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The article discusses the idea of literary contagion in the context of British writers adopting a character from the German novel "Werther" or "Die Leiden des jungen Werther" which was written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1774. British authors and artists who have represented the protagonist Werther in their work include Jane Porter in her book "Thaddeus of Warsaw," James Sayer in the satiric etching "Werther, a tragedy for masters & misses," and Pierre Perrin who feminized the literary character in his epistolary novel "Werthérie." The evolution of Werther as a sentimental caricature in British literature is discussed.

This article discusses how quixotic writers on either side of the Atlantic used transformative imitative technique to address a critical issue of transnational imitation and to foreground national and gender differences. The author states that the three writing practices he discussed suggest that there is a history of writing which invites further work. The author also consider the requirements of the construction of autochthonous and original national literatures.