Models of Value - Eighteenth-Century Political Economy and the Novel

"Models of Value" makes one of those reconceptualizations of a literary and cultural field that seems obvious only in retrospect; that is to say that once one thinks of the novel's cultural functions in relation to those of political economy, it is hard to see how past discussions of the novel have managed to ignore the crisis in 'value' addressed in eighteenth-century concerns with money and monetary function."--Kristina Straub, Carnegie Mellon University

List of contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: Models of Value 1

1. Representation and Exchange 15

2. Money as Sign 40

3. Defoe and the Narrative of Exchange 87

4. Fielding and Property 132

5. Burney and Debt 156

Conclusion: Austen and the Novel 185

Notes 199

Works Cited 251

Index 267

About the author

James Thompson is Professor of English at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Summary

Examines the concept of value as it came to be understood in eighteenth-century England through two divergent discourses: political economy and the novel. By looking at the relationship between these two forms, this work demonstrates how value came to have such different meaning in different realms of experience.

Product details

• Authors: James Thompson, Thompson, James Thompson
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 03.01.1996
• EAN: 9780822317210
• ISBN: 978-0-8223-1721-0
• No. of pages: 280
• Dimensions: 148 mm x 230 mm x 21 mm
• Weight: 463 g
• Series: Women and Gender in North Amer; Women and Gender in North Amer
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); Politikwissenschaft, 18. Jahrhundert (1700 bis 1799 n. Chr.), Literaturwissenschaft: 1800 bis 1900, Literaturwissenschaft: Prosa, Erzählung, Roman, Autoren, Amerikanisches Englisch