Commerce, Morality and the Eighteenth-Century Novel

There has been much debate about the literary origins of the novel. Liz Bellamy argues that the evolution of the novel in eighteenth-century Britain should also be seen in the context of other cultural changes, in particular the emergence of the study of economics. Through fresh readings of a wide range of novels, Bellamy examines the novel's engagement with contemporary debates over public and private virtues and commercial and anti-commercial ethics, and shows how crucial these were to the structure and moral content of the novel as a form.

British culture underwent radical change in the eighteenth century with the emergence of new literary genres and new discourses of social analysis. As novelists developed new forms of fiction, writers of economic tracts and treatises sought a new language and a conceptual framework to describe the modern commercial state. In Commerce, Morality and the Eighteenth-Century Novel, Liz Bellamy argues that the evolution of the novel in eighteenth-century Britain needs to be seen in the context of the discursive conflict between economics and more traditional systems of social analysis. In a series of fresh readings of a wide range of novels, Bellamy shows how the novel contributed to the debate over public and private virtues and had to negotiate between commercial and anti-commercial ethics. The resulting choices were crucial in determining the structure as well as the moral content of the novel.

1. Introduction; Part I. Contexts: 2. The economic context; 3. The literary context; Part II. Texts: 4. The mid-eighteenth-century novel; 5. The novel of circulation; 6. The sentimental novel; 7. The Jacobin novel; 8. Conclusion.

Liz Bellamy argues that the evolution of the novel needs to be considered alongside the emergence of modern economics. Through readings of a range of novels, Bellamy shows that debates over public and private virtues, and commercial and anti-commercial ethics, were a crucial influence on the novel as a form.