Institutions of the English Novel: From Defoe to Scott

Homer Obed Brown

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press 1997

Institutions of the English Novel

From Defoe to Scott

Homer Obed Brown

In the series Critical Authors and Issues

https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812292299

Overview
Contents

About this book

In Institutions of the English Novel, 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 pivotal role Scott's work played 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.

Author / Editor information

Homer Obed Brown is Professor of English at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of James Joyce's Early Fiction: The Biography of Form.

Reviews

"Must-read meditations on the mystical protocols and a priori assumptions of novel studies."—Deirdre Lynch, Novel

"Brown presents his theory of the novel as institutionalized and institutionalizer in a manner often as engaging as that of his privileged authors. The result is a book that takes an erudite and elelgant next step in the debate over the origins of the novel."—Nancy Armstrong, Brown University

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xxi
Introduction: Beginning with No Beginning Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. The Errant Letter and the Whispering Gallery Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
2. The Displaced Self in the Novels of Daniel Defoe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
3. Tom Jones: The "Bastard" of History Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
4. Tristram to the Hebrews: Some Notes on the Institution of a Canonic Text Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	116
5. Sir Walter Scott and the Institution of History: The Jacobite Novels in the Relation of Fathers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	138
6. The Institution of the English Novel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225

Language: English
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 244
Keywords: Literature; Cultural Studies

eBook

Published: February 23, 2015
ISBN: 9780812292299