''Hermsprong: or, Man As He is Not'' is a 1796

philosophical novel Philosophical fiction refers to the class of works of fiction which devote a significant portion of their content to the sort of questions normally addressed in philosophy. These might explore any facet of the human condition, including the func ...

Robert Bage Robert Bage (11 March 1730 – 1 September 1801) was an English businessman and novelist. Biography Born in Darley Abbey, near Derby, Bage was the son of a paper-maker who had four wives, the first of whom was Bage's mother. She died soon after ...

. It is the main work for which Bage is remembered and was his last novel. He had previously published a novel entitled ''Man As He Is''. The novel was regarded as radical at the time it was published. It was shaped by the revolutionary ideas of its period and expresses some feminist views through two of its characters, the eponymous hero and Maria Fluart. The views voiced by Fluart were applauded by

Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft (, ; 27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional personal relationsh ...

. The novel has a somewhat disjointed structure. The first half has strong philosophical content, but in the second half the book, whilst retaining a strong satirical element, becomes more of a

sentimental novel The sentimental novel or the novel of sensibility is an 18th-century literary genre which celebrates the emotional and intellectual concepts of sentiment, sentimentalism, and sensibility. Sentimentalism, which is to be distinguished from sensi ...

. The philosophical challenge of the novel is that it concerns an American who has been raised entirely by American Indians, without either formal education or religion. With only nature to teach him, he sees through the hypocrisy of English society and manners. The novel is notable for pursuing the theme of the

noble savage A noble savage is a literary stock character who embodies the concept of the indigene, outsider, wild human, an "other" who has not been "corrupted" by civilization, and therefore symbolizes humanity's innate goodness. Besides appearing in man ...

and, in particular, nativism. Throughout the novel Bage repeatedly uses the terms "pride" and "prejudice" in senses similar to those explored by

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

in ''

Pride and Prejudice ''Pride and Prejudice'' is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreci ...

''.

Editions

*1796. ''Hermsprong: or, Man as He is Not'', a novel in two volumes by the author of ''Man as He Is''. Printer and publishers: printed by Brett Smith, for P. Wogan, P. Byrne, J. Moore, and J. Rice, 1796Faulkner edition, 1985, pp. xxi, xxiii. *1799, corrected. *1828, Chiswick Press. *1951, London: Turnstile Press, ed. Vaughan Wilkins. *1960, London:

Folio Society The Folio Society is a London-based publisher, founded by Charles Ede in 1947 and incorporated in 1971. Formerly privately owned, it operates as an employee ownership trust since 2021. It produces illustrated hardback editions of classic fict ...

, ill. Cecil Keeling. *1971, Garland Press, facsimile of 1796 edition. *1982,

Pennsylvania State University Press The Penn State University Press, also known as The Pennsylvania State University Press, was established in 1956 and is a non-profit publisher of scholarly books and journals. It is the independent publishing branch of the Pennsylvania State Uni ...

, ed.

Stuart Tave Stuart Malcolm Tave (born April 10, 1923) is an American literary scholar. Tave graduated from Columbia University, earned a master's degree at Harvard University, and completed a D. Phil at the University of Oxford. Tave taught at the University ...

. *1985, Oxford: The World's Classics,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, ed. Peter Faulkner.

Footnotes

References

*Peter Knox-Shaw, ''Jane Austen and the Enlightenment'', Cambridge University Press, 2004, *Eleanor Ty, ''Unsex'd Revolutionaries'', University of Toronto Press, 1993,

External links

''Hermsprong: or, Man as He is Not'' (Google eBook)
1796 novels English philosophical novels Jacobin novels {{philos-novel-stub