The Epistolary Novel - Ruth Perry (essay date 1980)
Ruth Perry (essay date 1980)
SOURCE: “Letter Fiction and the Search for Human Nature” and “Romantic Love and Sexual Fantasy in Epistolary Fiction,” in Women, Letters, and the Novel, AMS Press, 1980, pp. 1-26; 137-67.
[In the first excerpt below, Perry describes the social and economic conditions of early eighteenth-century England and their influence of the surging popularity of epistolary fiction, a literary genre that offered unprecedented opportunity for women writers and their concerns. In the second excerpt, she discusses the changing sexual mores of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and how this was depicted in the romantic fantasies of epistolary fiction.]
London was a brutal and disorderly place in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Ruffians lurked in the dirty, badly lit streets to rob and harass the wealthier citizens. John Evelyn was robbed several times at home and on the road....
[The entire page is 22208 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Related Topics
