Short Fictional Forms and the Rise of the Tale

This chapter discusses some of the short fictional forms that persisted in as well as alongside the novel. These short fictional forms include chapbook and bluebook abridgements, religious tracts, and what would come to be called—by the end of the period covered here—the tale. Together, these forms highlight the dynamic field of writing that comprised the years that span the novel's rise and canonization. As it appeared in stand-alone collections, magazines, and literary annuals, the tale pushed the novel to consolidate its boundaries even as it developed its own mix of features to challenge the novel on its established ground. In the end, however, the novel won out in its generic competition with half-told and mangled tales.

“I’ll be bound”

Lindsey Eckert, “‘I’ll be bound’: John Clare’s ‘Don Juan,’ Literary Annuals, and the Commodification of Authorship” (pp. 427–454) From 1826 to 1844, at least forty-seven of John Clare’s poems appeared in British literary annuals. Though these poems represent his most commercial work, Clare’s engagement with the annuals has remained largely neglected by scholars. This essay addresses this gap, and the intervention I make is twofold. First, I argue for the centrality of the literary annuals to Clare’s authorial career. Second, I suggest that Clare’s simultaneous dependence on and disdain for the annuals is essential to interpreting his invectives in “Don Juan” (composed 1841) against “poet whores” and the bad taste of female readers. I argue that annuals shaped Clare’s understanding of commerciality and, by extension, his asylum poem “Don Juan.” My focus sheds new light on our understanding of Clare’s authorship and his interactions with the literary marketplace.