From the publisher’s description:
Desire and Truth offers a major reassessment of the history of eighteenth-century fiction by showing how plot challenges or reinforces conventional categories of passion and rationality. Arguing that fiction creates and conveys its essential truths through plot, Patricia Meyer Spacks demonstrates that eighteenth-century fiction is both profoundly realistic and consistently daring.
Spacks, Patricia Meyer (Trustee; NHC Fellow, 1982–83; 1988–89). Desire and Truth: Functions of Plot in Eighteenth-Century English Novels. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1990. ISBN 9780226768458.