文学史第6讲18thc novelists defoe and swift.pptVIP

Lecture 6The Rise of the Novel in the 18th Century Daniel Defoe Jonathan Swift Novel As A Literary Genre Definition: A fictitious prose narrative or tale of considerable length (now usually one long enough to fill one or more volumes), in which characters and actions representative of the real life of past or present times are portrayed in a plot of more or less complexity. (OED) In 18th century novel became a dominant form of literature in England: it allowed the writer a creative space no other genres of literature could provide: Some very short, some non-fictional, some written in verse, and some not even tell a story, all showing that the novel as a literary genre is itself exceptional: it disregards the constraints that govern other literary forms, and acknowledges no obligatory structure, style, or subject matter. Thus it gathered great momentum. In a novel authors examined society in greater depth and breadth: They wrote revealingly about people living within, or escaping from, the pressures of society. They envisioned the hopes ad values of different classes of people in an age of a thriving bourgeoisie and implied their criticism of a social system that failed to satisfy human wishes and aspirations. Two Forms of the Novel Realistic: Earlier literary works were to serve the interests of the feudal aristocrats, nearly all about kings, queens, princes, lords, and wars for territory. The newly burgeoning middle class wanted to create a new kind of realistic literature of their own, to express their ideas and serve their interests. Among the volunteers were Swift, Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Sterne, Goldsmith and Smollet. Two Forms of the Novel Gothic: In the last decades of the 18th century, the English realistic novel gradually gave way to Gothic novel or Gothic romance. The gothic novel is usually a story of terror and suspense, set in a gloomy old castle or monastery. It flourished in Britain from the 1790s to the 1820s. Horace Walpole: Castl