Eighteenth century fiction and the reinvention of wonder A footprint materializes mysteriously on a deserted shore; a giant helmet falls from the sky; a traveler awakens to find his horse dangling from a church steeple. Eighteenth century fiction brims with moments such as these in which the prosaic rubs up against the marvelous. While it is a truism that the periods literature is distinguished by its realism and air of probability Eighteenth Century Fiction and the Reinvention of Wonder argues that wonder is integral to rather than antithetical to the developing techniques of novelistic fiction. Positioning its reader on the cusp between recognition and estrangement between faith and doubt modern fiction hinges upon wonder. Eighteenth Century Fiction and the Reinvention of Wonders chapters unfold its new account of fictions rise through surprising new readings of classic early novels from Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe to Jane Austens Northanger Abbey as well as bringing to attention lesser known works most notably Rudolf Raspes Baron Munchausens Narrative of His Marvellous Travels. In this bold new account the eighteenth century bears witness not to the worlds disenchantment but rather to wonders re location from the supernatural realm to the empirical world providing a re evaluation not only of how we look back at the Enlightenment but also of how we read today