Title: Institutions of the English novel from Defoe to Scott
First published: 1997
Description: In this book Homer Obed Brown takes issue with the generally accepted origin of the novel in the early eighteenth century. Brown argues that what we now call the novel did not appear as a recognized single "genre" until the early nineteenth century, when the fictional prose narratives of the preceding century were grouped together under that name.

After analyzing the figurative and thematic uses of private letters and social gossip in the constitution of the novel, Brown explores what was instituted in and by the fictions of Defoe, Fielding, Sterne, and Scott, with extensive discussion of the way Scott's work played a pivotal role in the novel's rise to institutional status.

This study is an intriguing demonstration of how these earlier narratives are involved in the development and institution of such political and cultural concepts as self, personal identity, the family, and history, all of which contributed to the later possibility of the novel.
Subjects: English fiction, History and criticism, Canon (Literature), Literature and history, Literature and society, English fiction, history and criticism, 18th century, English fiction, history and criticism, 19th century
Places: Great Britain
Time periods: 19th century, 18th century
LC classification: PR851 .B75 1997