Contents -- Introduction: In the Name of the Child -- PART ONE. THE NAMING PLOTS OF FICTION -- 1 Clarissa, or the Name Lost -- 2 Oliver Twist, or the Name Found -- 3 Pierre, or the American Myth of the Name Transcended -- PART TWO. FICTION AND FAMILY DISCOURSE -- 4 The Scarlet Letter -- "The guilty name" -- On the border in fiction -- 5 Bleak House -- "Kindred mystery" -- "No one" and "Every one" in fiction -- 6 The Mill on the Floss -- The education of father and son -- "Living twice over" in fiction -- 7 Tess of the d'Urbervilles -- "In the name of the Father" -- "In the name of our love" -- Coda: Confession in fiction -- PART THREE. FICTION AND THE TRADITIONS OF NAMING -- 8 Lolita -- The science of classification -- Etymology -- Allegory, meta-allegory, and parody -- The "science of pleasure" in Fanny Hill -- Proust and the erotics of naming -- 9 Epilogue -- Naming as ordinary magic -- The novel as naming plot -- Notes -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W -- Z.