The Industrial Revolution

• what? process that rapidly transformed Britain from an agricultural to an industrial country.
• when? is difficult to date it exactly; however we could say it took place from 1760 to the middle of the 19th century
• how? this process involved the use of new sources of power (like coal and steam engine) and also new important technological inventions. Transportation and communication improve greatly in that period
• what about common people? a lot of people left the countryside and went to the cities which expanded rapidly. These people usually lived in condition of terrible poverty. Men, women and even children were exploited in factories and mines, and lived in slums (overcrowded and polluted urban areas where people lived in horrible sanitary condition)

Romanticism – Jean Jacques Rousseau

Rousseau was a Swiss philosopher and lived in the 18th century ( 1712-1778 )
According to him, “man is good by nature but corrupted by society” (the invention of the idea of the “noble sauvage” -le bon sauvage, in French- has been attributed to him)
Romanticism was deeply influenced by Rousseau’s ideas.
• what is romanticism? It was a cultural movement that originated in Europe at the end of the 18th century; we can say that it was a reaction against the Enlightenment (as well as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution) and a reaction against the models and rules of Neo Classicism
• leading ideas of romanticism and neoclassicism?
(vedi tabella in allegato)

• Vocabulary: stressed the importance of [..] – on the contrary [..] – emphasize [..] – put in evidence [..] –
evoke [..] – as regards (riguardo) [..]

The gothic novel

Is a form of novel which developed towards (around) the end of the 18th century.
• frightening tale of horror and mystery, with characteristic features like ghost and haunted castle, dark dungeons and supernatural events
• general feeling of darkness and pessimism
The term “gothic” : was probably use to describe this style because the contents recalled the Middle Ages, and sometimes means “medieval”
• first novelist of this genre: Horace Walpole (The Castle of Otranto 1765)
• other: Matthew Lewis (The Monk 1796) and Ann Radcliffe (The mysteries of Udolpho 1794)
According to some critics, gothic novels were a reaction against the good sense (reason, order, rationalism) of the period
• first novel: Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe

We can say the rise of the novel is related to the rise of the middle class: a new class of readers .