The anthology and the rise of the novel

By Leah Price

Subjects: Critique et interprétation, European, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Books and reading, history, Nonfiction, English fiction, Romans, Criticism and interpretation, Lesen, Bloemlezingen, Anthologie, English fiction, history and criticism, 18th century, (Leser), Literary Criticism, LITERARY CRITICISM, Roman, Literary form, English fiction, history and criticism, 19th century, Book market, (Literar.), History and criticism, Novels, Histoire et critique, Engels, History, Editing, Genres littéraires, Ontstaansgeschiedenis, Roman anglais, Book production, Anthologies, Kanon

Description: The Anthology and the Rise of the Novel brings together two traditionally antagonistic fields, book history and narrative theory, to challenge established theories of 'the rise of the novel'. Leah Price shows that far from leveling class or gender distinctions, as has long been claimed, the novel has consistently located them within its own audience. Shedding new light on Richardson and Radcliffe, Scott and George Eliot, this book asks why the epistolary novel disappeared, how the book review emerged, why eighteenth-century abridgers designed their books for women while Victorian publishers marketed them to men, and how editors' reproduction of old texts has shaped authors' production of new ones. This innovative study will change the way we think not just about the history of reading, but about the genealogy of the canon wars, the future of intellectual property, and the role that anthologies play in our own classrooms.