W. W. Norton
Norton Anthology: Restoration/british Literature
The period between 1660 and 1785 was a time of amazing expansion, when Britain became an empire and its society and literature had to adapt to circumstances for which there was no precedent. The topics in this Restoration and Eighteenth...
Rutgers University
Rutgers University: Eighteenth Century Chronology
Find out more about eighteenth-century literature through this comprehensive chronology. This site is set up to take you from 1660 through to 1800.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Pamela
Read an overview of "Pamela" by Samuel Richardson and view additional resources such as articles and collection items.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African
Read the background of "Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African" and view additional resources such as articles, collection items, and teacher resources.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Evelina
Read an overview of "Evelina" by Frances Burney and view additional resources such as articles and collection items.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Tristram Shandy
Read an overview of "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" by Laurence Sterne and view additional resources such as articles and collection items.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Theatre and Entertainment
From Restoration comedy to The Beggar's Opera, She Stoops to Conquer and The School for Scandal: examine key plays alongside the history and conventions of Restoration and 18th-century theatre.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Gender and Sexuality
Examine representations of gender and sexuality in Restoration and 18th-century literature including Paradise Lost and The Rape of the Lock, and explore the works of early women writers such as Aphra Behn, Frances Burney and Margaret...
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Language and Ideas
From Johnson's Dictionary to letter-writing, newspapers and coffee-house culture: explore how different forms and mediums helped to develop and circulate language and ideas during the long 18th century.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Politeness, Sensibility, and Sentimentalism
Explore polite culture, sensibility, and sentimentalism in the 18th century, and how these concepts are reflected in the writing of the period.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Satire and Humour
Discover how writers of the 17th and 18th centuries used satire and humour to address issues around politics and power, inequality and class, gender and marriage - as well as to entertain readers and audiences.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Travel, Colonialism and Slavery
From Robinson Crusoe to the anti-slavery activism of Olaudah Equiano and the letters of Ignatius Sancho: explore a range of writing produced during an age of travel, trade and colonial conquest, in which Britain vastly expanded its...
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Georgian Society
Explore the Georgian period in its social, political, and historical contexts, with overviews of popular politics, the rise of consumerism, and entertainment.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Politics and Religion
The Civil Wars and the Restoration of the monarchy, the Enlightenment or 'Age of Reason', and British colonialism: investigate the political and religious contexts of Restoration and 18th-century literature.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Rise of the Novel
Discover how the novel emerged as a new literary form in the 18th century and examine pioneering texts, from Oroonoko and Robinson Crusoe to Gulliver's Travels and Pamela.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Preface to Sancho: An Act of Remembrance
Paterson Joseph describes how his research into Black British history led him to write his first play, Sancho: An Act of Remembrance. In this one-man show, Paterson Joseph inhabits the life of Ignatius Sancho, the 18th-century composer,...
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Sentiment and Sensibility
This article introduces Richard Brinsley Sheridan and his famous play "The School for Scandal".
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Print and Perception
Margaret Cavendish and Katherine Philips both wrote across a range of genres and achieved considerable success in their day. This article explores their different approaches to the difficulties of being a 17th-century female writer.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Voices in the Campaign for Abolition
From the mid 18th century, Africans and people of African descent - many of them former slaves - began to write down their stories. This article describes these writings and assesses their role in the abolition of slavery.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Travel, Trade and the Expansion of the British Empire
In the 17th century, London was at the center of global trade, with goods and individuals arriving in the capital from all over the world. This article looks at how travel, trade, and empire shaped the works of Daniel Defoe, Alexander...
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: 'To Lash the Age': John Gay and the Beggar's Opera
This article introduces "The Beggar's Opera" and its many satirical targets, including the court of George I, the politician Robert Walpole, the British legal system, and Italian opera.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: The Turbulent 17th Century
The 17th century was a time of great political and social turmoil in England, marked by civil war and regicide. This article introduces the key events of this period, from the coronation of Charles I to the Glorious Revolution more than...
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: The 'Stuff' of Tristram Shandy
Dashes, loops, wiggles, and blanks: this article investigates the visual oddities of Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: The Rise of the Novel
This article explains how the novel took shape in the 18th century with the works of Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, and Laurence Sterne, and how the book industry responded to the new genre.