Abstract:

The Memoirs of the Life of Joshua Dudley (1772) has received virtually no critical attention since its publication, and this is undeserved. Memoirs participates in several important eighteenth-century literary genres: it is an autobiography and a convict narrative that includes picaresque and sea adventures and subordinates within it poetry and joke-book, trickster anecdotes. Although two social historians have discussed its role within their treatment of the contemporary terrorist attack on the Royal Dockyards (1770), it has more to tell us about the role of Quakers, especially within the merchant class, and the conflict between religious belief and commercial success. Consideration of pertinent material in the periodical literature of the day, particularly the Whisperer (1771) and the Craftsman and the Virginia Gazette (1774), allow us to round out the life story given in the Memoirs, as well as suggesting that the appetite of the reading public transcended generic limitations. Finally, Memoirs is a fascinating narrative of Dudley's virtuoso dedication to the art of duplicity that leaves us wishing we had more of his writings.

摘要：

约书亚·达德利 ( Joshua Dudley) 生平回忆录( 1772) 自出版以来几乎没有受到任何批评，这是不应该的。回忆录参与了 18 世纪几个重要的文学体裁：它是自传和罪犯叙事，包括流浪汉和海上冒险以及其中的诗歌和笑话书、骗子轶事。尽管两位社会历史学家讨论了它在处理当代对皇家造船厂的恐怖袭击（1770 年）中的作用，但它更多地告诉我们贵格会的作用，尤其是在商人阶层中的作用，以及宗教信仰与商业之间的冲突成功。考虑当时的期刊文献中的相关材料，尤其是耳语者（1771 年）和工匠与弗吉尼亚公报（1774 年），使我们能够完善回忆录中的人生故事，并表明读者的胃口超越了一般限制。最后，《回忆录》精彩地叙述了达德利对口是心非艺术的精湛技艺，让我们希望能有更多他的作品。