Lect 5 The Novel and Society (p: ) Relation of the novel to society Arnold Kettle and Ian Watt’s works on the emergence of the realist novel in terms of social change: traditional, limited and unsophisticated views, were challenged by later critics. F.R. Leavis and Raymond Williams views on novel as life or society. Their views were challenged by Feminist critics, due to the domination of the novel genre by female readers and writers in 18 th and 19 th C. G. Levine: liberal perspective of reality While reading the novel, think of the following: How would you define novel? Work of fiction written in prose.. How do novels influence society? It reflects, defines society.. What social ideologies are treated in a given novel? Gender, class, race, nation… 1 Dr. Chekra Allani

Lect 5 The tradition of the realist novel (p: ) Two ways of thinking about the relationship between novel and society: 1- History of the novel as a developing literary genre 2- Critical evaluation of the novel as a literary form. Watt argues that the emergence of the realist genre coincided with the needs of a changing society. Arnold Kettle thinks that realism supplanted romance in the same manner feudalism gave way to capitalism. Early theories of realism, the novel is a mirror that reflects society. Stendhal “It is a mirror traveling along a highway.” Early 20 th C, dissent from conventionalist realist fiction and veering towards ‘psychological intensity rather than social comprehensiveness.’ 2 Dr. Chekra Allani

Lect 5 The tradition of the realist novel (p: ) R. Williams considers the novel not only as a stylistic achievement, but more so as a lived experience. Leavis, literature’s moral role as ‘a criticism of life’. The novel is a product of a particular society. Its birth concurred with the significant changes in the political, economic and intellectual values of the 18 th C society. Discuss with reference to P&P and JE. The achievement of the novel is not to represent society, but to produce a powerful criticism of a particular society. Kettle admires the novels which elucidate the impingement of social institutions upon social behavior. Eg: Dickens’ Hard Times or Hardy’s Tess of D’Ubervilles. 3 Dr. Chekra Allani

Lect 5 The tradition of the realist novel (p: ) F. R. Leavis considers Jane Austen as the inaugurator of ‘the great tradition’ According to T.S. Eliot, ‘A writer’s relation to tradition is a creative one.. Each gathers up the potentialities of the past and transforms these, in some original way, for the benefit of those who follow.’ Hence, J. Austen influenced G. Eliot who in turn influenced Henry James, ensuring thereby the continuity of the tradition. A writer can be excluded from the ‘great tradition’ if his attitudes and concerns are simple. ‘Moral seriousness’ is the criteria upon which a writer is classified in terms of the tradition or the canon. Dickens was excluded from the tradition! Despite his great genius, and imagination.. He is rather a great entertainer, lacking profound seriousness. F.R. Leavis The Great Tradition. (p:108 RN) Leavis’ s harsh criticism of Hardy and the Bronte sisters. (p:109) 4 Dr. Chekra Allani

Lect 5 The tradition of the realist novel (p: ) Unlike F.R. Leavis, Williams stresses on the social context in which novels are written and read. Novels define rather than reflect a society. New ‘consciousness’ of late 40’s English novel where: 1- Crisis feature in industrial development 2- struggle for political reform 3- Chartism 4- the growth of cities and towns Novels are a vivid part of a dynamic, non-static society (p:110 RN) 5 Dr. Chekra Allani

Lect 5 The tradition of the realist novel (p: ) Williams argues that social position and estate income in P&P must be understood in terms of their full historical and political complexity. Discuss. (p: RN) The community selected by Austen is ‘wholly known and ‘precisely selected’, but these knowable communities have to be approached in terms of the writer’s viewpoint. There is some sort of connection between the experiences of 19 th C fiction and the social dilemmas of late 20 th C. We identify with the protagonists and sympathize with them. Like Leavis, Williams observes a line of continuity of the great tradition from Austen to Eliot, but social hierarchy in novel development has to be recognized. Williams appraisal of the Bronte sisters is rudimentary compared to the recent female critics interpretation of their works. Quote (p:113). 6 Dr. Chekra Allani

Lect 5 The tradition of the realist novel (p: ) Leavis’s conception of the English novel is limited to Englishness, Williams sees how this notion is inapplicable when it comes to GE, for instance, where empirical issues are at stake. In the same manner Leavis excluded the Pole Conrad from the great tradition due to his foreignness. → Realism is not a narrow English concern, Fathers and Sons is Russian, Germinal is French.. Realism is broadened by means of comparative world literary perspective. 7 Dr. Chekra Allani

Lect 5 Women and the novel Middle class women status was changing in 18 th and 19 th C England. Genteel women had no job responsibilities. Gender distributions of tasks had clear cuts as Tennyson stated in the Princess V: “Man for the field, woman for the hearth Man for the sword, for the needle she, Man with the mind, woman with heart, All else confusion”. Women had more time for reading. Novels represent female themes: balls, morning visits, courtship rituals.. Women were suited to work in the domestic sphere only and that gave prestige to the novels as representatives of these themes. 8 Dr. Chekra Allani

Lect 5 Women and the novel Novel writing was a source of descent income for genteel ladies, it does not upset the crystallizing notions of gender. Novel writing sprang from necessity for women. But why the novel form in particular?? Quote V. Woolf (p:115 RN) Is women writing different from men’s? Allude to Diana Fuss Essentially Speaking. Women are more sensible to other women issues. Women gave birth and breastfed, this gave them an inherent sensibility that is not found in men. First phase of feminist movement 1960’s was concerned with images of women in literature. Stereotyped depiction of females throughout the literary tradition 9 Dr. Chekra Allani

Lect 5 Women and the novel Stereotyped depiction of females throughout the literary tradition Good Virgin Mary Bad Eve Submissive, rewarded with domestic happiness Rebellious ambitious punished with desperation 10 Dr. Chekra Allani

Lect 5 Women and the novel Women are considered as the other and thus are frail and vulnerable. Men are the rational, assertive and thus have a hegemony over the other. Simone de Beauvoir: Women are represented as the ‘other’ with no identity, men as the dominant, ascribes whatever attributes he chooses unto this empty space. 1970’s second phase of feminist criticism is concerned with female authorship and the novel form flattered women by representing them more positively through realistic rather than mythic experiences. Elaine Showalter and A Literature of One’s Own. “If women lived in a different country from men, and had never read any of their writing, they would have a literature of their own.” 11 Dr. Chekra Allani

Lect 5 Women and the novel Women had been emulating men’s literature, but by the 1840’s they started to have their own prints. Women literature was restricted by an economic dependence and social pressures. Women were not expected to let lose their artistic energies. It was considered against their fragile domestic nature. Women literature was fiercely resisted by men. Quote R. Southey and G. H. Lewes (p: 118 RN) Other critics believe that women have made barren the function of their uterus by the cultivation of their brain. Women were hardly recognized as novelists except when they wrote the domestic subgenre. Quote Spencer (p: 119 RN) 12 Dr. Chekra Allani

Lect 5 Women and the novel Difference between male and female literature: Male represented women virtuously throughout their novels in 18 thC. Whereas women’s female characters undergo a positive reform, that shows their imperfect, but redemptive nature → novels’ impressive achievement. J. Austen’s deviation from realism to romance and the depiction of Elizabeth’s character is far from 18 th C stereotype. Charlotte is rather closer to her era’s stereotype. 13 Dr. Chekra Allani

Lect 5 A more subversive tradition? The Mad Woman in the Attic by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar Women’s writing expresses anger at women’s confinement within the domestic sphere and rebellion against the patriarchal tyranny. Is this applicable to P&P? Illustrate with reference to Lady Catherine and to Elizabeth Bennet. There are social constraints and fears about female identities as creators because the literary tradition strengthens these anxieties. In literature, women writers found a pessimistic attitude towards women. Traditional view asserts that women ought to create babies only, any other form of creativity is harmful. 14 Dr. Chekra Allani

Lect 5 A more subversive tradition? Marxist feminist approach: Realism in the 1840’s continued to stress on moral individualism and to sustain capitalist boom. Through Lydia’s purchases of bonnets and ribbons.. and Pip extravagance (when he turned rich), we know of the seductive power of conspicuous consumption in capitalist systems. Women identity as writers redefined in 18 th C by abiding by gender construct, covertly undermining a relative conformity in their artistic creative output (the novel) → Redress of negative women authorship. 15 Dr. Chekra Allani