Networks of Reception in the Eighteenth-Century British Press and Laurence Sterne (Elements in Eighteenth-Century Connections)

By: Mary Newbould

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Synopsis: Criticism and creativity characterised literary reception in eighteenth-century Britain. The press – periodicals, newspapers, and magazines – harboured the reviewing cultures belonging to the emerging professionalisation of literary criticism. It also provided highly fertile ground for creativity, including imitative items inspired by new publications, while critical reviews often incorporated parody. The press fostered experimentation among often anonymous reader-contributors, even while it facilitated the establishment of 'classic' works by recirculating well-known authors' names. Laurence Sterne's reception was energetically shaped by the interaction between critical and creative responses: the press played a major role in forging his status as an 'inimitable' author of note.