Introduction

Abstract

The Introduction traces Pechey’s intellectual career, noting the trajectory of his commitments from communism to High Anglicanism, and adumbrates the contents of the book’s chapters. Among the topics discussed are Pechey’s engagement with developments in South African politics, his preference for the essay form, his consciousness of his Englishness, and the importance to him of the work of Mikhail Bakhtin. Pechey’s increasing interest in the lexical details of literary texts is charted, and the distinctiveness of his own style is considered. The qualities of his work include a refusal to allow the literary to be dominated by the political, a sensitivity to the skilful deployment of language in literary works, and a fidelity to the struggle for social justice.

John Pechey (1654–1718) and the Popularization of Learned Medicine

“…'Now by this Treatise young Physicians may know what Medicines are used, and so prescribe accordingly'79 23 'Whereby the Reading of Practical Authors will be render'd easie and intelligible to the Young Student'.80 …”