The Discourse of Sovereignty, Hobbes to Fielding: The State of Nature and the Nature of the State (Studies in Early Modern English Literature)

In this study the authors examine a range of theories about the state of nature in 17th- and 18th-century England, considering the contribution they made to the period's discourse on sovereignty and their impact on literary activity. Texts examined include "Leviathan", "Oceana", "Paradise Lost", "Discourses Concerning Government", "Two Treatises on Government", "Don Sebastian", "Oronooko", "The New Atalantis", "Robinson Crusoe", "Dissertation upon Parties", "David Simple", and "Tom Jones". The state of nature is identified as an important organizing principle for narratives in the century running from the Civil War through to the second Jacobite Rebellion, and as a way of situating the author within either a reactionary or a radical political tradition. The discourse aims to provide a new perspective on the intellectual history of this period.