This paper examines the genesis and genre peculiarity of the 18th-century English pamphlet. The economic and so- cial background for the development of the pamphleteering genre in Great Britain during this period is described and peculiar features of the 18th-century English pamphlet are characterized. The thematic content and the functional orientation of this period's pamphlet are explored. An attempt is made to identify the main motivation of the authors referring to this genre. The paper clearly demonstrates the synthetic nature of the pamphleteering genre, where publicism is connected with the literary mode, complex tropes and allegorical images are combined with dry mathematical calculations, and real historical figures - with fictional characters. Pamphlets by Jonathan Swift, Richard Steele, Joseph Addison and Daniel Defoe have been analyzed to find out the literary devices most commonly used by pamphleteers. Special atten- tion is paid to literary masks and pen names.
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