Abstract
The article focuses on the changes of literary representations of incest in three early 18th century novels. In D.
Manley’s The New Atalantis (1709) and E. Haywood’s The Fortunate Foundlings (1744), there are situations playing on incestuous subtext, whereas in Jane Barker’s novel Exilius (1715), there is an actual attempt at incest between the father and daughter.
Manley uses the titillating effect as a means of criticizing the contemporary gender discourse. Barker’s novel is an example of interiorization of this discourse through the heroine’s constant self-accusations.
Haywood’s seemingly most radical novel (the heroine defies the authority of the father) becomes a confirmation of idealized family relations in the end. Foucault’s concept of the sexualized family is thus linked with sentimental construction of a father-daughter relationship here.