18th CENTURY ENGLISH LITERATURE

PERIODICAL ESSAYS NOVELS

Caught the spirit as the age of

ENLIGHTENMENT
THINKERS REALISTIC
INTELLECTUAL SENTIMENTAL
ADVOCATED PLANE

SCIENTIFIC RATIONALISM
FOCUS ON FEELINGS
CAPACITY OF USE OF ONE’S
OF SYMPATHY
INTELLIGENCE

LEAVING HIS IMMATURITY

 WHAT IS A NOVEL ?

DESCRIBES INTIMATE HUMAN EXPERIENCES IN PROSE FORM

ITALIAN ‘NOVELLA’ MEANING ‘NEW’

NARRATES A STORY EMBELLISHING IT WITH MORE DETAILS OF

T – TIME
P- PLACE
N- NATURE
P- PEOPLE ,THEIR MINDS, THEIR GESTURES AND ACTIVITIES
 The Advent of Novel or Important Precursors of the novel

1) Greek Romances (2nd to 6th century)

 Imaginative and delightful stories of ideal love and marvellous
adventures.
 Modern era make use of literary prose.
 Earlier threads of the genre

Virgil’s Malory’s ‘Morte Geoffrey

‘Ecologues’ De Arthur Chaucer’s ‘The
Canterbury Tales’
• World’s ‘The Tale of
Genji’ by
First Novel Murasaki
Shikibu (1010)
18th century marks new
• First ‘Don Quixote’ trends of novels
European’s by Miguel de
Cervantes (1605
Novel & 1615)
Newspaper Magazine

Attracted large number of

middle class readers
VS
Upper class appreciated
romance & tragedy
 18th century arose new ideas of
literature.
 Characterized by the spirit of realism
& denial of romantic features like
enthusiasm ,passion & imagination.

Increase in trade &

After 1740, Novel
commerce, industrial
originated as literary
revolution, rise in
form
middle class.
In England
Realistic picture of
everyday life & Emergence of
problems of common elite class
people
Flourish of Novels
 To voice the aspirations of the middle
class & meet their longings.
 The spread of machines gave leisure time
to read.
 Drama & poetry fading away.
 Novel as prominent form to encompass ,
the social political & cultural happenings Famous Novelist of 18th century
& scientific progress.  ‘The Pilgrim’s progress’ by John Bunyan (1678).
 ‘Oroonoko’ by Aphra Behn (1688) initiated
plentiful and colourful tradition of English novel.
 ‘Robinson Crusoe’, ‘Moll Flanders’ by Daniel De
foe.
 ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ a famous satire by Jonathan
Swift.
 ‘Pamela or Virtue Rewarded’ , ‘Clarissa Harlowe’-
Epistolary Novels by Samuel Richardson.
 Henry Fielding , Lawrence Sterne , Tobias
Smollett.
 Novelists of 20th century
Other
Stalwart Marked by the modern
Novelists topics and innovative
styles and techniques &
widened angles of views
Charles Dickens of novelists.
New genre of political,
Walter Scott social, psychological &
Nathaniel Hawthorne modern issues.
 E.M. Forster
Horace Walpole  James Joyce
 Joseph Conrad
Thomas Hardy  Henry James
 George Orwell
Wilkie Collins  Graham Greene
 D.H. Lawrence
H.G. Wells  William Golding
 Anthony Burgess
 Other
immigrant
Space for women in writing
Authors
 Great Pageants
 ‘Frances Burney’- Evelina
Salman Kazuo  ‘The Mysteries of – Ann Radcliffe Udolpho’ (Gothic Novels)
Rushdie (India) Ishigura(Japan)  ‘Frankenstein’ – Mary Shelley (Science of the age)
 ‘Pride and Prejudice’ – Jane Austen (ruled over the minds of
V.S Naipaul people through her novel)
 Bronte Sisters
(Trinidad) Charlotte Bronte’s
‘Jane Eyre’

Emily Bronte’s
‘Wuthering Heights’
 Mary Ann Evans alias George Eliot wrote the novels
reflecting psychological insights
 Virginia Woolf's ‘Stream of Consciousness’
 Agatha Christie – Queen of Crime famous detectives like
Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple
 Harper Lee, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison & Alice Walker
 Elevated the tradition further to prospective
 Indian Scenario of Novel
‘Rajmohan’s Wife’ by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya.
First Indian novel in English & Serialized in ‘The Indian Field’.
Nationalistic virtues or social issues.
Major trio : Mulkraj Anand
R.K Narayan
Raja Rao
Changed the current of Indian English Novel through their
works – Anita Desai, Nayantara Sahgal, Arun Joshi & Manohar
Malgaonkar.
Ameliorated the Indian novel in English by adding new features
– Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Seth & Upamanyu Chatterjee.
Dazzling performances – Salman Rushdie, Arvind Adiga,
 ELEMENTS OF NOVEL
1. THEME
 It is the central idea of the novel
expressed in a nutshell(summary).
 It is a philosophical statement or a truth
which the writer has put forth through the
narration of the series of events in the
story and characters acting in the
particular setting.
 Example of themes are selfishness,
resilience, pain, disappointment, success,
love, etc.
 Eg. 1.1 An Astrologer’s Day is based on
the theme of guilt, consciousness, fear,
freedom, relief.
2. PLOT
 It is the storyline or the course of events
that makes the theme.
 It is created by the conflict either
 Internal (inside the mind of the character)
or
 External (with other characters or
entities).
 Plot may be
 Simple (one plot) or
 Complex (consisting the interweaving of
many subplots).
3. C H A R A C T E R 4. S E T T I N G
 The people, animal, robots, etc.  The background in which the story takes place.
who takes part in the action of the
story.  There are several aspects of setting;

 There can be two types of  Place

characters:  Period
 Main character (protagonist):  Time
described deeply in high detailed  Climate
verbal sketch.
 Weather
Eg. Harry Potter, Hamlet,
Cinderella  Lifestyle
 Minor character: not given very  Plot & character are the two major elements that
important are affected due to setting.
 Readers follow the actions of one
main character throughout the
novel.
 Protagonist is in conflict with a
character or entity or force which is
known as antagonist(villain) Eg.
Voldemort.
5. CONFLICT
 The struggle between the
opposite forces in the story
is called ‘conflict’.
 Conflict in the story
provides interest and
curiosity about the plot. 6. LANGUAGE/ STYLE
 The language and the techniques used by
the author for the narration of the course of
events is known as the ‘style’.
 Author can use
 Extensive vocabulary or high phrases or
 Laconic (short/ concise) or on point writing
or
 Both
 Author may use linguistic device to make
the narrative effective.
 All these factors decide the “texture” of
narration and create impact on reader.
 TYPES OF NOVEL

REALISTIC NOVEL PICARESQUE NOVEL

 A fiction that gives effect of realism.  Picaresque is originated from
 It is also called as “Novel of Spanish word “picaro” meaning
Manner”. “rogue”(evil, villain).
 It has complex characters with  It narrates the adventures of the
mixed motives that are rooted in protagonist who is an eccentric
the social class (middle class (strange/abnormal) or a disreputable
society). person, in an episodic(series/part)
 The character here, undergo form.
plausible (believable) and everyday
experiences.

HISTORICAL NOVEL
 A novel set in a period
earlier than that of the
writing.
EPISTOLARY NOVEL
 Epistolary is derived from Latin word
“epistola” meaning “a letter”. GOTHIC NOVEL
 It is a novel written in the form of  The novels that include terror,
series correspondence/documents mystery, horror, thriller,
such as by way of letters or diary supernatural, doom (destruction),
entries. death or decay or haunted
buildings are called The Gothic
novels.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY NOVEL
 The novels based on the life of the
author.
 The author may change the name or
place of character to avoid certain
details of his life.
 It may or may not be in the first person
narration.
ALLEGORICAL NOVEL
PSYCHOLOGICAL NOVEL
 Allegory is a story within a story i.e. it
bears more than one level of meaning.  This novel is the work of fiction
that treats the internal life of the
 The surface meaning of such novel is protagonist or even the other
different from the symbolic meaning of it. characters as much as the
 The symbolic meaning of an allegory may external factors.
be political, religious, historical or
philosophical.

UTOPIAN/DYSTOPIAN NOVEL
 Utopia is an imaginary community or
society possessing the ideal
qualities.
 It is a common literary theme,
especially in science fiction.
STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS NOVEL
 Stream of consciousness is a phrase coined by “William
James” in his treatise ‘Principles of Psychology’. (1890)
 It means the flow of the thoughts. Incidents in the plot are
in the sequence of their occurrences.
 The novelist narrates them as they enter the mind of the
character.

BILDUNGSROMAN’ NOVEL
 The German word ‘bildungsroman’ indicates growth.
 The fictional biography or autobiography is
concerned with the growth of the protagonist’s mind,
spirit & characters from their childhood to adulthood.
The first half of 20th century witnessed cult (craze) of “Pulp Magazines” which provided
fantastic science fiction and detective novels for general entertainment of the masses. It was
printed on the cheap pulp paper.

Science Fiction Detective Fiction

Science Fiction
 It is a genre of speculative fiction.
 It deals with imaginative concepts such as ;
 Futuristic setting
 Futuristic science and technology
 Space travel
 Time travel
 Parallel universe
 Extraterrestrial life
Science fiction often explores the potential
consequences of scientific and other
innovations.
‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelly (1823) is
considered the first novel based on Science
and Technology.
The genre flourished in the second half of
the 19th century.

Detective Fiction
It is a sub-genre of Crime fiction & mystery
fiction.
It deals with an investigator or a detective
– either professional or amateur, who
investigates a crime, often a murder.