ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to capture how the underlying historical environment and cultural currents shaped the common ground on which economists and writers stood, even when in controversial conversation. Simultaneously, the research work here presented shows the complexities of interdisciplinary collaboration between economics, history of economic thought and literary studies. The chapter addresses the evolution of economic theory in comparison with similar themes in literary writings. Looking at the intersections between literature and economics, the contributing authors compare how economic and literary texts dealt with similar subjects, or they explore the ways in which economic ideas and metaphors enter literary texts, or economic texts use, or abuse, literary characters and stories. The chapter deals with the concern with passions and interest in economic and literary texts, with references to some French and British authors, novelists or economists in the 18th and 19th centuries.
