19th-Century Fiction: Overview I. Contexts and Sources- A. Forms of fiction
- B. Point of contention
- C. Enlightenment and Sensibility
- A. 1800-1814
- B. Major Novelists
- C. 1815-1830
III. Victorian Fiction- A. Early (1830-1845)
- B. Mid-century (1845-1860)
- C. High (1860-1875)
- D. Late (1875-1890)
I. Contexts and Sources I. Contexts and Sources- A. Fiction took several forms
- Miscellany magazines
- Chapbooks (Dick Whittington and Jack and the Giants, for example; sold by pedlars)
- Books (fashionable for the rich to own; distributed to the middle class through small circulating libraries)
B. Fiction was a point of contention - Reformers objected:
- Novel raise unrealistic expectations of life.
- Novel prey mostly on middle-class women.
- Novel is addictive.
- Novel misshapes one’s inner self in a way dangerous to self and society.
- Defenders responded:
- Novel and romance are two different things. Fantastic romances may be harmful, but realistic novels are not.
Enlightenment - Enlightenment
- Argues that middle-class values of reason, order, self-discipline, social and religious toleration, free inquiry, and free enterprise must prevail over prejudices, censorship, self-indulgence of courts, patronage system, fixed social hierarchies, and economic monopolies
- Stresses individual moral and intellectual worth or merit against artificial social categories such as rank
- Led by professional men (lawyers, Dissenting clergy)
- In the 1790s, Enlightenment themes emerge in Jacobin novels, such as Godwin’s Caleb Williams and novels of ideas by John Moore and Robert Bage
Sensibility and Sentimentalism Sensibility and Sentimentalism- A reaction against certain Enlightenment views, values, and ideas and a continuation of others, especially the idea of the autonomous subjective self and sympathy as a social bond
- Emphasizes inner moral and intellectual worth
- Explores the inward self
- Teaches benevolent optimism
- Treats family affections sympathetically
- In the 1790s, Sentimental themes emerge in novels of manners, such as Burney’s Evelina and Charlotte Smith’s works, in Gothic romances, such as Radcliffe’s Mysteries of Udolpho, in Evangelical tales by Hannah More, and in Romantic tales by Charles Lamb
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