Fiction and Disinformation in Early Modern Europe: An Introduction

This chapter introduces the reader to the world of fiction and disinformation in early modern Europe. It starts by placing fiction and disinformation in the context of wider trends and developments, while also drawing a parallel between present practices and concerns and those of the early modern period (Section I). The chapter then surveys existing scholarship on these themes, highlighting the novelty of recent research and the transformative potential of interdisciplinary work (Section II). Finally, it sets out the approach and methodology which underpin the rest of volume (Section III). It is argued that fiction and disinformation need to be studied in tandem, and that their study should be guided by a combination of literary and historical approaches. This method is exemplified by the volume’s nine chapters. They all conduct close readings of falsehoods and fictional writings, examining their rhetorical and linguistic qualities, including matters such as style, narrative and genre; and they also uncover how fiction and disinformation brought about change in society and in the lives of the people who wrote them as much as those who read them. This makes the Supplement as a whole a methodological intervention, further bridging the gap between historical analysis and cultural criticism, and a contribution to the social and cultural history of early modernity.