In 1758, Samuel Johnson noted that the itch of scribbling had seized the nation. 'The rage of writing has seized the old and young' across all segments of society, he observed, so that now 'the cook warbles her lyrics in the kitchen, and the thrasher vociferates his heroics in the barn.' Johnson's observation drew attention to an important development in the eighteenth century literary world: the emergence of the labouring class writer. Over the course of the century increasing numbers of agricultural labourers, household servants, bricklayers, shoemakers, milkmaids, soldiers and sailors not only tool up writing, but also published their work, and, in some cases, made a significant impact on contemporary literary culture. This collection of resources looks at these writers.

This collection of resources considers the role of Oriental fiction in the development of the English novel in the 18th century.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of Aphra Behn resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes audio and video lectures and short talks, downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of Ben Jonson resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of Charles Dickens resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes audio and video lectures and short talks, downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of Charlotte Brontモe resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes audio and video lectures and short talks, downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of Christopher Marlowe resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of D.H. Lawrence resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes audio and video lectures and short talks, downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of Derek Walcott resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes audio lectures and downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

Many books and university courses, trying to compensate for a history of the neglect or mistrust of plays as performance, use the phrase "from page to stage" to think about the dramatic possibilities of their texts. In fact, for the early modern theatre, the phrase needs to be the other way around--from stage to page. Plays were performances first, and only later, and then only sometimes, books. This section of Great Writers gathers resources--podcasts, eBooks, websites--to explore the two interconnected lives of the early modern play--as an event in time and space on the stage of the Globe or Blackfriars theatre, and as a material printed object, on sale to Elizabethan and Jacobean readers in the booksellers' quarter around St Paul's Churchyard.

This section brings together resources from the across the Great Writers Inspire site to illustrate how these can be used as a starting point for exploration of or classroom discussion about economic and social literary criticism. The 'Economic and Social Literary Criticism' essay introduces a series of topics and questions and gives examples of resources to explore. It is aimed at teachers, students and anyone who is interested in literature who wants to put text into context and be inspired by Great Writers.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of Edward Thomas resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of Emily Dickinson resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes audio and video lectures and short talks, downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of George Eliot resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes audio and video lectures and short talks, downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

This collection of resources considers the obsession with high and low art forms found in late 17th and early 18th English literature.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of J.M. Coetzee resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes audio and video lectures and short talks, downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of James Joyce resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes audio and video lectures and short talks, downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of Jane Austen resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes audio and video lectures and short talks, downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.

Great Writers Inspire presents an illuminating collection of John Milton resources curated by specialists at the University of Oxford. It includes audio and video lectures and short talks, downloadable electronic texts and eBooks, and background contextual resources.