John Bunyan as a Dissenter: A Study of Dissenting Literature in the Restoration

John Bunyan as a Dissenter: A Study of Dissenting Literature in the Restoration

Only in recent years, Dissenters in the Restoration have been receiving overdue attention, consequently challenging the conventional view of Restoration literature as a prelude for the age of Neo-classicism that would blossom in the works of Alexander Pope. While criticizing the linear historiography of Restoration literature and the often overemphasized role of royal courts in it, this article attempts to focus on and describe the cooperative aspects between Bunyan and his sympathetic companions, a group of Dissenters who influenced or helped Bunyan to gather his thoughts and publish them in print. The mutual relationship between Bunyan and his publishers such as Francis Smith, George Larkin and Nathaniel Ponder is described in detail not only to show how closely and within what circumstances Bunyan worked with these Dissenting publishers but also to illustrate another way of portraying Bunyan’s authorship and time period.

Only in recent years, Dissenters in the Restoration have been receiving overdue attention, consequently challenging the conventional view of Restoration literature as a prelude for the age of Neo-classicism that would blossom in the works of Alexander Pope. While criticizing the linear historiography of Restoration literature and the often overemphasized role of royal courts in it, this article attempts to focus on and describe the cooperative aspects between Bunyan and his sympathetic companions, a group of Dissenters who influenced or helped Bunyan to gather his thoughts and publish them in print. The mutual relationship between Bunyan and his publishers such as Francis Smith, George Larkin and Nathaniel Ponder is described in detail not only to show how closely and within what circumstances Bunyan worked with these Dissenting publishers but also to illustrate another way of portraying Bunyan’s authorship and time period.