Table of Contents

The rise of the novel reconsidered; rogues and whores - heroes and anti-heroes; travellers, priates and pilgrims - the pirate, Faustian ruffian, Crusoe and after; "as long as Atalantis shall be read" - the scandal chronicles of Mrs Manley and Mrs Haywood; Mrs haywood and the Novella - the erotic and the pathetic; the novel as pious polemic - Mrs Aubin and Mrs Barker, Mrs Elizabeth Rowe; the relevance of the unreadable.

Reviews

`excellent and intelligent book'

Times Literary Supplement
`a real book, a good book. He is thoughtful and he makes you think. He sees the inherent triviality of his material, but sees in this a far from trivial question, "What is the use of bad art?" To raise the question at all is to give the book substance. It tells us that the material is going to be handled intelligently.'

Review of English Studies