Transformations of a Genre

The aim of this book is to orchestrate “a generic reconstitution of literary studies” based on a comprehensive theory of genre and generic transformation. Taking “An Excellent Ballad of George Barnwel,” a seventeenth-century broadside of sex and greed, Ralph Cohen analyzes the generic transformations—including Addison’s ballad criticism in The Spectator , The London Merchant , Percy’s ballad editing in Reliques , and Barnwell. A Novel —in which this particular ballad exhibits remarkable continui