Description
Book Synopsis* Introduction to the literature of the eighteenth century and its cultural, social and political contexts. * Ties literary developments to the shaping of modernity during the period, including the growth of cities, global trade and travel, and rights for women, workers and slaves.
Trade Review“an admirably lucid and up-to-date guide to the field”
The Year's Work in English Studies "Sussman's study of 18th-century literature is very readable and clear as it is free from obfuscating theoretical jargon. It addresses a large market of general as well as academic readers, and even experienced and widely-read scholars and teachers, ever in danger of dogmatic stasis, will profit enormously from its new readings and occasional provocations"
Anglistik
"Professor Sussman has written an admirably lucid, lively book which conveys an enormous amount of up-to-the minute scholarship with concision, elegance, and lightness of touch. The book combines well selected thematic discussions and detailed readings of essential texts, with fascinating historical material in ways that will answer the readers' questions and open out vistas for further reading and research. A valuable introduction to the literature of this period for undergraduate and postgraduate readers."
Karen O'Brien University of Warwick
"Eighteenth-Century English Literature by Charlotte Sussman is an outstanding introduction to eighteenth-century literature: sophisticated, contemporary, but also accessible. The book would make a wonderful supplement to a course on eighteenth-century literature, either graduate or undergraduate, and offers much of interest to the curious general reader as well."
Laura Rosenthal, University of Maryland
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements vi
Introduction 1
1 National Identity and a National Literature 9
2 Print Culture and the Public Sphere 41
3 The City 63
4 The Countryside 90
5 Individuality and Imagination 114
6 Religious Experience 136
7 Female Sexuality and Domesticity 156
8 Wit and Sensibility 185
9 Trade and Travel 205
10 Colonialism and Slavery 232
Notes 262
Index 280
