William III and Mary II (1689-1702)

As a sometime academic, I once had a (sub-professional) interest in trying to understand how capitalism and the novel grew up together, as it were, during what some historians like to call the “long eighteenth century” of 1688-1815—from the beginning of reign of William III in England (the so-called “Glorious Revolution”) to the end of the Napoleonic wars with France, at the Battle of Waterloo.

By this time both capitalism’s the novel’s “forms”, as it were were somewhat firmly settled, after an initial 100 years+ of experimentation. (N.b. there are……

Here is where I will discuss any helpful wide-ranging secondary literature that I find, be they historical surveys of the period or critical texts dealing with multiple canonical thinkers or works…

…To be continuously updated!

Chronologically-speaking, the first, go-to secondary text for the Long 18th Century should probably be Paul Hazard’s The Crisis of the European Mind (1935, depicted at right), which treats the period from 1680-1715, or the very beginning of our journey. Since I am in the middle of that……

(Coming soon)

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I HAVE been assured by a very knowing American of my Acquaintance in London; that a young healthy Child, well nursed, is, at a Year old, a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome Food; whether Stewed, Roasted, Baked, or Boiled; and, I make no doubt, that it will equally serve in a Fricasie, or Ragout…“

—from “A Modest Proposal”

If you are going to buy one book of Swift’s in addition to the Travels, this Penguin miscellany gives you the best bang for your buck: superbly annotated and supplemented by both a glossary and a biographical dictionary (all such addenda amounting to 100pp of the 400 page……