Joining two seemingly irreconcilable opposites, money and art, this edited collection analyzes the treatment of money in various forms of literature. The volume begins with chapters analyzing money in terms of language and culture, and then turns to money in history, showing how money has been influenced by, and has changed, history. Using the theories developed in the first two sections, the chapters that follow consider the literatures of Russia and America, French literature, and English literature.

In Part I, contributors look at such themes as money in Christian culture and the pervasive influence of money on language. Part II considers Queen Elizabeth I's use of money for propaganda, money shortages in 18th-century France, and banking in 19th-century America. The following sections provide the major focus of the work--the theme of money in literature. American and Russian literature are considered in essays on the work of Alexander Pushkin, Henry James, and William Carlos Williams. Part III, on French literature, looks at the work of Moliere, Flaubert, Balzac, Zola, and Andre Gide. The final, long section analyzes money's appearance in English literature, including the work of Shakespeare, George Herbert, Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, Charles Dickens, and Bram Stoker.