Eighteenth-century Prose The Early Novel 1.Daniel Defoe( ) He narrates the most remarkable incidents in the most matter-of- fact style. He wrote novels, each presented as auto- biography and claiming to teach moral lessons about human life. His favorite form was the life story of a reformed criminal. His humanity, sense of humor, and the sheer liveliness of his mind compensate for his disorganized books.

1)Robinson Crusoe (1719) Alexander Selkirk, a sailor who quarreled with his captain, was put on the island of Juan Fernandez, near Chile, and lived there alone for four years. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, where- in all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely delivered by Pirates. Written by Himself, or simply Robinson Crusoe.

2) Moll Flanders (1722) Defoe pretends that his novel is a true story told by the supposed heroine. Plot: The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, Who Was Born In New gate, and During a Life of Continued Variety For Threescore Years, Besides Her Childhood, Was Twelve Year a Whore, Five Times a Wife [Whereof Once To Her Own Brother], Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon In Virginia, At Last Grew Rich, Lived Honest, and Died a repentant Written from her own Memorandums. 3) Journal of the Plague Year (1722)

2. Jonathan Swift( ) Britain's greatest Satirist. He involved himself in literary controversy, produced a great deal of political writing for the government. He is one of the greatest masters of clear and simple writing. He once said that the secret of good prose is ‘proper words in proper places’ and nothing is more difficult than that.

1)Gulliver’s Travels (1726) Other books: 1.The Battle of the Books (1704) 2.Tale of a Tub (1704) a satire that attacked abuses in religion and learning. 3. A Modest Proposal (1729)

3.Samuel Richardson( ) 1) Pamela (1740): told in the form of letters from Pamela. (considered to be the first English novel) 2) Clarissa Harlowe(1747-8) He is nearer to 20 th century novelists than the majority of his 18 th c. counterparts because of his letter technique which allowed a much close and more complex characterization than was possible by the use of conventional style.

4. Henry Fielding ( ) The greatest novelist of the century. The term Picaresque(influenced by the Arabic maqama) is associated with Fielding. Picaresque: a term that lends itself to describe all novels in which the bulk of the action take place on the road, on a journey, and in which eccentric and low- life characters appear.

1) Joseph Andrews(1742): a kind of satire on Pamela, about her brother Joseph but soon became about Parson Adams, no letter style. It was directed at satirizing Richardson

2) Tom Jones(1749): written in 18 books which had an essay before each book. his greatest work and the greatest of all English novels. His hero makes mistakes and he is punished for them. Fielding is concerned with people’s feelings and not a profit-and-loss account. It contains Squire Western(one of the most powerful comic characters of the 18 th c. novel. Fielding described the novel as a ‘comic epic in prose’

Jane Austen ( ) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her realism and biting social commentary have gained her historical importance among scholars and critics.Englishnovelistromantic fictionlanded gentryEnglish literaturerealism Landed gentry is a largely historical British social class, consisting of land owners who could live entirely off rentalincome. Often they worked only in an administrative capacity managing of their own lands.Britishsocial classrental

Her works Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice(1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816), in 1818 she published both Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. Sense and SensibilityPride and PrejudiceMansfield ParkEmmaNorthanger AbbeyPersuasion Austen's works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th- century realism. Her plots, though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security.novels of sensibility

The sentimental novel or the novel of sensibility is an 18th century literary genre which celebrates the emotional and intellectual concepts of sentiment, sentimentalism, and sensibility. Sentimentalism, which is to be distinguished from sensibility, was a fashion in both poetry and prose fiction beginning in the eighteenth century in reaction to the rationalism of the Augustan Age.18th century literary genresentimentsentimentalismsensibilitypoetryAugustan Age Sentimental novels relied on emotional response, both from their readers and characters. They feature scenes of distress and tenderness, and the plot is arranged to advance emotions rather than action. The result is a valorization of "fine feeling," displaying the characters as a model for refined, sensitive emotional effect. The ability to display feelings was thought to show character and experience, and to shape social life and relations.

The 18 th Century writer The 18th century writer's primary aim was no longer to satisfy the standards of patrons and literary élite but to write in a simple way in order to be understood by the less educated new readers: middle class men and women. The new stories had to be particularly appealing to the practical - minded tradesman or manufacturer who was self-made and self-reliant. These were among the most influential factors in the "shaping" of the new genre.