Letteratura inglese 2:

LETTERATURA
INGLESE II
Appunti di Monica Zappaterra
Università degli Studi di Pavia
Facoltà: Studi Umanistici
Corso di Laurea in Lingue e Culture Moderne
Esame: Letteratura inglese 2
Docente: Silvia Granata
A.A. 2022-2023
Tesi
online
A P P U N T I
TesionlineO RI GIN O F THE N O VEL
POLITICS
1660. Resto ration .
T he Pu ritan revo lu tio n abolished m onarchy and executed the king, Charles the first.
Charles II Stuart regained power with the restoration.
Radical changes in Britain, after huge political problem s they faced a period of peace.
End of the civil war .
1685. Jam es II Stuart, a conservative. (Charles had no legitim ate children, so the throne
passed to his Catholic Brother).
- He was a catholic
- He had a legitim ate son, who was a catholic too.
- T he m ajority of people were protestant anglican and a catholic king would not be
representative.
T hat tim e the catholic pope had a prom inent political figure
Political power and econom ic interests, against population needs.
Christians is a great group that includes Protestants and Catholics.
Special variety in Britain, anglican church, institutionalized by the state.
1688. G lorio us Revolution . W illiam of O range and M ary (T he protestant daughter of
Jam esII). No-violent revolution, “bloodless” and not m ilitary engaged.
Secret negotiations between countries.
T here were soldiers prepared to fight but eventually nobody fought.
No chances to win, Jam es went to F rance trying to collect resources and organize, because
he wanted to regain his throne.
REFO RMS → guarantee of political stability
1689. T oleration Act: Religion, granted lim ited freedom to Dissenters, but not to
Catholics, Jews and unitarians (variety of dissenters, who do not believe that Jesus was the
son of G od). Levels of religious peace.
1689. Bill of Righ ts: Jam es II was an absolutist king, the one chosen to govern by G od.
He could have all the power he wanted, without consulting Parliam ent.
T he Bill of Rights lim ited Crown powers in favor of parliam ent. Ex. taxes, raise an arm y
1701. Act of Settlemen t: succession to the House of Hanover .
T he throne m oved to another daughter of Jam es, Q ueen Anne(1702-1714).
Allegiance to the Church of England.
1T he king/queen m ust be anglican.
1707. Act of Un io n : T he kingdom s of England and Scotland (previously separate states,
with separate laws but the sam e m onarch) were joined into a united kingdom (G reat Britain).
Lots of people in Scotland didn’t want to be united:
- V iolence
- Intrusion, colonization
- O wn culture and T radition
- W idespread discontent
- Not properly represented by the London parliam ent(shared m em bers of both
countries).
Po litical “Parties” → political system com pletely dif ferent
O nly a sm all num ber of people could vote, just rich m en or som eone with land property .
No plath party could represent the needs of poor people.
W h ig h s: new m oneyed interest (trade & finance).
Not belonging to the aristocracy , but very rich and wealthy m erchants of international trade.
People with im m ense econom ic resources who wanted also political power .
T o ries: land interest, m ore representative of landlords(proprietari terrieri) with a traditional
approach.
- Connected to the right to vote.
- M oral rights of citizenship, rooted to the well-being of the country .
= Both linked to the econom ic interests of the rich (no vote for the poor).
LITERA TURE
1695: Cen so rsh ip .
Printing acts were not renewed, Legal restraints in printing.
It was a very expensive, com plicated, hand-m ade and tim e-consum ing business.
Invest in a printing m achine, characters, workers.
Sm all num ber of books were published. Problem s with publication.
Printed m aterials and readers too were slowly growing.
Authors started to firstly publish their books, then eventually checked and corrected.
Not all topics.
At the beginning of 18 century just ¼ people could read and write, people had no identity
cards, services, and there weren’t real traces of written traditions or docum ents.
T he num ber of readers grew and passed to 60/70% of the m iddle-classes population.
Historians use church registers: Every birth/ m arriage/ death certificate was signed.
2SIG NS→ It was possible to see how m any people could sign, or use an “x” instead of the
nam e. (Not a guarantee of being able to read or to af ford buying reading m aterials).
Ch an g es in Pu b lish in g :
- Patron ag e: V ery well educated people who wanted to publish som ething got in
contact with a m em ber of the aristocracy/rich m an, who gives econom ic and social
support. Authors devote them selves without econom ic m atters.
Dif ferent m aterials for several uses and kinds of readers, depending on their social
backgrounds.
- Su bscrip tio n : expanded system of patronage, having m any supporters.
Authors could pay printing and publishing costs, distribution etc.
Nam es of investors were printed at the top of the book.
Appealing to the m iddle class.
Having m oney but also social privilege.
Authors could earn from their works and have a career . W riting started to becom e a
dangerous and real profession, also as a m ain source of incom e.
- 1740s circulating libraries: It let books circulate, lending system . Slowly growing
phenom enon.
- “G ru b Street” → G rub Street was “originally the nam e of a street in M oorfields in
London, m uch inhabited by writers of sm all histories, dictionaries, and tem porary
poem s. It is a m etaphor for the com m ercial production of printed m atter of m ediocre
or needy writers who write for hire.
Literacy: ability to write, lim ited to m en.
Perio d ical Press:
Daily Courant (first daily), cheaper than a book and less expensive.
It becam e m ore norm al in society to read newspapers or m agazines and discuss news, in
places like cof fee houses.
Com m enting or reading out loud the news.
Keeping in touch with cultural or political events and sociability
Richard Steele, T he T atler (il chiacchierone)
Joseph Addison and R. Steele, T he Spectator (culture, politics, fashion, new positive
atm osphere, peace and econom ic optim ist) → F em ale ship, sm all targeted wom en,
especially im portant for the novel. Key to the success of a work.
T he G entlem an's M agazine.
NO VEL S→ FO RBIDDEN BO O KS, m ore than poetry , epic poem s or rom ance.
Risky kind of literature.
Aim ed to entertain but also involved in com plicated social and political issues.
Powerful tool to influence the public, to inspire fear or distrust.
T here weren't fixed categories of reading public, everybody could achieve a certain kind of
books and literacy m aterials.
3→ Specific categories of readers (W om en, naives and the working class) were m ore likely to
be influenced in a negative way by what they read. (em ancipation, wrights and etc.)
- Em pathize with it.
- T o give political ideas or aspirations.
THE ORIGINS OF THE NOVELS
- Cultural context
- Literary genres that influenced it
- Early theories of F ICT IO N.
- CRIT ICISM S:
Ian W att, T he Rise of the Novel (1957), a Stanford professor .
V ery influential→ it produced the m ajority of criticism s and debates on the Novel for
decades. T he novel was a new genre.
T he key F eature:
F O RMAL REALISM
= a set of narrative procedures not present in other genres.
A way of writing that characterizes Novels.
T ry to define the starting point of the Novel according to its definition.
Repudiation of traditional plot.
No traditional characters
- Particularisation of characters and plots.
- Not a general *character*, specific places, streets nam es → reality ef fects.
Real people, an everyday m iddle-class person, actual people,
- T em poralisation: a specific tim e, not atem poral dim ension.
- Environm ent: Setting, Location, social relations of the character .
- Plausible facts and actions, specifically located in space and tim e. M ore
realistic and inclusive: that thing m ight happen to the reader . Believable
situations.
- Causation: No random events, m iracles, or supernatural events.
Realistic way to describe cause and ef fect during the developm ent of the plot.
New degree of realism :
- em pathize strongly with the characters.
4- M orality and virtue; a novel could also teach som ething, use of m oral lessons.
A process, not a rapid change of writing.
Changing in literature, but also in society , am ong authors, readers, social and econom ic
context etc.
T he rise of the midd le-class:
M ost of all new readers were m iddle-class people.
Literature tried to m eet desires, values and expectations of the public, in particular with
Individuality . T hey all validate and share individual experience.
Ex. T he nam e of the book was the nam e of the protagonist, the m ain focus of the book.
Interest in private life→ no m ore idealized characters, but a particular realistic person.
Criticisms against Ian W att’ s theory .
T wo m ain elem ents:
1. No clear cut with the past: Rom ance continued to be published. Dif ferent genres
coexisted and m ixed.
Ex. W ork of fiction that com bine dif ferent elem ents
2. Society: vexed question about m iddle-class.
Definition of m iddle-class: use of plural (dif ferent kinds of m iddle-classes).
Not specific enough, som e ideas had to be specified m ore and require m odifications.
M. McKeon, The Origins of the English Novel
(1987)
In the late 17 century , social, political and intellectual changes.
Labels: Dialectic theory of genres.
- So cial issu es: “q u estio n o f virtu e”
He took som e social issues and called them “questions of virtue”.
- Ep istemo lo g ical i: “q u estio n o f tru th ”. Concerning Knowledge and reality .
Categorical instability: coexistence of dif ferent ideas and values.
T he Novel as a genre could cope better than others, it could reflect better the real world of
readers.
5QUESTIONS OF VIRTUE
G reat social m obility , people could m ove up on the social scale m ore than before.
● Aristo cratic id eo lo g y: belief in hierarchie in society , traditional way of seeing
people, dif ferent ranks (ranghi) and boundaries being a noblem an→ Not just a title.
T o the idea of aristocracy were attached also values, usefulness and honor . T itles
signified personal m erit, as a plan of god.
● Pro g ressive id eo lo g y: started to question the previous ideology .
- Earnness of noble titles→ your ancestors or origins don’t represent you.
- Possibility to grow , you get what you deserve.
- Being good, hard working, honest → Individual becom es im portant, no m ore
defined by its own origin.
- M erit is all within you. Self-m ade m an.
- O ptim istic view
- Ex. Robinson Crusoe
● Co n servative id eo lo g y: T hey questioned the progressive ideology .
- T he rank theory wasn’t supported, neither was the idea of “m erit”.
- T here are so m any factors that influence life conditions, developm ent or
results that a person can achieve. T he progressive idea prom ised illusions
and idealistic am bitions to people from all classes→ Dangerous prom ises.
- Lots of bitterness, desperation and disappointm ent.
- Pessim istic view
- Ex. Jonathan swift, G ulliver
All ideologies worked through telling stories, illustrating dif ferent scenarios of how a
person could achieve goals or richness in life.
Each one tells the sam e story in a dif ferent way or outcom es.
QUESTIONS OF TRUTH
● Ro man ce id ealism: T he focus was on receiving authorities.
V alue what is general, all of us. O ld principles, no need for innovation.
T he ancient past reached im portance.
● Naive Emp iricism: In parallel of progressive ideas, insisted on the necessity to
convey truth through literature and narrative.
T he term “rom ance” achieved a pejorative term , associated with lies, or m orally
suspicious→ puritan culture.
G rowing prejudice against fantastic elem ents in literature.
● Extreme skep ticism: It sees the naive idea as too optim istic and over enthusiastic.
6Against plain-style, no guarantee of realness.
Reading public changed its expectations on literature reality .
Know reality through our sensities, sight, sm ell, hearring etc.
No divine inspiration. Stick on what we actually know .
G rowing em phasis on evidence, proves, facts, accounts and collection of data.
Routed to m odern science and philosophy .
EMPIRICISM
New Science: Em piricism was the base of scientific revolution, em phasis on
objective observation. T est, prove, observe and describe em pirically what you
discover with a literary appropriate lexicon.
Discovering far away lands, or explorations took a scientific valuation.
Exp lo ratio n s → T ravel accounts had a bad reputation because they were often seen
as fictional and not reliable.
- Britain colonials→ Im portance to have precise and real inform ation about
territories. Not to entertain, but to spread knowledge.
Ro yal So ciety (1660), a scientific com panion who could provide instructions
for travelers, trying to explain how to write their travel account in the best way ,
according to their aim . No useless elem ents, a plain style m eans that you’re
honest and sincere.
PROTEST ANTISM
new em piricist ideology .
→ Individualism over traditions
→ Sincerity , self analysis.
Keeping a private diary was very com m on and encouraged, considered a useful m ethod of
witness.
- Spiritual autobiography: a kind of diary written and exposed, m eant to be
published.
7T he story is usually of a great sinner/som eone not really interested in religion who
becom es a saint→ resolution, realization of truths, happy ending.
Self analysis, who concentrates on what happened and the spiritual im pact or
sensations that have on the life of the protagonist.
Sense of closure over tim e, a recollection of life. (Day-to-day writing and overarching
patterns). Specific balance to achieve.
- Apparition narratives: supposed to describe apparitions of ghosts, in a reliable
sense. F ull of dates, nam es of streets, corners, lots of details of the private life of the
people described.
T hey used naive em piricism , with a plain and sim ple narrative.
M aterial truth and spiritual truth, that cannot be m easured.
Ex. Daniel Defoe, “T rue relation of the apparition of O ne M rs. V eal”, 1706.
PRINT
Printed news.
Not everybody had access to education or literature.
Books had m aterially dif ferent form s.
M any of those works were illustrated.
Printing was m ade by hand, using m ovable types (stam pa a caratteri m obili).
T im e-consum ing
Sm all num ber of copies.
16th century: news as ballads, a genre that circulated fast.
O ne big sheet of paper , with news, a story , ballads, illustrations or all together .
17th century: increasing claim s to historicity and reality . T hey wanted to distinguish
between real news and ballads.
M ore elaborated.
m id-17 th century: news began to separate also m aterially from ballads.
PRINT
Pu ritan Revo lu tio n an d Resto ratio n → DO UBL E EF F ECT
- News: associated with the authenticity of printed docum ents.
- News: partisanship, generated skepticism . Each party had dif ferent accounts,
opinions and versions of what happened.
Richard Steele, the director of “T he Spectator” said:
“T he news-papers of this island are as pernicious to weak heads in England, as ever books
of chivalry to Spain”(1710).
PRO SE NARRA T IVES:
[Nouvelles, secret histories and m em oirs].
8Being “T rue” is perceived as a value for literature.
Secret histories were popular am ong upper-classes.
Scandalistic description of dirty secrets, changing location, nam es, etc but giving
unm istakable details.
People curiosity to private lives, in a negative way . M ore perceived as realistic.
Rom ances started to decline.
EA RL Y FI CTI O NS
Im possible to divide history of the novel without considering what was around the novel;
take into account society politics, history
Early fictions (not exactly novels, but sam e context)
= late 17th century early 18th century
T ruth, credible m aterial is better than fantastic. No clear cut between novels and rom ances;
m ixture between the two (want to do som ething new), experim ent. Social pov = authors
really creative, m ix up things. F eatures of novels starting at this tim e = dif ferent attitude
towards historicity , facts, truth, what kind of stories and how tell them
Factual Fictions , L . Davis (1983)
= novel as a genre had a dif ferent attitude from other genres that preceded it
= novel and rom ances are dif ferent (novels, don't com e from rom ances); origins of the novel,
its independence; it doesn’t derive from rom ances
Im possible to find a work com pletely clear-cut novel or rom ances in this period
W hat is its origin? In this period: printed news spread, it becom es m ore and m ore
pervasive. T he context of the novel is the sam e of news (cultural m atrix that originated both)
Root of both words, the sam e = idea of som ething new
18th century novels = connection w/ reality; used idea of realism
Realism (word not used in this period); term used at the tim e = verisimilitu d e (m ore or less
the sam e thing); they didn’t have yet the term realism ; not because they lacked knowledge of
this word itself, but they were trying to develop concept of realism (not so easy)
Realism validates literary creation not for being history , but for being “h isto ry-like”
Co n n ectio n b etw een n o vels an d n ew s . 17th century lack of legal definition of facts and
fictions; n o d istin ctio n in th e law of the two; im possible for the law to do som ething for the
developm ent of the novel; no need for it at the tim e. Law felt the need to control news,
9politically im portant goal (what is said about political situation); in order to do this you need a
legal definition of news
Laws
1712: Stamp Act = attem pt to ban newspapers by introducing a tax on news.
In order to understand and distinguish what was a newspaper from anything else, any other
printing m aterial, they used d ifferen t p rin tin g fo rmat (dim ension of the sheet where text
printed); easy to elude this law , by changing the form at (avoid paying taxes). F irst attem pt to
regulate printed news
T o lim it circulation of news (have to pay , to publish news)
W hat is news and what is not? W ho should or not pay?
Later legislators aware of their own m istakes, changed the law
1724: Stamp act revised = defined news acco rd in g to co n ten t. T his helped
clarify the dif ference between journalism and literature; before very com m on having
very blur , m ixed form s
Im portant for governm ent to control news circulate; the two begin to be separated clear way;
but still sim ilarities rem ain quite strong in this period.
ex. F or both, recen tn ess and tru th = signifiers of genre
ex. p ro ximity (overlaps with the fact that the reader is in the sam e world ofthe character ,
m ore engaging at a personal level); sam e world, sam e place both in news and novels.
Prin ted n ew s: the reader is in the sam e world as the facts reported
No vels: sam e claim of truth and focus on the coeval (sam e world, tim e, place of the reader)
Novels expanded the subjects; reader of rom ances wanted to dream of a better world
Novel:
- describe real world with real people = tendency to cope with the crim inal underworld
- include character , topics, situations not so elegant (m iddle class characters, focus on
the real, on the crim inal world)
Article published in the Dublin Journal , Jam es Arbuckle claim s that novels are all about
“fabulous adventures and m em oirs of pirates whores and pickpockets”
= im m oral reading m aterial, too real too close to the truth, everydaylife of the lower world
Besides he denies the fact that they were real;
It was im pactful, a whole book about a crim inal
T erry Eagleton, T he English Novel. An introduction, 2005
Novel for people of the tim e = “trashy piece of fiction fit only for servants and fem ales”
Clearly derogative m eaning. T hey have to be protected from negative influence of literature.
10Strong sep aratio n o f so cial classes also according to read in g material;
not everyone had sam e opportunities, m ore clear separation of cultural m aterial each class
had access to.
Books can teach som ething, bad books can m ake a person worse.
Crim e stories not new of this period (also ballads)
ex. Robin Hood (crim inal / hero)
Not crim e itself, but representation of crim e (look at it in dif ferent ways)
It can be seen as exem plary
ex. p ub lic execution s (18th century), big events, huge crowds
som ething disturbing, but at the sam e tim e they were encouraged to attend
they used fear to prevent crim e (to scare people)
execu tio n s = punishm ent of the crim inal but also an exam ple for the crowd.
true protagonist of the executions = the crowd (it was crucial); it was som ething awful, but
you went to see it because it was there for you.
Double value of representation of crim e very strong in novels
No vel valu e o f example and disexample = learn not to im itate that attitude; try to deny ,
scare them out of doing that
Detach author from responsibility; not im m oral (taken from reality; writing to dissuade people
from doing that); im m oral behaviors, central strategy of the novel
= Stro n g mo ralizin g ten d en cy
Common thing between novels and criminal world
Novels inherit precise narrative strategies from criminal news-ballads
- T hey narrated life of the real crim inal, distributed at the executions them selves; gve
background inform ation about the crim inal;
- very cheap, easy-reading m aterial; Not m eant to last, im m ediate utility , not cured in
the form , not attentions to details
- Pretended to be written by the crim inal; in 1st person. T hey took priority over the
possible; convey idea of im m ediacy (crim inal talks about his own death)
- Decreased distance between reader and text
Som eone hated by the public, displayed (risk crowd kill him before the execution);
vs
thieves sym pathetic, poor people
11Epistolary novel
= experim enting dif ferent form s and styles (ex. first person narration; to m ake the reader feel
side by side to the character)
Closeness between reader and text = successful, but also dangerous (you’re there in the
story with the character , or you’re the character; it influences you m ore than other genres;
depends influence is good or bad)
Justify them selves in p refaces or in tro d u ctio n s; they give their own theories on fiction;
discuss what they’re doing w/ the public; convince readers to read and buy the book.
Theories of fiction in early novels
Early criticism shaped the developm ent of the novel
m any critics were also novelists
A whole new wealth of texts; crucial to understand the evolution of the novel
Early n o vels vs Ro man ces
- realism: contrast between the far-fetched and the fam iliar
- eng lishn ess: in contrast with french rom ances
F rance: political enem y , way of underlining that novel is a patriotic genre against frenchness
(english is good, novels are english, so they’re good)
England: strong cultural influence from puritanism
Paratext is a “threshold” (= soglia), what pre-announces the text
where to express the need to balance the m oral attitude
EARL Y FICTIONS
John Bunyan
“Pilgrim 's Progress” = Book that every fam ily owned at the tim e
He writes religious allegory even if he didn’t believe in fiction (because he’ s puritan)
Christian (protagonist) travels from his town, the city of destruction (real world) to the
celestial city (heaven); dif ficulties overcom e in order to reach paradise.
12THE LIFE AND DEA TH OF MR. B ADMAN (1680);
presented to the w orld in a familiar dialogue betw een Mr . W iseman and Mr . Attentiv e
He's a m ix of real people that Bunyan’ s seen (he’ s real in a sense); collection of real
exam ples. He uses a bad character , disexam ple, warning so he’ s justified
Aphra Behn
poet, playwrite, perhaps also a spy
sam e distrust in novel from a com pletely dif ferent
O rodoko, prince in Africa, prom ised to a girl and gets m arried
captured, brought to Am erica as slaves; fight this enslavem ent, she’ s pregnant; he tres
protecting his wife. She’ s really keen on the fact that he’ s telling facts.
OROONOKO, OR, THE ROY AL SLA VE. A TRUE HIST OR Y (1688)
-all facts are true
-she’ s a witness
-sim ple style (transparency , truth)
W illiam Congreve
playwrite
realistic fiction
INCOGNIT A: OR, LO VE & DUTY RECONCIL'D (1691)
Reader-oriented perspective = focused on the ef fect that it produces on the reader
Alternative to the Rom ance = not true story , but m ore
m ore up-to-date, useful for reading public f the tim e
RO B INSO N CR USO E
O peration that Defoe was trying to do by publishing this book.
He all dresses in furs (cold place); island described, was tropical warm place
W e’re used to thinking of it as one novel, however it’ s not.
13