Other Exchange

Prompted by commercial and imperial expansion such as the creation of the Bank of England in 1694 and the publication and circulation of Ben Jonson's The Staple of News in 1626, rapidly changingcultural, economic, and political realities in early modern Englandgenerated a paradigmatic shift in class awareness. Denys Van Renen's The Other Exchange demonstrates how middle-class consciousness not only emerged inopposition to the lived and perceived abuses of thearistocratic elitebutalso was fosteredby the economic and sociocultural influence of women and lower-class urban communities. Van Renencontends that, fascinated by the intellectual and cultural vibrancy of the urban underclass, many major authors and playwrights in the early modern era-Ben Jonson, Richard Brome, Aphra Behn, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, ElizaHaywood, and Daniel Defoe-featured lower-class men and womenandother marginalized groupsin their work as a response to the shifting political and social terrain of the day. Van Renen illuminates this fascination with marginalized groups as a key element in the development of a middle-class mindset.