Early Irish Fiction: A Definitive Scholarly Edition of Charles Johnstone, The History of Arsaces, Prince of Betlis (1774)

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This project aims to provide a major new scholarly edition of an eighteenth-century novel by Charles Johnstone, The History of Arsaces, Prince of Betlis (1774), as part of a new series of Early Irish Fiction, c. 1680-1820, from Four Courts Press, Dublin. Johnstone was a much respected - and feared - satirist of his day, described by Sir Walter Scott as 'a prose Juvenal'. His work was first recommended for publication by Samuel Johnson and he quickly made a mark on the literary scene in London with his novel Chrysal; or the Adventures of a Guinea (1760-65), which spawned a host of imitations for decades. His Oriental tale, Arsaces, was among a series of novels and satires that followed; it includes early satirical references to the American War of Independence as well as the East India Company's early forays into India. Set in a geographical area arching across the middle East to India and China, and within a referential framework spanning several centuries of fictionalised history, the novel describes the adventures and education of Selim, a young Arabian, who is discovered by the end of the novel to be Arsaces, Prince of Betlis. The work straddles many genres of fictional writing that were developing in the period such as satire, oriental tale, bildungsroman, and, of course, the novel. Despite the brilliance, wit, and intelligence of his work Johnstone fell into neglect from the nineteenth century as his densely allusive and topically engaged satirical writing was sidelined by the emergence of the eighteenth-century canon of fiction favoured by Victorian critics and novelists who constructed Richardson, Sterne, Smollett, and Fielding as their fictional forebears. This edition of Arsaces will restore the vitality of this eighteenth-century text through a full scholarly apparatus including a detailed critical introduction, notes and bibliography. As part of the new Early Irish Fiction series (launched in March 2010), it will contribute greatly towards our understanding of key genres and literary tropes associated with early fiction in English, Irish literature and the Orient.