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The rise of the novel, found expression in novel and journalism - Coggle…
The rise of the novel
books
expensive
unaffordable for the lower classes
cheaper forms
ballads chapbooks pamphlets newspapers
short stories and novels published in installments
circulating libraries increased the reading public
woman had the luxury of the time
In the field of criticism:
Prefaces to Shakespeare (1765)
Lives of the Poets (1779-81)
Samuel Johnson (1709-84) was a major figure:
The Dictionary of the English Language (1755)
The reading public
literature reflected economic and intellectual progress
remarkable output + growing interest in reading
Reading = occupational activity
limited by low level of literacy
countryside
farmers and laborers were illiterate
towns
limited because of few schools and early leaving age
RISE OF PROSE
encouraged by growing importance of the middle class
the belief in the power of reason
the individual’s trust in his own abilities
REASON and PURITAN MORALITY
Reason
analyse the world
analyse itself
basis of the parody and satire in Swift’s and Fielding’s novels
critique of different aspects of rationality
Puritan
leading role in readers
Defoe and Richardson combined religious and secular interests in their works
the compromise was the most important trend
Joseph Addison’s The Spectator
earliest expression in predicals
found expression in novel and journalism