Between 1970 and 2000 George Rousseau wrote a series of landmark essays about the role of nervous physiology in literature and history that altered the landscape of eighteenth-century studies. The ess
These essays demonstrate the sweeping influence of the human nervous system on the rise of literature and sensibility in early modern Europe. The brain and nerves have usually been treated as narrow t
"The Languages of Psyche illuminates principal aspects of eighteenth-century medicine and literature and shows how evolving patterns of thought established continuities that helped shape nineteenth- a
Originally published in 1988, this Anglo-American collaborative volume, which appeared during the 300th anniversary of Alexander Pope's birth in 1688, brings together contributions from a large number of the most outstanding scholars in the field of Pope studies. It is a comprehensive collective survey of the poet's life and work. The essays centre on his poetry, while his life and reputation, his translations and relation to the classical world, and his attitudes to women are also discussed. There is a section on landscape gardening and the villa at Twickenham, and another on Pope and posterity. A diversity of approaches is represented, but with recurrent themes and a general awareness of Pope's place in the contemporary literary context. A major landmark in Pope studies, this book provided a well-judged assessment, while affirming and extending the poet's standing.
The Critical Heritage gathers together a large body of critical sources on major figures in literature. Each volume presents contemporary responses to a writer's work, enabling student and researcher
Gout has fascinated medical writers and cultural commentators from the time of ancient Greece. Historically seen as a disease afflicting upper-class males of superior wit, genius, and creativity, it h
This picaresque tale, first published in 1751, was Tobias Smollett’s second novel. Following the fortunes and misfortunes of the egotistical dandy Peregrine Pickle, the novel is written as a series of
