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The Victorian period of literature
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Defoe, Richardson, Fielding and the English Novel
The roots of the novel extend as far back as the beginning of communication and language because the novel is a compilation of various elements that have evolved over the centuries. The birth of the English novel, however, can be centered on the work of three writers of the 18th century: Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) and Henry Fielding (1707-1754). Various critics have deemed both Defoe and Richardson the father of the English novel, and Fielding is never discussed without comparison to Richardson. The choice of these three authors is not arbitrary; it is based on central elements of the novel that these authors contributed which brought the novel itself into place. Of course, Defoe, Richardson and Fielding added onto styles of the past and writing styles of the period, including moralistic instruction and picaresque stories. Using writing of the time and the literary tradition of the past, Defoe first crafted the English novel while Richardson and Fielding completed its inception.
Critics disagree on a strict definition of the novel; D.H. Lawrence has remarked, "You can put anything you like in a novel" (Stevenson 2), and Wagenknecht in his Cavalcade of the English Novel has claimed the "...'novel' has never been satisfactorily defined" (xvii). Henry James had a unique perception of the novel:
"A novel is a living thing, all one and continuous, like any other organism, and in proportion as it lives will it be found, I think, that in each of the parts there is something of the other parts." (Kettle 12)
"Novel" comes from the Italian "novelle," which was used for sensational news stories. One collection, Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron, was popularized in the 14th century (Phelps 11). The term carried over into English to form the basis of the English novels.
There are certain components that a novel should contain. George Phelps has come up with a six-part basis for identifying novels: the writing must be fictitious, or in other words "not pretend to tell the truth," have a certain length, attain a unity of "plot, theme, tone, atmosphere, or vision," create an illusion of reality, be concerned with character, and be prose (Phelps 7-8). Kettle, in his An Introduction to the English Novel, argues a novel must have two elements -- a quality of life and a significant pattern (13).
Rather than simply explaining the facts of the novel, authors use literary elements to make the reader think about what he is trying to get across and to make the text more memorable. From an allegory to the tone of writing, these elements will affect the plot and characters that associate with them. These elements can be used in many ways but for Hesse, they were used to help Siddhartha on his journey for enlightenment- introducing him to settings, characters and objects that would eventually help him discover himself.
...pt by Steinbeck to prepare the reader for yet another conflict in the next section. A novel is the most diverse piece of literature that one can compose. It can go on for as long as one wants, as long as it has a definite format about it.
A novel should be something that is easy to define. One would expect the novel to have a plot, a central theme, a central character and a consistent style? The truth is that all of these things are important but not specifically necessary. Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop cannot be easily classified as a novel in normal terms. It lacks a central plot that carries the work from beginning to some sort of an ending. It does, however, contain central characters, themes, and a clearly consistent style, but the story that is told consists of small vignettes.
Although a novel is usually fictional most are written off real life experiences and feelings. Novels can enhance the feelings of what realism dumbs down to straight facts.
Generally speaking, the two most frequently used genres in literature are fictional and non-fictional. Having said this, fictional and non-fictional literature are distinct regarding their purpose as well the literary devices they use. Literary devices are specific language methods which writers use to form text that is clear, interesting, and unforgettable. Fictional literature, for instance, is something that is made up; however, non-fictional is factual. Furthermore, non-fictional works of literature such as literary essays usually convey a message using literary devices that differ than those used in fictional literature such as short stories, which are meant to amuse its readers. Literary essays uses literary devices such as description,
In the Dictionary of Literary Terms, Harry Shaw states, "In effective narrative literature, fictional persons, through characterization, become so credible that they exist for the reader as real people." (1) Looking at Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders (2) and Aphra Behn's Oroonoko (3) the reader will find it difficult to make this definition conform to Moll and Behn's narrator. This doesn't mean that Defoe's and Behn's work is 'ineffective', but there is indeed a difficulty: it is the claim of truth. Defoe in his preface states, "The Author is here suppos'd to be writing her own History." (Moll Flanders, p. 1) and Behn claims, "I was myself an eye-witness to a great part, of what you will find here set down, and what I could not be witness of, I received from the mouth of the chief actor in this history, the hero himself, (...)" (Oroonoko, 75)
is, they have been blown out of proportion by the press and it can be
but his problem was making his book read like a novel. He accomplished this by
Consequently, one can broach a series of querries about literature and the nature of literary theories : what is literature ? What is the novel and what is its function ? And finally, to what extent does criticism affect the quality of literature ? This welter of questions is nothing but the tip of the ice berg.
Secondly, the authors of Wuthering Heights and Heart of Darkness both write their novels in the narrative fr...
The public depends on news media outlets when it comes to presenting information on what goes on in their community and even the world especially when it is about the safety of the community. The news media also depends on the public specifically the viewer because the news can be reporting an on going crime and the viewer may recognize that incident and or person and they call in crime stoppers hotline to help out in that investigation. To all good things there are a plethora of bad things that follow suit. The media can be a great thing, but sometimes they would show or write about victims, victims that had just went through a terrible situation and a good amount of times the media tends to focus and even glamorize an unsettling situation. Although it is terrible at times on what the media presents, and it can be horrific, but we
novel was a part of at the time it was written. Though, as Greenblatt discusses, a literary work’s
- Questions about health arose - and became an instant political issue with the media exploiting him
"Daniel Defoe achieved literary immortality when, in April 1719, he published Robinson Crusoe" (Stockton 2321). It dared to challenge the political, social, and economic status quo of his time. By depicting the utopian environment in which was created in the absence of society, Defoe criticizes the political and economic aspect of England's society, but is also able to show the narrator's relationship with nature in a vivid account of the personal growth and development that took place while stranded in solitude. Crusoe becomes "the universal representative, the person, for whom every reader could substitute himself" (Coleridge 2318). "Thus, Defoe persuades us to see remote islands and the solitude of the human soul. By believing fixedly in the solidity of the plot and its earthiness, he has subdued every other element to his design and has roped a whole universe into harmony" (Woolf 2303).
Daniel Defoe has frequently been considered the father of realism in regards to his novel, Robinson Crusoe. In the preface of the novel, the events are described as being “just history of fact” (Defoe and Richetti ). This sets the tone for the story to be presented as factual, while it is in of itself truly fiction. This is the first time that a narrative fictional novel has been written in a way that the story is represented as the truth. Realistic elements and precise details are presented unprecedented; the events that unfold in the novel resonate with readers of the middle-class in such a way that it seems as if the stories could be written about themselves. Defoe did not write his novel for the learned, he wrote it for the large public of tradesmen, apprentices and shopkeepers (Häusermann 439-456).