SOURCE: "Thomas Amory, John Buncle, and the Origins of Irish Fiction," Eire-Ireland: A Journal of Irish Studies, Vol. XVIII, No. 3, 1983, pp. 71-85.

In the following essay, Ross suggests that The Life of John Buncle, Esq. derives from traditional Irish oral storytelling, noting particularly the work's reliance on anecdote, elements of fantasy, and its distinctive, eccentric narrator.

At the centre of Irish fiction is the anecdote.¹

Thomas Amory's The Life of John Buncle, Esq., published in two parts in 1756 and 1766, has for two centuries held an uneasy position on the fringes of the English literary tradition. Never widely read after its initial success, it has never lacked admirers either. Early reviewers responded uneasily, at once amused and bemused. Even the novel's subtitle, promising "Various Observations and Reflections, Made in several Parts of the World, and many extraordinary relations," does little to prepare readers for the story to follow. John...