it-narratives were the it narratives of the 1700s

do you know what the hottest things going in literature were in the late 18th century? they were novels in which the protagonist was an inanimate object called “it-narratives.” the vogue for this odd genre started with charles johnstone’s the adventures of a guinea (1760), a 2-volume work narrated by a gold coin.

guinea became such a boxoffice smash that it was soon followed by such thrilling titles as the adventures of a cork-screw, the adventures of a hackney coach, and the adventures of a black coat (to name but a few). if you can bear it, here is the opening paragraph of adventures of a shilling (1710) by joseph addison.

I was born on the side of a mountain, near a little village of Peru, and made a voyage to England in an ingot, under the convoy of Sir Francis Drake. I was, soon after my arrival, taken out of my Indian habit, refined, naturalized, and put into the British mode, with the face of Queen Elizabeth on one side, and the arms of the country on the other. Being thus equipped, I found in me a wonderful inclination to ramble, and visit all parts of the new world into which I was brought. The people very much favoured my natural disposition, and shifted me so fast from hand to hand, that before I was five years old, I had travelled into almost every corner of the nation. But in the beginning of my sixth year, to my unspeakable grief, I fell into the hands of a miserable old fellow, who clapped me into an iron I chest, where I found five hundred more of my own quality who lay under the same confinement. The only relief we had, was to be taken out and counted over in the fresh air every morning and evening.