ABSTRACT
The four examples of discourse considered-literary journalism, historywriting, tragic and comic novels, poetry-are marked in different ways by the main features of empiricist discourse (the assumption that reality is essentially unproblematic and self-interpreting, that discourse is in principle transparent and that the subject, typically a moral subject, can find a place safely outside the process which affords knowledge and experience). The aim has been to demonstrate a deep structural continuity between the founding moment of English national culture and contemporary expression (of course some other examples could have been found which would not have confirmed this hypothesis). The recurrence of a sense of weakness or limitation in English empiricist discourse today tempts generalisation. Making a judgement is difficult, however, for a number of reasons.
