The New Atalantis (full title: Secret Memoirs…
1709 CE
The New Atalantis (full title: Secret Memoirs and Manners of Several Persons of Quality, of both Sexes, From The New Atalantis) is a political satire by Delarivier Manley first published in 1709, the first volume in May and the second in October.
The novel was initially suppressed on the grounds of its scandalous nature and Manley was arrested and tried, but it was immediately popular and went into seven editions.
The story concerns the return to earth of the goddess of Justice, Astrea, to gather information about private and public behavior on the island of Atalantis.
She and her mother, Virtue, are guided around the island by Intelligence.
Delarivier Manley had drawn on her own experiences as well as observation of her milieu to produce this scandalous narrative of the private lives of prominent Whig politicians.
Manley's The Memoirs of Europe, two volumes published in 1710, are (in the early eighteenth century) often referred to as volumes three and four of the Atalantis, though they do not share the fictional setting.