The boundaries of fiction
Subtitle: history and the eighteenth-century British novel
By: Everett Zimmerman.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Ithaca, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 250
Subjects: English fiction -- 18th century -- History and criticism.; Literature and history -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century.; Historiography -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century.; Historical fiction, English -- History and criticism.; History in literature.
Description: Focusing on canonical works by Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, and others, this book explains the relationship between British fiction and historical writing when both were struggling to attain status and authority.

Zimmerman offers rich analyses of texts central to the tradition of the novel, chiefly Clarissa, Tom Jones, and Tristram Shandy, and concludes with discussions of Sir Walter Scott's development of the historical novel and David Hume's philosophy of history.

Along the way, he refers to such other important historical figures as John Locke, Richard Bentley, William Wotton, and Edward Gibbon and engages contemporary thinkers, including Paul Ricoeur and Michel Foucault, who have addressed the philosophical and methodological issues of historical evidence and narrative.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.