British culture underwent radical change in the eighteenth century with the emergence of new literary genres and new discourses of social analysis. As novelists developed new forms of fiction, writers of economic tracts and treatises sought a new language and a conceptual framework to describe the modern commercial state. In Commerce, Morality and the Eighteenth-Century Novel, Liz Bellamy argues that the evolution of the novel in eighteenth-century Britain needs to be seen in the context of the discursive conflict between economics and more traditional systems of social analysis. In a series of fresh readings of a wide range of novels, Bellamy shows how the novel contributed to the debate over public and private virtues and had to negotiate between commercial and anti-commercial ethics. The resulting choices were crucial in determining the structure as well as the moral content of the novel.

Brings together three parts of "Robinson Crusoe" and examines their relationship. This work contains editorial material that includes a substantial introduction to each novel, explanatory endnotes, textual notes, and a consolidated index.

Brings together three parts of "Robinson Crusoe" and examines their relationship. This work contains editorial material that includes a substantial introduction to each novel, explanatory endnotes, textual notes, and a consolidated index.

Brings together three parts of "Robinson Crusoe" and examines their relationship. This work contains editorial material that includes a substantial introduction to each novel, explanatory endnotes, textual notes, and a consolidated index.

In The Language of Fruit, Liz Bellamy explores how poets, playwrights, and novelists from the Restoration to the Romantic era represented fruit and fruit trees in a period that saw significant changes in cultivation techniques, the expansion of the range of available fruit varieties, and the transformation of the mechanisms for their exchange and distribution. Although her principal concern is with the representation of fruit within literary texts and genres, she nevertheless grounds her analysis in the consideration of what actually happened in the gardens and orchards of the past. As Bellamy progresses through sections devoted to specific literary genres, three central "characters" come to the fore: the apple, long a symbol of natural abundance, simplicity, and English integrity; the orange, associated with trade and exchange until its "naturalization" as a British resident; and the pineapple, often figured as a cossetted and exotic child of indulgence epitomizing extravagant luxury. She demonstrates how the portrayal of fruits within literary texts was complicated by symbolic associations derived from biblical and classical traditions, often identifying fruit with female temptation and sexual desire. Looking at seventeenth-century poetry, Restoration drama, eighteenth-century georgic, and the Romantic novel, as well as practical writings on fruit production and husbandry, Bellamy shows the ways in which the meanings and inflections that accumulated around different kinds of fruit related to contemporary concepts of gender, class, and race. Examining the intersection of literary tradition and horticultural innovation, The Language of Fruit traces how writers from Andrew Marvell to Jane Austen responded to the challenges posed by the evolving social, economic, and symbolic functions of fruit over the long eighteenth century.

British culture underwent radical change in the eighteenth century with the emergence of new literary genres and new discourses of social analysis. As novelists developed new forms of fiction, writers of economic tracts and treatises sought a new language and a conceptual framework to describe the modern commercial state. In Commerce, Morality and the Eighteenth-Century Novel, Liz Bellamy argues that the evolution of the novel in eighteenth-century Britain needs to be seen in the context of the discursive conflict between economics and more traditional systems of social analysis. In a series of fresh readings of a wide range of novels, Bellamy shows how the novel contributed to the debate over public and private virtues and had to negotiate between commercial and anti-commercial ethics. The resulting choices were crucial in determining the structure as well as the moral content of the novel.

Samuel Johnson was a literary icon in his day - a prolific writer in a wide range of genres, producing poetry, a philosophical novel, literary criticism and periodical essays as well as the famous dictionary. Yet despite his legendary status as one of the founding fathers of modern English literature, few of Johnson's works are widely read today. This book suggests that Johnson's writings need to be appreciated in the context of contemporary debates over the role and status of literature within a rapidly developing and expanding culture. They manifest a fundamental ambivalence towards social and literary change that can be seen to epitomise the radical uncertainties of their age.

Suggests that Johnson's works need to be appreciated in the context of contemporary debates over the role and status of literature within a rapidly developing and expanding culture. They manifest a fundamental ambivalance towards social and literary change that can be seen to epitomise the uncertainties of their age.