Novels have been a respectable component of culture for so long that it is difficult for twentieth-century observers to grasp the unease produced by novel reading in the eighteenth century. This title shows how the earliest novels in Britain, published in small-format print media, provoked early instances of the modern anxiety.
"This is an exciting and wholly original book. It is devilishly intelligent, formidable in its deployment of history and theory."--John Richetti, author of "Popular Fiction before Richardson
