18世纪英国文学发展

English Novels’ Development of the 18th Century

Ⅰ.Historical Background

The Revolution of 1688 ended the long struggle for political freedom in England. Sooner, the emergence of the two main parties Tories and Whigs made power shift easily from one to the other. Then newspapers and journals appeared and the press became a might power in England. Another feature of the age was the rapid development of social life. A large number of public coffeehouses and private clubs appeared in London, which were important sources to writing and the social centers. Science and technology changed people’s views toward world and life. And French classicism which focused on reason influenced English writing. Furthermore, Enlightenment was launched and enlighteners argued that science and reason were more important than religion and tradition and believed that reason should be the only basis of one’s thinking and acting.

Ⅱ.Early English Novel

The development of English novel can be divided into two periods-- early English novel and the maturity of the novel. The first period early English novel includes realistic novel, immature dramatizing, the mid-class audience and the bourgeois adventures. Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift are the most important figures in this period.

Daniel Defoe is often given the credit for the discovery of the

modern novel. His book Robinson Crusoe, showing an exciting tale with simple and brief words, is one of the forerunners of the English 18th century realistic novel.

In Jonathan Swift’s world famous novel Gulliver’s Travels, he typified the bourgeois world, drew ruthless pictures of the depraved aristocracy and satirically, portrayed the whole of the English state system. This novel is regarded as one of the greatest satires in England. Ⅲ.The Maturity of the Novel

The second period is the maturity of the novel which includes sentimental novel, realistic novel and pre-romantic novel.

Samuel Richardson and Laurence Sterne are outstanding figures of English Sentimentalism. Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded and Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady are epistolary novels, which enriched European literature with the method of Psychological analysis. Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy and Sentimental Journey reveal a purely emotional approach to life on the part of the narrator.

Realistic novels show things and people as they are in real life. Henry Fielding and Tobias Smollet are the founders of the genre of the bourgeois realistic novel in England. In Henry Fielding’s novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, he invariably put such characters in position which tear away their masks. Tobias Smollet touched upon