Industrial revolution, Romanticism, gothic novel

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 the steam engine, and also new important technological inventions. Transportation and communication improved 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 conditions 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 conditions.

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 Neoclassicism.
• 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, or around, the end of the 18th century.

• Frightening tale of horror and mystery, with characteristic features like ghosts and haunted castles, dark dungeons and supernatural events.
• General feeling of darkness and pessimism.

The term “gothic” was probably used 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 and 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.