A Cerebral Fantasy, 03 Jun 2008
John Richetti has occupied a lifetime in the teaching of eighteenth century fiction and is an acknowledged authority on Daniel Defoe. He places Defoe in the history of the form and structure of the English novel. Writing with great felicity, he places Defoe in the context of English cultural history and identifies all the major influences on his work.
Over the past fifty years there has been a tendency to write historical biographical accounts as a kind of gush. An actual life is not a mere literary construct it is different and greater than the literary theories its authors project. Thus in Richetti and in others a gulf has opened up between the real lives of the subjects of inquiry and literary theory. It has to be said that John Richetti's Defoe is a long way from reality and like sex in the head it does little for the giver and nothing at all for anyone else. BUT it should be read by anyone interested in eighteenth century fiction for what it is: erudite, engaging, illuminating - and a long way from biographical truth.