Paul S. Seaver

Wallington's World is a poor man's Pepys, and is based on diary entries written by an "obscure London artisan" who lived from 1598 to 1658 and who had only a primary school education. Paul Seaver is a heavy presence in these pages--it's not a transcription of Wallington so much as it is Seaver's paraphrase of Wallington, along with a mix of long quoted passages from the diary, and Seaver's own scholarship to provide historical context.

Even with all the mediation involved and the pieces missing, can I say how much more delighted I was with this book than with Pilgrim's Progress? How much more connected I feel to a Puritan sensibility? I do feel that way.… (meer)