Historical literatures: Writing about the past in England, 1660-1740

Historical literatures recovers a rich, vibrant and complex tradition of Restoration and early eighteenth century English historical writing. Highlighting the wide variety of historical works being printed and read in England between the years 1660 and 1740, it demonstrates that many of the genres that we now view primarily as literary – verse satire and panegyric, memoir, scandal and chronicle – were also being used to represent historical phenomena.

In surveying some of this period’s 'his...