Between fictionality and reality: The ‘novels’ in the Gentleman’s Journal

Abstract

The Gentleman’s Journal (1692–1694), generally acknowledged as the first literary English magazine, included in each issue short narratives presented as “novels.” Published by using a fictive letter written from London to a gentleman in the country to keep him both informed and entertained, the use of this letter format brings together a number of elements that will result in the confrontation of fictionality and reality. This paper will discuss the way in which format and content constantly subvert each other throughout the thirty-two issues of the journal, especially in relation to the nature, titles, and content of the “novels.”