The Text Of Great Britain: Theme and Design in Defoe's Tour (Apple- Zimmerman Series in Early Modern)

This book is the first full-length analysis of one of the key books of the eighteenth century -- Daniel Defoe's Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain. The creation of Defoe's Tour, its sources and models, and its relationship to earlier topographic literature are discussed. The Text of Great Britain argues that Defoe evolved a rhetorical design that would express his sense of Britain as a working system constructed around cities, the countryside, and roads to form an intelligible whole. This Is The First Full-length Analysis Of A Tour Through The Whole Island Of Great Britain (1724-26), Long Recognized As A Key Book For Understanding The Eighteenth Century And As One Of Daniel Defoe's Most Characteristic Works. A Principle Aim Of This Book Is To Describe The Elements That Went Into The Making Of The Tour. A Substantial Introduction Sets Out A Conceptual Framework For The Chapters That Follow, Putting The Tour Into The Historical Context Of Travel Writing And The Development Of A Literature Of Tourism. This Work Also Reflects The Concerns And Methods Of Defoe's Oeuvre As A Whole. Other Aspects Of The Tour's Ideology Are Reviewed, Notably Its Political Bearings And Its Treatment Of The South Sea Bubble Of 1720, A National Disaster That Has Strong Personal Overtones For Defoe. Finally, An Attempt Is Made To Illuminate The Design Of The Work And The Ways In Which Its Formal Structure Supports Defoe's Intellectual Attitudes. 1. The Making Of Volume I -- 2. The Making Of Volumes Ii And Iii -- 3. The Uses Of Plagiarism: Camden's Britannia In The Tour -- 4. The Rhetoric Of Growth And Decay -- 5. The Georgic Element In The Tour -- 6. Speaking Within Compass: The Ground Covered In The Tour And Captain Singleton -- 7. The Wonderless Wonders Of The Peak: Defoe And The Discourse Of Tourism -- 8. Defoe's Buildings Of England -- 9. Transformations: Defoe And The Making Of Modern Britain -- App. A. Samuel Richardson And Later Editions Of The Tour -- App. B. Defoe's Antiquarian Library -- App. C. Parallels In The Tour And Memoirs Of A Cavalier. Pat Rogers. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.