Professional Imaginative Writing in England, 1670-1740: 'Hackney for Bread'

This book sets out to provide an overview of the social, political, economic, and institutional context within which imaginative writing developed during the late seventeenth- and eighteenth centuries. It was in this period that such writing became a widely-consumed commodity--as literacy improved, women entered the literary workplace in considerable numbers, newspapers and periodicals emerged as distinct forms, and the novel became a recognized literary form.