英国文学史第七讲：18thC novelists.ppt

18th century novel writing Daniel Defoe Jonathan Swift The Rise of the Novel Novel – a literary genre Definition: an invented prose narrative that is usually long and complex and deals especially with human experience through a usually connected sequence of events. English novel development Italian word novella, applied by Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio to his Decameron (1349). Spanish picaresque stories e.g. Don Quixote French romances e.g. The Romaunt of Rose English prose fiction before 1700, e.g. The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) In 18th century novel became a dominant form of literature in England because it allowed the writer a creative space that no other genres of literature could provide. As human horizons expanded with the rapid developments in science, industry, and interests of life, the novel became an increasingly popular literary form. In a novel authors examined society with 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. Early English novels had the middle class as its major audience. Robinson Crusoe Prototype: seaman Alexander Selkirk, marooned on an island off the coast of Chile. Prototype of deserted island novel (shared subjects…) Daniel Defoe (1660? -1731) Life Works Masterpiece 1660 Born in London in 1660; son of a tallow-chandler 1666 Witnessed both Plague and Great Fire of 1666 1667 Educated first at Dorking, then at Morton`s Academy for Dissenters, Newington Green; to become a Presbyterian Minister 1684 later jailed for debt 1702,The Shortest Way with Dissenters Fined, put in the pillory and then jailed at Newgate Prison. 1719, Robinson Crusoe 1722,Moll Flanders; A Journal of the Plague Year; Roxana. Robinson Crusoe Themes Most si