Robert Dodsley, The Oeconomy of Human Life

Ian Gordon (Anglia Ruskin University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1750

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Robert Dodsley’s work of prose fiction, The Oeconomy of Human Life, was first published in London in November 1750. Partly perhaps to cash in on the emerging fashion for all things vaguely oriental and partly to create a teasing sense of mystery, he set out to give his work an air of eastern exoticism. Its full title was The Oeconomy of Human Life, translated from an Indian manuscript written by an ancient Bramin, to which is prefixed an account of the manner in which the said manuscript was discovered, in a letter from an English Gentleman, now residing in China, to the Earl of ****. In order to throw suspicion of the work’s provenance away from himself, Dodsley arranged for his friend Mary Cooper to publish it. …

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1261 words

Citation: Gordon, Ian. "The Oeconomy of Human Life". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 December 2005 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16869, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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