The Paradox of the Anthology: Collecting and Difference in Eighteenth-Century Britain

The literary collection is at once an exclusive and a communal genre that encourages the simultaneous perception of difference and sameness. Literary collections contain no less than three, distinct works of literary art, each both independent from and part of the whole anthology. Arising in the long eighteenth century, the anthology purveys exclusivity and selectivity to a dispersed, general audience. This paradox reflects the anthology’s nature as a collection of works that bridges public and private meanings by embodying consensus while encouraging private hierarchies of merit. It is the literary embodiment of the social tensions and project of the early period of modernization: the gathering together into a composite whole of diverse elements that yet retain their integrity.