Exam question: Circumstances that brought about the rise of modernism and

modern fiction
• The focus is on extremely complex philosophical, ethical, psychological and
logical issues and not on marital and social status as it was in the Victorian Era
• High Modernism (1912-1930) 5 authors we are going to deal with belong to
high modernism: Conrad, Foster, Lawrence, Woolf and Joyce.
• Post Modernism (after 1950) 1 author we are reading belongs to post
modernism Golding
• One of the greatest characteristic is that realism is still present but it is
combined with symbolism REALISM + SYMBOLISM

Exam question: Give a brief account of the essay on 1 page (James`s positive
and negative criticism of Besant`s pamphlet)
• The essay is written on a pretext of a pamphlet published by Walter Besant in
1884. Walter Besant delivered a lecture named the art of fiction which was later in the
same year 1884 published in a pamphlet.
• The whole essay of Henry James is criticism and approvement of Besant`s
pamphlet (with certain points James agrees and with others strongly disagrees)
• The main criticism is headed towards the strict rules of fiction given by Besant
• Most influential essay in which what modern fiction is explained (he is against
the term modern but everything he argues belongs to the modern fiction)
• The most obvious point James approves of is the theme of Besant`s pamphlet
and that is the theory of fiction (Besant introduced the subject of theory for the first time
because previously it was not debatable) The pamphlet of Besant was written on the basis
of novels written by Dickens, Austen … He explains why theory was that important. He
considered Dickens and Austen as a little bit naïve or unconsciously artless because they
were simple and not that sophisticated and that is why they did not have theoretic grounds.
• James discusses the exchange of views as VIP for fiction and he says that
when there is no exchange of views the fiction is boring
• So James approves of the ides of Besant concerning the exchange of views
by which not only the work of art is important but also the theory.
• James referred to one of the prejudices of the church that fiction is considered

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to be wicked. When he wrote the essay this prejudice disappeared but it existed in
different form and that was ``fiction should not claim reality``
• Besant said that the novelist should claim that the work is not based on
reality which James disapproved and he said ``the only reason for existence of the
novel is that it does attempt to present life``. If the novel does not represent life it is
not good. It has to have a sense of reality.
• James claimed that `reality is important for modern fiction``.
• James comments on Besant`s analogy between painting and fiction. He
says that just as the picture is reality the novel is history. James explains further by
giving an analogy between a novelist and a historian. Historians talk about the past
of people in the same way as novelists but the difference is that the novelist`s
writings are to be regarded not only literally.
• About the sense of reality: The novelists need to speak with the tone of
historian, novelist and philosopher.
• If fiction corresponds to painting it corresponds to art. Besant says ``fiction
is one of the fine arts`` James approves of this argument but he does not approve of
Besant`s explanation of fine arts. The main point of James is that ``fiction should be
based on ____________, no recipes, mathematical formulas``.
• Other people do not accept the notion of fiction as fine art. For example
protestants consider art not to be connected to morality. Fiction should be didactic
and amusing. If fiction is artistic it should not be amusing. The artistic element in
fiction obstructs the rule of having happy endings. Fiction should have virtuous and
aspiring characters.
• 3rd group of people think that fiction should have movement and dialogue
not description.
• If fiction contains artistic element it ruins the pleasure.
• James makes a comparison between a novelist and a meddlesome
doctor.
• The artistic elements are not widely accepted by people.
• James disagreed that the art of fiction should be defined strictly and he
believed in the freedom of execution of the writer.
• James said that anyone can differentiate between a bad and good novel.
Good novels cause affections, bad novels are disregarded by the readers.
• James says that the only object that the novelist should adhere to is that
the novel should be interesting. But he does not say why?
• Definition of novel by James: The novel is a direct and personal
impression of life (and that is something that constitutes its value). In order to write
the novelist should have the freedom of execution. Different novelists choose
different methods of execution and the subject depends on the novelist. Some
novelists cannot implement a successful freedom of execution.
• The peak of James`s criticism towards Besant is: There is no recipe how
fiction should be written. Besant gave very strict norms of fiction by the analogy of
the novelist and a painter. Besant: The laws of fiction are laid down with exactness
and precision as the laws of harmony and proportion. James disapproves of this
identification and especially of the words exactness and precision. He is strongly
against exactness and precision.
We must remember that James does not criticize Besant 100% and only some
rules are criticized whereas other are approved.
Exam question: Deal with religious themes and attitudes in two novels
Religion is this novel is presented through the character of Miriam.
Gertrud is also religious- Puritan and fond of exchanging ideas about religion-
philosophical.
Miriam is a swine girl but wants to learn and becomes a teacher. (example of social
 mobility). She has a special communication with nature and special way of treating
people. Paul disliked her attitudes. She understood nature as the garden of Eden –
virginity. Paul even tells her that she is a nun. She does not want to have a sexual
relationship with him but only spiritual. Paul doesn’t accept this because he is not that
religious. Sex was a kind of sacrifice for Miriam. When they make love she is very cold
with him.- end of their relationship. The problem of the character of Miriam is that she
really acts as if a nun. She want Paul to share the same religious attitudes as her.

→What is a novel?

- A novel is a fictional prose in which the characters and the situations are depicted within
the framework. The procedure is a narrative and there is a plot. There are three genres: -
Narrative genre- narrates events (epic poems)
-Narrative romance- narrates stories and incidents (in verse)
-Novel- epic novel related in a large expanse of time. They appeared during the Renais-
sance.

→What is a picaresque novel?

- A picaresque novel is a novel that has a sense of chivalry. It was very much developed
during the 15th C. The main character is an idealistic one (as Don Quixote) who fights against
the evil. He has such qualities like ambition, resourcefulness; at least at the end he does good
deeds. The characters in these novels are called piccare=rogue. Such are: “Ferdinand”-Munro
Leaf, “Moll Flanders”-Daniel Defoe, and “The Life of John Walton”- Thomas Nash.
→The importance of Tobias Smollett on the development of the English novel.
- Smollett made a lot of inventions and presentations of selected comical and
burlesque details as well as presentations of new types of characters. His main
contribution is the variety of characters as well as the fusion of ingenuity/invention
and humor, creating picaresque characters using the everyday colloquial language.
→What is Smollett’s theory of the novel?
- A novel is a large diffused picture comprehending the character’s life disposed in
different groups and exhibited in various attitudes for the purpose of a uniform plan to
which every individual figure is subservient.
→The importance of Henry Fielding for the development of the English novel.
- Henry Fielding was taking care of the shape, of the form of the novel. He was using
narrations to tell more information for the story. The main contribution was that there is a
link between the meaning and the form of the novel. Many of the best scenes are those
where specific ideas are expressed. According to Henry Fielding a work of art should teach
and fight of certain morality. He gave structure to the novel. He is using didacticism – how
to recognize vices and virtues and how to learn through experience. He also introduced

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comedy in the novel and spoke about morality of his characters taking the hypocrisy as the
worst of the human vices.

→What are the credits of Walter Scott for the development of the historical novel?
- Walter Scott was the one who introduced the historical novel in the English Literature with
“Ivanhoe”. In order to establish a better historic background Scott wrote introductions full of
information and anecdotes. First he writes about the past carefully describing the characters of
men and women surrounded with the objects and attitudes that belonged to that period. The
hero is a fictional character. Namely, these novels are not about historical heroes but about
fictional heroes who came in touch with the historic characters.
→Name the basic distinctions of the writing of Lawrence in addition to Tristram Shandy.
-Lawrence Sterne employed the ideas of John Lock and implemented two very important
concepts/aspect:
1. Association of ideas
2. Concept of time (relative experience of time)
Lawrence doesn’t have chronological order of the events. He told the story by the association of his
ideas. The story starts at the middle- present and then goes backwards and forwards in the story.
He expresses and elaborates the thoughts as they appear in the mind.
→Describe the function of the narrators in the novel “Wuthering Heights”
- The story is told through Lockwood and Nelly Dean. Lockwood was a passive narrator, didn’t
participate in the events he accords but is known from the written recollections of what he has
heard from the testaments of others, especially of Nelly Dean (the housekeeper). As a narrator
Nelly is talkative and imaginative and a natural storyteller. Since she was served both in
Wuthering Heights and Thrush Grange she knows both of the families very well. Her story does
much to establish the relationship and the conflicts between them as to reveal the love story.
She is not partial and tells the story from a very realistic aspect.

Exam question: Circumstances that brought about the rise of modernism and modern fiction
 The focus is on extremely complex philosophical, ethical, psychological and logical issues and not on
marital and social status as it was in the Victorian Era 

 High Modernism (1912-1930) 5 authors we are going to deal with belong to high modernism: Conrad,
 Foster, Lawrence, Woolf and Joyce. 
 Post Modernism (after 1950) 1 author we are reading belongs to post modernism Golding 

 One of the greatest characteristic is that realism is still present but it is combined with symbolism RE-
ALISM + SYMBOLISM 

Historical circumstances

Modernism started in the last two decades of the 19 th century and thus it is connected with the end of the Victorian era.
During the Victorian Era system of values was formed on the basis of the Queen. This system of values contained
conventions, dogmas. For instance the themes of sex and death were taboo but at the end of the Victorian era authors
started writing about them (Wuthering heights). Some critics believe that modernism started in 1887
(50th Jubilee of Queen Victoria) or in 1897 (the Golden Jubilee of the Queen)
Alienation

Specific tendencies appeared at the beginning of the modern age. One of them was the fight between the philistine reader
and the author. The person who first tackled this issue was Mathew Arnold in `Culture and Anarchy`. This issue
brought about the rise of theme which was typical for modernist poetry but it also started to be dominant in prose and that
is ALIENATION. Alienation can be also understood through the separation of the work of art and the author.
(OBJECTIVITY becomes very important in fiction too). Authors who are important for the theme of alienation are:
Thomas Mann `Buddenbrook` (1901) and James Joyce `A portrait of the artist as a young man` (1916). The French
symbolists also discussed the detachment between society and the artist.
Education Acts - Readership

The passing of the Education Acts (1870) was a very important event because with it compulsory education was
introduced. Everybody was allowed to learn (previously women were not allowed) There were people who were literal but
not educated well and were interested in the yellow pages. Thus there was a division of the reading audiences. During the
18th c the tastes of the audiences were important and authors wrote to satisfy these tastes.
Division of reading audiences:
1. High (specific for the expert audiences)
2. Mid (Robinson Crusoe targeted the mid reading audiences)
3. Low (literature written for semi-literate)