The Beginnings of the English Novel A few Notes

History of the term In the late seventeenth century and early eighteenth, the term "novel" was often applied to narratives such as the so-called romance. Until quite late in the eighteenth century, the term "novel" was used very loosely. It could mean . tales shorter than traditional romances !. a story of love and intrigue - "he term #novel$ in other linguistic traditions often does not ma%e the distinctions that have come to seem crucial to the &nglish tradition 'chec% out the main (erman distinction )etween Roman and Epik. *rom a certain point on, any fictional wor% that seems longer than usual is deemed to )e a novel. Several features that various critics have put forth to characterize the novel: Ian Watt, "formal realism" +hilosophical )ac%ground - ,escartes and -oc%e, truth discovered )y the individual through his or her senses. Individual apprehension of reality. - individualist, innovating reorientation ""he novel is thus the logical literary vehicle of a culture, which, in the last few centuries, has set an unprecedented value on originality, on the novel. and it is therefore well named." # /$ -- e!ection of tra"itional plots# 0ovels differ from earlier narrative fiction in a certain freedom from stereotypes in plot, character, and names. "raditional literary formulas re1ected. 2efusal to follow set patterns - independence from traditional notions of the "universality" of human nature and human rituals. -- Self$consciousness a%out innovation an" novelt&# 3lthough they are often an4ious, li%e *ielding, to claim a place in literary tradition, novelists frequently insist on their originality. "5ddity" of Tristram Shandy compared to traditional literary forms.

-- 'articularit&. 6anifests itself most strongly in characteri7ation and presentation of )ac%ground. "... the novel is surely distinguished from other genres and from previous forms of fiction )y the amount of attention it ha)itually accords )oth to the individualisation of its characters and to the detailed presentation of their environment." # 8$ 9rea% with tradition in giving characters realistic rather than allegorical names #although "telling names" were still used e4tensively$. -- &mphasis on personality of character, consciousness through duration in time interpenetration of past and present self-awareness. *unction of memory. -- Specificit& in setting #place, correlation of time$ -- 3daptation of the prose style to give an air of complete authenticit&. #!:$ ""he previous stylistic tradition for fiction was not primarily concerned with the correspondence of words and things, )ut rather with the e4trinsic )eauties which could )e )estowed upon description and action )y the use of rhetoric." #!8$ ""he narrative method where)y the novel em)odies this circumstantial view of life may )e called its formal realism. formal, )ecause the term realism does not here refer to any special literary doctrine or purpose, )ut only to a set of narrative procedures which are so commonly found together in the novel, and so rarely in other literary genres, that they may )e regarded as typical of the form itself." #/!$ *ormal realism as convention. 3ir of total authenticity - confusion )etween fact and fiction. (ichael (c)eon, "progressive narrative" 0ovel arising out of conflict )etween aristocratic;conservative ideology and progressive ideology. In his criticism of <att, 6c=eon points out that "romance" continues to )e e4tremely important in an anti-individualist and ideali7ing tradition. &mphasi7es how *ielding, one of the ac%nowledged fathers of the &nglish novel, doesn>t really fit #which <att simultaneously admits and ignores$ - theoretical inadequacy of our distinction )etween romance and novel "urns to 6i%hail 9a%htin>s theory of "heteroglossia" to help e4plain what distinguishes the novel from other genres. &ncompasses *ielding much )etter. #literar& "ialogue$ <att>s hypothetical analogy )etween the rise of the novel and the rise of the middle class questiona)le.

p. ?. "o )egin at the )eginning therefore requires that we )egin at the end. 9y the middle of the eighteenth century, the sta)ili7ing of terminology -- the increasing acceptance of the novel as a canonical term, so that contemporaries can spea% of it as such--signals the sta)ility of the conceptual category and of the class of literary products that it encloses. 6c=eon>s thesis@ - categorical insta)ility a)out how to tell the truth led to the "rise of the novel" - novel itself inevita)ly also reflects this insta)ility - questions of truth and virtue - insta)ility of social categories, how the e4ternal social order is related to the internal, moral state of its mem)ers - )oth, truth and virtue pose pro)lems of signification. "<hat %ind of authority or evidence is required of narrative to permit it to signify truth to its readersA <hat %ind of social e4istence or )ehavior signifies an individual>s virtue to othersA" #!B$ 0ovel can )e understood as cultural instrument designed to confront intellectual and social crisis. "his conflict em)odied in 2ichardson and *ielding, who according to this method can )e understood as representing alternative methods of doing the same thing. *ther characteristics +from ,# 'aul -unter, Before Novels) -- .ontemporaneousness# Unli%e literary forms that feature an appeal to the e4otic and the far-away in place and time, novels are stories of now or a)out events in a relevant past. -- Believa%ilit&# "he people who e4ist and the things that transpire in novels are recogni7a)le as )ehaving and occurring in )elieva)le human ways -- things happen in the fictional world according to laws that are essentially li%e those governing the everyday world. Credi)ility and pro)a)ility are the essential qualities. -- /amiliarit&# &veryday e4istence and common people. In her distinction )etween romance and novel, Clara 2eeve # :8D$ spea%s of the "picture of real life and manners" provided )y the latter, and )y "real" she seems to imply the lower social ran0 of characters as much as a faithfulness to o)servation rather than artifice@ ""he 0ovel gives a familiar relation of such things, as it passes every day )efore our eyes." -- In"ivi"ualism, su%!ectivit&# "he crucial difference )etween individuals in romances and novels -- different awareness of the processes of thought and feeling that affect individuals in relation to their world and their e4periences in it. "he su)1ectivity of the novel involves not 1ust a raised status for the individual self )ut an intensified consciousness of selfhood.

-- *%!ect of i"entification - gives reader a sense of what it would )e li%e to )e someone else, of how another identity would feel. 2eaders of novels "identify," "empathi7e," or sympathi7e with the heroes and heroines of novels, this suggesting a greater closeness )etween readers and novel characters than )etween readers and characters in other fictional forms. -- .oherence an" unit& of "esign# "he novel see%s to su)1ect its multiple parts to some guiding design, theme or governing idea. 0ovels tend to )e more e4plicitly ideological than most literary species. -- Inconclusiveness, "igressiveness, fragmentation. Ehapelessness summed up in *ielding>s insistence in the second chapter of Tom Jones@ "I intend to digress, through this whole History as often as I see 5ccasion@ 5f which I am myself a )etter Fudge than any pitiful Critic whatever" # . ii. /:$. *reedom to digress. -ow the English theor& of the novel came a%out: 9y the mid 8th century, the new form was still searching for identity, terminology, and definition. 3 generation )efore, writers such as ,aniel ,efoe, &li7a Haywood, 6anley and +enelope 3u)in had created significant wor%s of fiction of the emerging %ind. 2ichardson and *ielding inculcated the feeling in readers and potential writers that a significant and lasting form had come a)out and that literary careers could actually )e )uilt upon the genre. 0arrative and fiction --- the modes of the future.