6.7 Literature en 1 DISCUSS what features you look for when you buy a novel. ‘he literature ofthe 18% century reflected the economic and intellectual progress ofthe period and an increasing popular interest in reading, Lending, or circulating, libraries acquired great importance and since subscriptions were moderately priced, they led to an increase in the reading, public. More printed items were produced, literacy increased (60% of the adult male and 40% of the adult fernale population could read) and more and more readers. belonged to the middle and lower classes. People preferred prose to verse and drama, They liked reading about the practical needs of different trades, stories of pirates and thieves, books dealing with journeys to distant countries, accounts of crime, political pamphlets and newspapers. Writing became a profession ruled by economic criteria, and the value of an author depended on the number of pages he or she wrote. The belief in the power of reason and the individual's trust in 1 Aporable books, ca 700. ‘The Bish Livan, London 2 Untncan ast Jonathon Wild lnkenneling the bute 18 century, Marina Spiazzi Marina Tavella Margaret Layton Performer Culture & Literature 1 From the Origins to the Eighteenth Century The rise of the novel his own abilities found expression in the novel By definition, a novel is‘a long prose narrative about largely fictional, if usually realistic, ‘characters and plausible events’ The 18*.century novelist was the spokesman of the middle class, The realism of the novel was not linked to the kind of life presented, butto the way it was shown, The writer's primary aim was to write in a simple way in order to be understood even by less well-educated readers. The novel, which was primarily concerned with everything that could alter social status, was particularly appealing to the practical-minded tradesman, who was selfmade and self-reliant. The sense of reward and punishment, which was the ‘message’ of the novel itself, was related to the Puritan ethics of the middle classes. bey stn pce 18*.century novels shared the following features: © Events were usually narrated in chronological sequence, © Narration was in the 1* person (the narrator and the protagonist are the same person) or the 3" person (the narrator is omniscient) © The setting was given great attention, with specific references to names of countries, streets and towns. © References were made o particular times of the year or ofthe day © Allthe characters were given contemporary names and surrames to reinforce the impression of realism, and they struggled either for survival o fr social success. © The hero ofthe novel was always the ‘bourgeois rant, with his problems, He was generally the mouthpiece of his author and the reader was expected to sympathise with him © The language was simple and factual6.8 Daniel riters, whose profession was now becoming profitable, began to write to please a public of middle- and Upper-class people who wanted to read about their own problems and individual experiences. The novel, therefore, became more and more a picture of real life and ‘came to be defined as ‘realistic’, not only because of ‘what’it presented, but above all because of how it presented it. Authors began to use ‘clock time’ and ‘physical setting’; descriptions contained primary ‘qualities, such as colour, size, solidity, extension and number. A new type of hero’ developed — practical, self made and selfreliant, guided by common sense. Greater importance was given to bourgeois values, such as money and the improvement of one’s social status. Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) was the frst novelist to create this new type of fiction. Daniel Defoe’ life Daniel Defoe was born in 1660 into a family of Dissenters, @ Protestant sect which refused the authority of the Church of England. He started to write in Whig papers (@6.). As a journalist his Robinson Crusoe (1719) Literature and the realistic novel Defoe greatest achievement was ‘The Review’, the periodical which he published two or three times a week from 1704 to 1713. He became a famous and wel-paid intellectual by writing political essays and pamphlets up tll the reign of Queen Anne. The queen did not lke his critical attitude and had him arrested, ried and imprisoned. He even made three appearances in the pillory, which were meant to degrade him publicly, but were turned into a triumph when some of his friends threw flowers at him instead of rocks or rotien eggs. In ‘order to regain his freedom he denied his. ‘Whig ideas and became a secret agent for the new government. When he was about sity, he started to write novels Which were very successful. In 1719 he published his first novel, Robinson Crusce, which was followed by Captain Singleton in 1720. In 1722 he published Moll Flanders and Colonel Jack. Defoe's last novel was The Fortunate Mistres, better known as, Roxana (1724). Thanks to the money he earned with these works, he could afford ‘a comfortable standard oflife, but his old creditors haunted him and pushed him into numerous adventures til his death in 173. 1 Michael Van der Gucht, Daniel Defoe, 1706. National Portrait Gallery, London. 2 Frontispiece to Robinson Crusoe (1719) Defoe's most famous novel is Robinson Crusoe. It was based on the real experiences of Alexander Selkirk, 1 seaman who in 1704 was put ashore on the desert island of Juan Fernandez, in the Pacific Ocean, from which he was rescued in 1709. Defoe also drew inspiration from some ofthe travel books that were so successful in his time. The new middle-class hero Robinson Crusoe belongs to the middle class, “the middle state, which his father praises as ‘the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness, not exposed to the miseries and hardships, the labour and sufferings of the mechanick part of mankind, and not embarass'd with the pride, luxury, ambition and envy of the upper part of mankind’ ‘What Robinson has in common with the classical heroes of travel literature is his restlessness, the search for his own identity in alternative to the model provided by his father. The story Robinson Crusoe consists of three separate ||, I F E sections. The fist section tells how, in spite a0 ADVENTURE: ROBINSON CRUSOE, of his father’s warning, Robinson leaves his family when he is nineteen and goes to sea to make his fortune. After several adventures, he lands in Brazil, where he OF TORE Marines starts a successful plantation, One day, i ed Eee Ty Ya during an expedition to Africa to buy some rides slaves for his plantation, he is shipwrecked ‘on a remote island where he spends twenty- eight years, two months and nineteen days. The second section is actually in the form of a diarylke account of Robinson's ‘experiences on the island. It tells how he is able to party recreate the world he has left behind him, how he eventually saves a young savage from cannibals and makes him his servant with the name of Man Friday, and how he is finally rescued by an English ship. In the third section Robinson returns to England, where he learns that his plantation in Brazil has made him richA spiritual autobiography The novel is full of religious references to God, sin, Providence and salvation. It can be read as a spiritual autobiography in which the hero reads the Bible to find comfort and guidance, experiences the constant conflict between good and evil, and keeps a diary to record events in order to see God's will in ther. What Defoe explores is the conflict between economic ‘motivation and spiritual salvation. The island The setting of most of the story - the island — is the ideal place for Robinson to prove his qualities, to demonstrate that he deserved to be saved by God's Providence. On the island Robinson organises a primitive empire, thus becorning the prototype of the English colonise: his stay on the island is not seen as a return to a natural state, but as a chance to exploit and dominate nature The individual and society The hero's life on the island puts forward the issue of the relationship between the individual and society, between the ‘private’ and the ‘public’ spheres, The society Robinson creates on the island is not an 1A scene from Robert Zemeckis film ‘Cast Away’ (2000), based on the story cof Robinson Crusoe, staring Tem Hanks. 2.nillusteation for Robinson Gusce by the German artists Offersinger and Zweig, ca 8Bo. alternative to the English one; on the contrary it can be read as an exaltation of 18"-century England and its ideals of mobility, material productiveness and individualism. Defoe shows that, though God is the prime cause of everything, the individual can shape his destiny through action. Robinson has a pragmatic and individualistic outlook. He applies a rational method to every situation: he always starts by observing the situation, then he makes alist of all possible solutions, he considers the pros and cons and he chooses the best alternative. 2 iluswations te Robinson Coven, 1651The journal The ship > The fortification >Man Friday 1 eoxsmne, i Robinson's andthe natve's Daniel Defoe ee Robinson Cre (1719) Chapter 14, A Dream Realized This extract deals withthe description of the native that Robinson has rescued from 4 group of cannibals who come tothe island to perform their rites. ))| He was a comely handsome fellow, perfectly well made; with straight 3.14] strong limbs*, not too large; tall and well-shaped, and, as I reckor’, about twenty-six years of age. He had a very good countenance‘, not a fierce and surly’ aspect; but seemed to have something very manly in 5 his face, and yet he had all the sweetness and softness of an European in his countenance too, especially when he smiled. His hair was long, and black, not curled like woo; his forehead very high and large, and 2 great vivacity and sparkling® sharpness in his eyes. The colour of his skin was not quite black, but very tawny; and yet not of an ugly yellow nauseous tawny, as the Brasilians, and Virginians, and other natives of America are; but ofa bright kind of a dun? olive colour, that had in it something very agreeable, tho not very easy to describe. His face was round and plamp: his nose ‘mall, not flat like the negroes, a very good mouth, thin lips, and his fine teeth well set, and white as ivory. After he had slumbered!, rather than slept, about half an hour, 15 he waked again, and comes out of the cave to me; for I had been milking my goats, which I had in the enclosure just by; when he espy'd* me, he came running to me, laying himself down again upon the ground, with all the possible signs of an humble thankful disposition, making a many antick gestures to show it. At last he lays his head flat upon the ground, close to my foot, and sets my other foot upon his head, as 2% he had done before: and after this, made ll the signs to me of subjection, servitude, and submission imaginable, to let me know how he would serve me as long as he lived. | understood him in many things, and let him know I was very well pleased with him; in a little time I began to speak to him, and teach him to speak to me; and first, I made him know his name should be Friday, 2 which was the day I saved his life; I called him so for the memory of the time; I likewise” taught him to say Master, and then let him know, that was to be my name; I likewise taught him to say yes and no, and to know the meaning of them; I gave him some milk in an earthen pot, and let him see me drink it before him, and sop my bread in it; and I gave him a cake of 30 read to do the like, which he quickly comply’d with, and made signs that it was very good for him. kept there with him all that night; but as soon as it was day, I beckoned to him’ to come with me, and let him know I would give him some cloaths, at which he seemed very glad, for he was stark naked”. As we 88 went by the place where he had bury'd the two men, he pointed exactly to the place, and shewed me the marks that he had made to find them again, making signs to me that we should dig them up again, and eat them; at this, appeared very angry, expressed my abhorrence of it, made as if 1 would vomit at the thoughts of it, and beckoned with my hand to him to come 4 away, which he did immediately, with great submission.