Radical Literature

The Conversation Continues: Hermsprong Volume II Is Published

Volume II of Robert Bage’s Hermsprong is published today in paperback and ebook. The novel’s arguments about rank, authority and women’s independence now move into sharper conflict. Read More…

Why Is Hermsprong Published in Three Volumes?

Why is Hermsprong being published in three volumes? The answer reveals how novels were originally written, published and read in the late eighteenth century. Read More…

Why Hermsprong Still Matters: Publication Day for Volume I

Volume I of Robert Bage’s Hermsprong is published today by P-Wave Classics. A radical satire of class, gender and social hypocrisy, restored to its original three-volume form. Read More…

Women, Education and Equality in Hermsprong

What did education prepare women for in the 1790s: thought, work or marriage? In Hermsprong, Robert Bage exposes the assumptions that kept women praised in theory but constrained in practice. Read More…

Maria Fluart in Hermsprong: Wit, Power and a Radical Heroine

Maria Fluart is not merely a strong heroine, she is a problem for polite society. In Hermsprong, Robert Bage uses wit and humour to expose the limits placed on women in the 1790s. Read More…

Against London: Robert Bage, Cultural Snobbery and Hermsprong

Why does Hermsprong largely ignore London? Robert Bage’s novel challenges the cultural dominance of the capital and gives voice to a growing provincial readership in late eighteenth-century Britain. Read More…

Why Hermsprong Walks: Class and Independence in Robert Bage’s Radical Novel

Why does Hermsprong insist on travelling everywhere on foot? In late eighteenth-century Britain, walking signalled social rank, and Bage turns that simple act into a quiet challenge to the hierarchy of polite society. Read More…

Why Robert Bage’s Hermsprong Matters Now

P-Wave Classics publishes Volume I of Robert Bage’s Hermsprong (1796), restoring the radical novel to its original three-volume form. A bold satire of privilege and power, newly introduced and annotated. Read More…

The Joy of Discovery in the Classics

The current wave of enthusiasm for classics reflects the joy of discovery. At P-Wave Press, we find that same spirit in the radical literature of the late 18th and early 19th century, where writers challenged society across class and gender. Read More…