ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents the discussion prompted by the extracts from Taine and Pater by asking a few general questions about the relations between history and literary form in nineteenth-century England. It overviews some of the historical circumstances and forms of writing that are common to most of them. The book addresses the fundamental question of why this time and place produced such a vast torrent of non-fiction prose, of why such a plethora of new ideas, information and opinions churned out of the printing presses, engendering new areas of study and speculation with constant streams of controversy. It focuses on the periodical essay warrants separate and preliminary attention as the great overarching non-fiction genre of the nineteenth century. The book concerns with relations between nineteenth-century non-fiction prose and its historical contexts, relations which Taine and Pater regard as fundamental to understanding the literature.
