Polygamy in Early Fiction: Henry Neville and Denis Veiras

Abstract

Henry Neville's The Isle of Pines was one of the most popular romances of the seventeenth century. A lusty account of one man's extraordinary generative powers, the work published originally in 1668 went through thirty different issues, including six in English, three in French, one in Italian, four in Dutch, ten in German, and six in Danish.1 Its primary appeal lay probably in its salaciousness, for the tale is short, no longer than a single book of Gulliver's Travels, and its theme is simple. Surprisingly enough, up to the present no critics have perceived this theme, which may be expressed by the Biblical maxim, “In the multitude of people, is the king's honor.” There is no question that population is Neville's theme, but his purpose in treating it is more difficult to decide. Since The Isle of Pines is on the surface merely a display of pornographic primitivism, we cannot know whether it is intended as an allegorical essay on population problems or merely a travesty on contemporary schemes to increase population.