This study investigates how the eighteenth-century discourse of sentiment functioned as a bridge between private emotional experience and public social interaction. John Mullan, a scholar of eighteenth-century literature, analyzes the autobiographical and fictional works of Samuel Richardson, Laurence Sterne, and David Hume. He argues that these authors utilized a specific language of feeling to navigate and define the social bonds of their era, ultimately shaping the conventions of the sentimental novel.

Scholars frequently cite this work as a foundational text for understanding the intellectual history of the sentimental novel. Readers note the academic rigor of Mullan's prose and his precise mapping of the period's evolving social values.