History and the Early English Novel: Matters of Fact from Bacon to Defoe (Cambridge Studies in Eighteenth-Century English Literature and Thought, Series Number 33)

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. Frontmatter List of Illustrations (page x) Acknowledgments (page xi) Introduction (page 1) 1 Baconian historiography: the countours of historical discourse in seventeenth-century England (page 18) 2 "Idle Trash" or "Reliques of Somthing True"?: the fate of Brut and Arthur and the power of tradition (page 34) 3 The History of Myddle: memory, history, and power (page 54) 4 Lifewriting and historiorgraphy, fiction and fact: Baxter, Clarendon, and Hutchinson on the English Civil War (page 75) 5 The secret history of the last Stuart kings (page 94) 6 "Knowing strange things": historical discourse in the century before Robinson Crusoe (page 113) 7 "History" before Defoe: Nashe, Deloney, Behn, Manley (page 141) 8 Defoe's historical practice: from "The Ages Humble Servant" to Major Alexander Ramkins (page 158) 9 "Facts that are form'd to touch the mind": Defoe's narratives as forms of historical discourse (page 181) 10 From history to the novel: the reception of Defoe (page 207) Conclusion (page 227) Index (page 240) This new study of the origins of the English novel argues that the novel emerged from historical writing. Examining historical writers and forms frequently neglected by earlier scholars, Robert Mayer shows that in the seventeenth century historical discourse embraced not only "history" in its modern sense, but also fiction, polemic, gossip, and marvels. Mayer thus explains why Defoe's narratives were initially read as history. It is the acceptance of the claims to historicity, the study argues, that differentiates Defoes fictions from those of writers like Thomas Deloney and Aphra Behn, important writers who nevertheless have figured less prominently than Defoe in discussions of the novel. Mayer ends by exploring the theoretical implications of the history-fiction connection. His study makes an important contribution to the continuing debate about the emergence of what we now call the novel in Britain in the eighteenth century. "This new study of the origins of the English novel argues that the novel emerged from historical writing. Examining historical writers and forms frequently neglected by earlier scholars, Robert Mayer shows that in the seventeenth century historical discourse embraced not only "history" in its modern sense, but also fiction, polemic, gossip, and marvels. Mayer thus explains why Defoe's narratives were initially read as history. It is the acceptance of the claims to historicity, the study argues, that differentiates Defoe's fictions from those of writers like Thomas Deloney and Aphra Behn, important writers who nevertheless have figured less prominently than Defoe in discussions of the novel. Mayer ends by exploring the theoretical implications of the history-fiction connection. His study makes an important contribution to the continuing debate about the emergence of the novel in Britain in the eighteenth century."--Jacket Robert Mayer explores the meaning of 'history' in the seventeenth century and shows how the narratives of Daniel Defoe, unlike those of Aphra Behn, were read in their own time as history. Mayer's study makes an important contribution to the debate about the origins of the modern novel in Britain. In 1659 Peter Heylyn, an Anglican divine and well-known historian, launched an attack on Thomas Fuller's Church-History of Britain that occupied the better part of two books by Heylyn and elicited a lengthy reply by Fuller in his own defense.

exploration Of The Meaning Of 'history' And Its Relevance For The Origins Of The Modern English Novel.