The Man of Feeling

Mackenzie's first novel immediately became famous as one of the best of the late 18th-century sentimental novels. Scott praised it, and to Burns it was "a book I prize next to the Bible".

The Man of Feeling is unquestionably among the most important and influential works of eighteenth-century sentimental fiction. The novel follows Harley, the eponymous “man of feeling” and impoverished aristocrat, as he travels from his rural estate to London and back in a reluctant quest for financial advancement and more heartfelt quest for kindred spirits. In addition to presenting a remarkable gallery of characters, Harley’s story gives a profound sense of the historical changes transforming the economy, landscape, and social relations of eighteenth-century England and Scotland.

This Broadview edition’s critical introduction and rich selection of appendices situate The Man of Feeling in the context of the period’s intellectual debates on sentiment, sympathy, and the novel. Contextual documents include contemporary reviews of the novel, selections from Mackenzie’s correspondence and journalism, and related contemporary writings by David Hume, Adam Smith, Sir Walter Scott, and Laurence Sterne.