Title: The afterlife of character, 1726-1825 /
Authors: Brewer, David A. 1969-
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press,
Year: 2005
Subjects: English literature History and criticism; Characters and characteristics in literature.; Intellectual property Great Britain History; Intellectual property Great Britain History; Authors and readers Great Britain History; Authors and readers Great Britain History; English literature History and criticism; Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.) History; Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.) History; Sequels (Literature)
Abstract: "The Afterlife of Character, 1726-1825 reconstructs how eighteenth-century British readers invented further adventures for beloved characters, including Gulliver, Falstaff, Pamela, and Tristram Shandy. Far from being close-ended and self-contained, the novels and plays in which these characters first appeared were treated by many as merely a starting point, a collective reference perpetually inviting augmentation through an astonishing wealth of unauthorized sequels. Characters became an inexhaustible form of common property, despite their patent authorship. Readers endowed them with value, knowing all the while that others were doing the same and so were collectively forging a new mode of virtual community."
Contents: Cottagers upon the textual commons, an introduction. The invention of the fictional archive -- Visualization, theatricality, fame -- Character migration, detachability, old friends -- Lewd engraftments and the Richardsonian Coterie public -- Shandyism and the club of true feelers -- Soctt's parental interest, an afterword.