Start Here.

I have created this blog out of a genuine love of literature from the 18th century and the surrounding history and philosophies. Although I've already read and written a bit on the subject for academic purposes, I haven't really been able to dig as deeply as I've wanted. I've decided to start this blog so that I can record all of my reading and thoughts and have everything kept in one place. I am hoping that I might also be able to record thoughts that might eventually lead to an article or other piece later on down the road. This way I will have a bit of trail to follow.

I am trying to adhere to the practice of close reading as much as I possibly can, though I feel like my contextual background is slightly lacking. With that in mind, I will make an effort to read as many histories and philosophies alongside the literature so I can get a better picture of the age.  

I will start with Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, which is a work I ought to have read long ago but haven't quite had the chance to get to. I wrote my honors thesis on Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy and Swift's text has often been compared to Sterne's, so that seems like a logical place to start. Here are some other books I have coming up on my list:

The Rise of the Novel - Ian Watt
The Rhetoric of Fiction - Wayne C. Booth
Peter Peregrine; Humphrey Clinker - Tobias Smollett
Some Terry Eagleton goodness
Other literary criticism goodness

And then a few from this comprehensive list from Rutgers. Obviously Fielding, Richardson, Walpole, and Pope need to make their way into my list. I will get there. Until then, expect periodical updates on Gulliver's Travels.