Hidden Earth 2018

Caves and Enlightenment

30 minute Lecture|Dr Frank Pearson

Abstract

The two neglected novels of Thomas Amory, written and published in the 1750s about the life of John Buncle, are remarkable for their numerous accounts of caves and caving. Most of the caving adventures included in the two novels, though fictional, appear to be drawn from the caves of Yorkshire, particularly around Brough and Mallerstang. Throughout both novels, caves act as a challenging threshold, a descent narrative, for Buncle's discoveries of enlightenment philosophy, wisdom and the essential qualities of a good life. Along with the writings of Defoe, Fielding, Richardson and Sterne, Amory's writing, and the role of caves, form the origins of the novel. Overlooked and left in the dark since the early nineteenth century, it is time that these extraordinary early artefacts of caves and the novel had some light shone on them.