The establishment of modern English prose in the Reformation and the Enlightenment
By: Ian Robinson.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 218
Subjects: English prose literature -- Middle English, 1100-1500 -- History and criticism.; English prose literature -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism.; English prose literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism.; English language -- Great Britain -- Rhetoric.; English language -- Great Britain -- Style.
Description: In The Establishment of Modern English Prose in the Reformation and the Enlightenment, Ian Robinson traces the legacy of prose writing as an art form that was theorised in a manner quite distinct from verse. Robinson argues that the sentence is a stylistic as well as a grammatical conception. Engaging with the work of the great prose writers in English, Robinson provides a bold reappraisal of this literary form, combining literary criticism with linguistic and textual analysis.

He shows that the formal construct of the sentence itself is historically conditioned and no older than the post-medieval world. The relationship between rhetorical style and literary meaning, Robinson argues, is at the heart of the way we understand the external world.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-212) and index.