Write a note on 18th century novel.

Story-telling has always been a favourite passion of mankind. The novel is a particular form
of storytelling. So it has become today the most popular form of literature. It also portrays
different men and women and reveals their inner world. Moreover, it describes a certain
situation or social background, which has an important influence upon its characters.

The first idea of novel can be found in the prose romances of different Elizabethan authors,
like Lyly, Greene, Lodge, Nashe, Delony and many others. Later, Bunyan's The Pilgrim's
Progress, Defoe's 'Robinson Crusoe' and Swift's 'Gulliver's Travels closely echo novel.

The English novel has its real beginning only with Richardsonwith his Pamela. He drew
his technique from the letter form. His first novel Pamela or Virtue Rewarded is an
example of epistolary novel. His other two novels are Clarissa Harlowe and Sir Charles
Grandison. Richardson constructs his plot well. His tales are told with admirable clarity and
vigour . His stories are simple and straight-forward . The novels
deal with the conventional matter of love, its tragedy and comedy. Again, Richardson's
novels also depict women's virtue and men's lust. As a result his novels strongly influence
women readers.

Another novelist, Fielding is the author of four well-known novelsJoseph Andrews, Tom
Jones, The History of the Life of the Late Mr. Jonathan Wild, the Great and Amelia.
Fielding's novels have the same conventional stories of Richardson's. They, too, are
concerned with love and human virtues and vices. In 'Joseph Andrews', the situation is just
the reverse of Pamela. Here a mistress attempts to seduce her chaste and
honest servant Joseph. In Jonathan Wild, the Great, there is a romantic account of a
scoundrel who feels happy over his immoral acts. In Amelia, there is a touching account of
a virtuous woman's attempt to save her misdirected husband. Tom Jones is the greatest of
Fielding's creations. Fielding's hero Jones is an immoral youth who ultimately loves and
marries Sophia whom he had tried to seduce. Tom Jones is considered a successful
picaresque novel.

The English novel is found a new experience in the novels of Tobias Smollett. Smollett
wrote three important novelsRoderick Random, Peregrine Pickle and The Expedition of
Humphry Clinker. Smollett's first novel Roderick Random portrays the indisciplined,
reckless life of a Scot of a high birth. Peregrine Pickle follows the same pattern.
The hero is a retired naval officer who thinks, feels, talks and behaves wholly in terms of his
own profession. Smollett's last novel Humphry Clinker is in the form of letters.

Another novelist of the age is Sterne. Sterne's Tristram Shandy is a monumental

work. The title itself is suggestive. Sterne expresses "life and opinions" of his hero. His
second novelThe Sentimental Journeyis also a well-read work. It also bears out the
novelty of his art of story-telling.
A woman novelist also graced English literature in this age. She was Fanny Burney. Her
novels are Evelina and Cecilia. Evelina is an epistolary novel and bears the influence of
Richardson's technique.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century there grew the novels of terror. They were also
known as Gothic novel for the mysterious and sensational plot. Walpole's The Castle of
Otranto and Mrs Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Italian are found to
continue the tradition of the popular novels of horror.

Thus 18th century novel may be said to lead a new kind of genre in literature. Beside the
classical art of drama, epic and satire, novel is a new birth, unknown to the classical
masters. The tradition of novel grows powerful with age and it finds the perfection in
twentieth century with writers like Virginia Woolf, Samuel Beckett, and James Joyce.