Paul Salzman (English Prose Fiction 1158–1700: A Critical History, Clarendon Press, $67.50 hb, $30 pb, 391 pp) has wit and judgement. He knows his chosen period is usually thought of as a lean one for prose fiction; he is anxious not to be typed as ‘the indefatigable in pursuit of the unreadable.’ He sees himself as the cartographer of a largely uncharted region: his main aim is to give ...
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