Space and the Eighteenth-Century English Novel

In this challenging and original study, Simon Varey relates the idea of space in the major novels of Defoe, Fielding, and Richardson to its use in the theory and practice of eighteenth-century architecture. Drawing on a wide range of architectural books, Varey argues that space can become a political instrument used by its designers to establish conformity, assert power, and give form to the aspirations of social classes. As an example, he cites the city of Bath, a neo-classical city designed to reflect the political values of the empire. The discussion of the novels examines narrative as a literary structure, the use of architectural imagery to describe people, and the political control of social space, resulting in an interesting look at literary criticism, architecture, and the history of ideas.