MORALITY OF FICTION
First edition of this literary analysis on the history and progress of the novel.
Very good.
Price: $850.00
MORALITY OF FICTION
Murray delineates three "kinds of instruction" that fiction can afford: "to communicate a knowledge of human life and manners," "to prove the truth of some philosophical opinion," and "to exhibit examples of conduct, superior to those which are to be met with in real life." He summarizes precursors in epic poetry (Homer, Virgil, Milton) and chivalric romances, then moves onto French, English, and German writers. Among the English writers are a number of Jane Austen's favorites: Richardson, Burney, Radcliffe, and Charlotte Smith. He uses the work of the latter, whom the author acknowledges he knows personally, to describe the paradigm of the novel as it was then popularly written. An illuminating little vignette into the developing form of the novel in the early 19th century, before the age of Scott, Austen, and Dickens.
The Object
Edinburgh: Printed by Mundell and Son, for Longman, Hurst, Reese [et al.], 1805. Full title: Morality of Fiction; or, an inquiry into the tendency of fictitious narratives, with observations on some of the most eminent. 6.25'' x 4''. Contemporary half calf, marbled paper boards, gilt-ruled spine, red goatskin spine label. Speckled edges. vi, 171, [1] pages. Bookplate to front pastedown. Small loss to front joint (firm); moderate rubbing to extremities. A couple spots here and there, else neat and clean.
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