http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/864592902

Professional imaginative writing in England, 1670-1740 hackney for bread

Professional Imaginative Writing in England, 1670-1740 provides a much-needed overview of the social, political, economic, and institutional contexts within which imaginative writing developed during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It was in this period that such writing became a widely-consumed commodity, as literacy improved, women entered the literary workplace, newspapers and periodicals emerged as distinct forms, and the novel became a recognized literary genre. The growth of writing as a profession was one of the most significant forces operating upon the nature of imaginative writing between 1670 and 1740, when large numbers of individuals were intent upon developing literary products that could succeed in the market-place. Taking proper account of this process involves a radical reconsideration of the period's literary sociology and of our present-day thinking about what is truly valuable in its writing.

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