18th Century Literature Recomendations

[Dark Muse]

On a recent review of some of my past reading I have come to realize that I am a bit lacking in reading literature from the 18th century. I thought I had done more reading in this period, but apparently I was mistaken so I would like to work on fixing that.

I would love recommendations for 18th century literature.

[OrphanPip]

What kind of reading are you looking for? This is my period of expertise so I can recommend more specific stuff, but I'll start with what would be a basic reading list for a survey of the major works:

Novels:
Moll Flanders - Defoe
Fantomina - Eliza Haywood
Gulliver's Travels - Swift
Pamela - Richardson
Clarissa - Richardson (this book is obscenely long so I wouldn't undertake it lightly)
Shamela - Fielding
Joseph Andrews - Fielding
Tom Jones - Fielding
Tristam Shandy - Sterne
The Vicar of Wakefield - Goldsmith
Fanny Hill - Cleland
Roderick Random - Smollett
The Female Quixote - Lennox
Caleb Williams - Godwin
The Castle of Otranto - Walpole
The Mysteries of Udolpho - Radcliffe
The Monk - Lewis
Rasselas - Johnson
Evelina - Burney

If you want stuff not written in English I'd add Candide , Dangerous Liaisons, The Princess of Cleves, The Sorrows of Young Werther.

Other Prose:
The Spectator and The Tatler - Addison and Steele
The Female Spectator - Eliza Haywood
The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets - Johnson
Preface to his edition of Shakespeare - Johnson

Drama (Gonna cheat and include some restoration works):

The Man of Mode - Etherege
All for Love - Dryden
The Country Wife - Wycherley
Love's Last Shift - Cibber
Venice Preserved - Otway
The Relapse - Vanburgh
The Way of the World - Congreve
The Author's Farce - Fielding
The Beggar's Opera - Gay
School for Scandal - Sheridan

Poetry:

Swift, Pope, Johnson, Gray, and Goldsmith.

[Dark Muse]

What kind of reading are you looking for? This is my period of expertise so I can recommend more specific stuff, but I'll start with what would be a basic reading list for a survey of the major works:

I did not have anything specific in mind I am pretty open to all forms of literature. But I am interested in reading more non-English books. I also have an interest in reading more plays.

I do also have a love for Gothic literature. The Castle of Otranto and The Mysteries of Uldolpho I have been wanting to read but haven't been able to get to yet, and The Monk is one I have read and really liked.

[mal4mac]

Robinson Crusoe - Defoe
Goethe - Sorrows of Young Werther, Faust,...

[OrphanPip]

I did not have anything specific in mind I am pretty open to all forms of literature. But I am interested in reading more non-English books. I also have an interest in reading more plays.

I do also have a love for Gothic literature. The Castle of Otranto and The Mysteries of Uldolpho I have been wanting to read but haven't been able to get to yet, and The Monk is one I have read and really liked.

Caleb Williams by William Godwin might be of interest to you as well, the proto-anarchist sensibilities of the novel and its focus on wandering and displacement were a big influence on Godwin's daughter Mary Shelley and her Frankenstein.

For non-English works from the eighteenth century there is a strong literary renaissance in Germany at the time with Goethe and Schiller being the obvious major literary figures. Rousseau is another obvious major figure who was hugely influential at the time. Casanova's Story of my Life is interesting if you're curious about memoirs from the period. Bernard Mandeville was Dutch but wrote in English so this is cheating, but The Fable of the Bees is a curious example of economic theory expressed in poetry.

[Kafka's Crow]

Oh you mean 'The Age of Johnson', read Boswell's biography of the great man himself. The whole era is there because Johnson did not belong to that era, the era belonged to him. The wits like Swift and Pope are also important. Johnson's biography will keep you busy for a long time as it is huge. I read it last year and really regret that it finished!