anxiety. Texts of credit certificates, IOUs, bills of exchange SH 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 the work of Daniel Defoe, which straddles both finance and literature, epitomises the market's capacity to unsettle discourse, and to blur the distinctions between finance and fiction.In the early eighteenth century, the increasing dependence of society on financial credit provoked widespread anxiety. Texts of credit certificates, IOUs, bills of exchange SH 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 the work of Daniel Defoe, which straddles both finance and literature, epitomises the market's capacity to unsettle discourse, and to blur the distinctions between finance and fiction.In the early eighteenth century, the increasing dependence of society on financial credit provoked widespread anxiety. 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 the work of Daniel Defoe, which straddles both finance and literature, epitomizes the market's capacity to unsettle discourse, and to blur the distinctions between finance and fiction.Introduction; 1. Credit and its discontents: the credit-fiction homology; 2. Defoe and fictionality; 3. Credit and honesty in The Compleat English Tradesman; 4. Fictions of stability; 5. Lady Credit's reprise: Roxana. Sherman presents a rich reading of a central problem for those who would confront Dl,