The Man of Feeling

by Mackenzie, Henry; Vickers, Brian; Bending, Stephen; Bygrave, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9780192840325
• ISBN10: 0192840320
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Mackenzie's hugely popular novel of 1771 is the foremost work of the sentimental movement, in which sentiment and sensibility were allied with true virtue, and sensitivity is the mark of the man of feeling. The hero, Harley, is followed in a series of episodes demonstrating his benevolence in an uncaring world: he assists the down-trodden, loses his love, and fails to achieve worldly success. The novel asks a series of vital questions: what morality is possible in a complex commercial world? Does trying to maintain it make you a saint or a fool? Is sentiment merely a luxury for the leisured classes?

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Note on the Text	xxv
Select Bibliography	xxvii
A Chronology of Henry Mackenzie	xxxi
The Man of Feeling	1	(98)
Appendix 1. Henry Mackenzie, The Lounger, no. 20, Saturday, 18 June 1785	99	(5)
Appendix 2. From Henry Mackenzie, Julia de Roubigne	104	(6)
Appendix 3. Index to Tears	110	(3)
Explanatory Notes	113