Books in the Studies in Early Modern English Literature series

An examination of the work of Restoration playwright Thomas Durfey. John McVeagh studies his continuing ability to adapt to shifts in taste, fashion and personnel in the world of theatre. Among the topics covered is Durfey's attempt to feminize Restoration comedy.

Charts the growth of the "travel narrative" - from its protean origins in Addison, to the shifting perspective of the post-Romantic hedonist. A century's passing saw personal pleasure rather than the improvement of the mind become the reason for travel, as the era of the Grand Tour passed.

In this study the authors examine a range of theories about the state of nature in 17th- and 18th-century England, considering the contribution they made to the period's discourse on sovereignty and their impact on literary activity.

This study examines the relationship between Enlightenment and romance through the work of James Macpherson and in particular his "The Poems of Ossian".

This text addresses the issue of Sterne's position at the cross-roads of several literary traditions. It places his works against a background which does not relate directly to the rise of the novel.

Smallwood (English, U. of Central England) argues that despite concerned efforts otherwise of late, literary criticism by Samuel Johnson (1709-84) is read by historians of criticism as a body of theory that is now largely unappreciated as criticism and has lost its persuasive power. The reason it ca