Fielding's Prepositions: Eighteenth-Century Historiography and the Novel

Abstract:When Frederick the Great found "no maxim . . but is defective in some particular Cases," he signaled a new interest in tracing historical events to complex systems of cause. This essay positions the midcentury British novel in that tradition. It establishes a relationship between the new historiography and a philosophy of grammar, which viewed prepositions as the sign of history. And it offers readings of Tristram Shandy and Tom Jones to locate the new historiographic preference at the level of narrative style. Relevant theorists include Reinhart Koselleck (and Laurence Sterne) on mid-century historiography, John Locke and James Harris on grammar, and Étienne Souriau and Michel Serres on the prepositional philosophy.