2008-09 AM Richard Head, The English Rogue (1665)
Richard Head’s (and Francis Kirkman’s) The English Rogue (1665-71) is an intriguing and multifaceted book. The first copies of the first volume were printed secretly, sold at alehouses and appreciated as grossly indecent. The license followed with the second edition in 1665. The book was successful, yet no work the author wanted to continue. The text had been interpreted, so Head felt, as autobiographical, his reputation had already suffered enough – which did not prevent his publisher, Francis Kirkman, from adding continuations till 1671.
The book had played with traditions, it was translated into a foreign language, German, and it inspired numerous imitations - yet it did not become “The first English Novel”; Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) reached that fame in 1957. The discussion of predecessors has hardly rediscovered Head. We will ask why that was the case and try to explore the peculiar (more or less) fictional biography in attempts to contextualise it.
Links
Texts
- [Richard Head] The English rogue described in the life of Meriton Latroon, a witty extravagant. London: Francis Kirkman, 1666. EEBO Anglistik Server Oldenburg
- [A shortened chapbook version:] The life and death of the English rogue, or, His last legacy to the world. London, 1679. EEBO
