Political Economy and the Novel: A Literary History of "Homo Economicus"

1. IntroductionValue and RepresentationThe Character of Homo EconomicusThe Empathic ImaginationThe Narrative of Homo Economicus
2. Chapter Two: The Contested Birth of Homo EconomicusThe Crisis of Value and the Literary DiscourseThe Critical Enclosure of the TextThe Division of Labour and Speculative RhetoricSelf-improvement and the Impartial Spectator
3. Chapter Three: The Speculative World of SanditionThe Text and the Textual PlaceImagined Economies, Imagined DisordersRicardo's Theory of Rent and Modern SanditionThe Comparative Value of Austen and Ricardo
4. Chapter Four: A Marginal LifeThe Optative Mood: Residues of a Past LifeA Parvenu CivilisationThe Spectral Presence of Homo Economicus
5. Chapter Five: The Compulsion to ConsumeThe Specificity of the GeneralHistorians of GenreFragments of EmpireThe (In)consumable and Inconsolable
6. Chapter Six: The Neoliberal IdeologueThe Political Backdrop to an Economic RevolutionMoral EquilibriumContemporary Randian Impulses
7. Chapter Seven: The Asymmetric ProstateThe Ascent of Information TechnologyZeptoseconds and Reading Economic DataValue and Authenticity
8. Coda