The Great English Essayists With Introductory Essays And Notes

Author : William J. Dawson
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9780243881086
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (81 download)

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Download or read book GRT ENGLISH ESSAYISTS written by William J. Dawson and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2017-03-09 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Great English Essayists: With Introductory Essays and Notes The peculiar value of the essay in the latter half of the eighteenth century was that it afforded the most complete mirror we possess of contemporary life and manners. The same claim may be made for the novel, in so far as it followed the tradition established by Defoe and Richard son, Fielding and Smollett but this tradition was soon neglected. With the rise of what may be termed the Gothic school of fiction, invented by Horace Walpole and carried out by such writers as Clara Reeve, Mrs. Radcliffe, and Maturin, the novel ceased to be a mirror of anything but a romantic and hysteric imagination. It had no relation whatever to real life. It was then that the essay assumed the function of the novel of life and manners. It painted with fidelity the incidents of real life. The characters and portraits in Goldsmith 's essays are as vital as any in his Vicar of Wakefield, and are sketch ed in the same method. So close is the resemblance that Mr. Gosse has declared of the Vicar of Wakefield that it is more like an extended episode in the Spectator manner than a story. And to Goldsmith must be attributed also that artless art of self-revelation so notable in Mon taigne, but much more unaffectedly manifest in the glori fied drudge of Brick Court, who consciously or uncon sciously coloured every page he wrote with the reflection of his own amiable simplicity, deep tenderness, endearing follies, and pitiable misfortunes. These observations, however, carry us beyond the im mediate purpose of this introduction, which is simply to trace the genesis of the essay. The various forms which the essay has taken can be best studied in their examples. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.