Between fictionality and reality

The “novels” in the Gentleman’s Journal

Authors

  • María José Coperías-Aguilar University of Valencia

Keywords:

Restoration prose fiction; early English periodicals; Gentleman’s Journal; fictionality and reality; letter writing.

Abstract

The Gentleman’s Journal (1692-94), generally acknowledged as the first literary English magazine, included in each issue short narratives presented as “novels.” Published by using a fictive letter written from London to a gentleman in the country to keep him both informed and entertained, the use of this letter format brings together a number of elements that will result in the confrontation of fictionality and reality. This paper will discuss the way in which format and content constantly subvert each other throughout the thirty-two issues of the journal, especially in relation to the nature, titles and contents of the “novels.”

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2022-12-02

Issue

Vol. 32 (2022)

Section

Articles

License

The copyright holder of the published contributions is SEDERI.

The hardcopy and an open-access version of the journal will be published simultaneously. The issues will be available online in the SEDERI website (http://www.sederi.org/yearbook/) and other repositories that have signed an agreement with SEDERI.

The authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

a) SEDERI retains copyright of the essay.
b) If the author wishes to republish or rewrite the essay for another journal, or include the essay published in SEDERI in their personal repositories, or in any other way, they should contact the editors to obtain permission to do so. This will entail citing SEDERI as the original source and sending the editors a copy of the new version, or the link to the website, in case of online publishing.

The author(s) hereby warrant(s) that:

a) The essay submitted for publication is an original creation and does not infringe any copyright or property right of another journal, author or publisher.

b) The essay submitted for publication has not been previously published, whole or in part, and is not being considered for publication elsewhere.

c) Written permission has been obtained for any material from other sources included in the essay submitted for publication.