Concetti Chiave
- The 18th-century novel emphasized realism, depicting everyday experiences of middle-class tradesmen with simple, relatable language.
- Writers targeted the middle and lower classes, who became new readers due to their interest in cultural improvement and financial capability.
- The rise of standard English and the availability of resources like circulating libraries and dictionaries facilitated cultural growth among the middle class.
- Novels often carried moral messages aligned with Puritan ethics, focusing on virtue, self-reliance, and the concept of reward and punishment.
- Detailed settings and specific references in novels enhanced realism, allowing readers to connect more deeply with the stories.
Realism in 18th century novels
The novel of the 18th century was based on realism, with ordinary situations, ordinary experiences in which the reader could identify in. The language was simple and understandable without latinism or anything not related to everyday english. Plots represented typical and familiar lives of middle-class tradesmen and they wanted to show that men are able to build up their living and improve their conditions relying only on his skills and ability.
Middle-class readership and prose
The German King didn’t partonised poetry, that was related to the upper class, so the court was not interested in english literature.
Writers found new readers in the middle and lower class, ready to support the improvement of prose production.
Bourgeois public wanted to improve its cultural condition because now they had money to do that.
They thought reason, which could analyse world and people, could be better represented by prose.
Cultural improvement and standard english
Middle-class had the opportunity to improve its conditions thanks to circulating libraries, Sunday schools, coffee houses and the diffusion of dictionaries, that helped to create a standard english that everybody could understand.
Its aim was to write in a simple way in order to be understood by middle and even lower classes, so speed and copiousness became the most important economic virtues.
Moral messages in novels
The moralising message was strong in novelists’ stories: the sense of reward and punishment was related to the Puritan ethics of the middle classes, for which a reward was given for virtue and punishment for sins.
The subject of the novels was always a middle-class and Puritan man, who was self-made and self-reliant because he had to represent the typical men of the period, in order to create a more realistic story for readers that wanted to identify theirself in it.
The writer was omnipresent, and he always used the third-person or the first-person.
Great attention was given to the setting: the descriptions had a lot of details and specific references to names of streets or towns gave more realism to the narration.
Domande da interrogazione
- How did 18th-century novels reflect the lives of their readers?
- What role did the middle class play in the evolution of prose during the 18th century?
18th-century novels were grounded in realism, depicting ordinary situations and experiences that middle-class readers could easily identify with. The language was simple and relatable, focusing on the familiar lives of tradesmen, emphasizing self-reliance and personal improvement.
The middle class became a significant audience for prose, as they sought cultural improvement and had the financial means to support it. This shift led to a focus on prose as a medium to represent reason and analyze the world, moving away from poetry, which was associated with the upper class.
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