Brown argues that what we now call "the novel" did not originate in the early 18th century as usually claimed. Instead, it arrived in the early 19th century when the fiction written in the previous decades was grouped together under that name. He studies how the development and institutionalization of political and cultural concepts such as self, personal identify, family, and history all contributed to the later possiblity of the novel. The focus is on Defoe, Henry Fielding, Sterne, and Sir Walter Scott, with many other authors mentioned in this sweeping analysis. There are a few pencil underlinings in the beginning of the book, otherwise it is like new, with a pristine jacket in mylar. University of Pennsylvania Press. 1997. Hb, Dj. USED. $15.00
