The. thesis describes the, network of theories and practices which articulated the discourse of crime in legal and fictional writing in eighteenth-century England. Alter an Introduction which outlines the general scope of the thesis, successive chapters examine a number of issues which the representation of crime in eighteenth-century England raises. Chapter one is a study of the effects of luxury on the perception of crime in the Classical period (the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries); Chapter two is a critical approach to the English criminal law in the Classical Age. This chapter examines how legal thought was constructed and how its concepts and statements were defined within the general mode of knowledge during this period. Chapter three discusses the definitions of crime and the treatment of criminals in a world governed by a market-economy and representative authority. Chapter four describes the penal system which existed in England in the Classical period and analyses its theoretical choices, methods and practice. Chapter five which opens Part 11 is a study of the relationship between crime and narrative. The focus in this chapter is on Defoe's, Pelham's and Fielding's narratives of the life of Jonathan Wild. The chapter also studies the practices of Jonathan Wild in relation to the representation of crime in fiction. Chapter six is devoted mainly to Defoe's representation of crime in his fiction. The chapter examines a number of features in Defoe's configuration of crime in his writings: wealth, crime, masquerade, transformation, topography and geography are all important elements of his crime fiction. Chapter seven is4study of Fielding's Amelia and his magisterial activities. The aim in this chapter is to show how a magistrate sees and represents crime in fiction. Finally, the Conclusion is an assessment of the foregoing ideas.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:386459 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | Diyen, Hayat |
| Publisher | University of Sussex |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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