Jane Austen

Derived from the Latin novellas meaning ‘a little new thing’

Crawford called it a ‘pocket theatre’

Used in the fourteenth century by the Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio for his prose work Decameron (1348-53)

Picaresque story popularised in Spain in the sixteenth century (Lazarillo de Tormes)

Cervantes’s Don Quixote de la Mancha was the first great novel in Europe

First emerged in the eighteenth century Novel was democratised, was taken out of the aristocracy

to cater to the need of the common man

Contributing factors:i. Elizabethan prose tales (Thomas Nashe’s The

Unfortunate Traveller)ii. Picaresque storiesiii. Character-writers of 17th century (Bishop Hall, Sir

Thomas Overbury, John Earle)iv. Periodicals of Addison, Steele (concerned with people in

real life)v. Narrative style of Bunyan (Pilgrim’s Progress)vi. Defoe (Robinson Crusoe) and Swift (Gulliver’s Travels)

i. Sir Samuel Richardson

ii. Henry Fielding

iii. Tobias Smollett

iv. Laurence Sterne

Pamela (1740), the first novel

Richardson – introduced psychological realism through epistolary style; sought to improve the morals of his age

i. Pamela or Virtue Rewarded (1740)

ii. Clarissa (1748)

iii. Sir Charles Grandison (1754)

Henry Fielding – comic epic-in-prose

i. Joseph Andrews (1742)

ii. Jonathan Wild the Great (1743)

iii. Tom Jones (1749)

iv. Amelia (1751)

Both Richardson and Fielding took a break from the old-fashioned romances and concentrated on ‘realism’

Tobias Smollett – presents human idiosyncrasies and social criticism in picaresque style

i. Roderick Randomii. The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751)

iii. Ferdinand, Count Fathom (1753)

iv. Humphrey Clinker (1771)

Laurence Sterne – sentimental comedy, introduced impressionistic method of story-telling

i. Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandyii. A Sentimental Journey into France and Italy

(1768)

Oliver Goldsmith – moral Rousseau Henry Mackenzie Dr. Johnson

Gothic Novels:i. Horace Walpole (The Castle of Otronto)ii. Miss Clara Reeve (The Old English Baron)iii. Mrs. Ann Radcliffe (The Mysteries of Udolpho)iv. Matthew Gregory Lewis (The Monk)v. Charles Maturin (Melmoth the Wanderer)vi. William Beckford (Vathek)

Historical Novels:i. Sir Walter Scott (Ivanhoe, Waverly)

Regional Novels:i. Maria Edgeworth (Castle Rackrent)

Novels of Manners/ Domestic Novels:i. Jane Austen ii. Fanny Burney (Evelina)

Bronte Sisters/ Stormy Sisterhood:i. Charlotte Bronteii. Emily Bronteiii. Anne Bronte(imparted romantic note of imagination and passion, poetised the English novel, chiefly study the feminine heart)

Condition of England Novels:i. Charles Dickensii. Mrs Elizabeth Gaskelliii. Charles Kingsleyiv. Benjamin Disraeli

Children Fiction:i. Robert Louis Stevensonii. Lewis Carroll

Newgate Novels:i. Thackeray (Catherine)ii. Defoe (Moll Flanders)iii. Dickens (Oliver Twist)iv. Fielding (Jonathan Wild the Great)

Other major novelists:

i. William Makepeace Thackeray

ii. Thomas Hardy

iii. Anthony Trollope

iv. George Eliot

v. George Meredith

No comic-epic-in-prose of Fielding, No moral purpose of Richardson, only object was to entertain her readers by a truthful presentation of the ordinary social scene

Had penetrating insight into man as a social animal Her personal familiarity with the world of social pretention, of balls and

visits, of marriages etc provided the raw material The world she presents in her novels is essentially eighteenth-century

England in its tastes, habits and appearances Money and the notion of gentility are made immensely important Wrote just before the Industrial Revolution, hence the serenity of the

unspoiled countryside is well presented Wrote during the Napoleonic Wars but mentions soldiers only as

attractions for the girls The last voice of a happier age Simplicity of style Chiefly about the young people Attainment of self-knowledge by the central figures is her main theme

Began as ‘Elinor and Marianne’ in 1795, was redrafted and was the first publication of Austen as Sense and Sensibility (1811)

Drafted in 1796-97 as ‘First Impressions’, rejected by the publishers, later became Pride and Prejudice (1813)

Mansfield Park (1814)

Emma (1816)

Persuasion (1818)

Sandition (unfinished)

‘Susan’, drafted in 1798-9 was published posthumously as Northanger Abbey (1817)

No formal education No professional freedom Tutored at home, if the family can afford Engaged in learning domestic chores such as

embroidery, knitting etc. No economic rights No inheritance rights

‘A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music,singing, dancing, drawing, and the modern languages,…she must possess a certain something in her air andmanner of walking, the tone of her voice, her addressand expressions….’ (27)

It “is rather too light, and bright, and sparkling; it wants shade’’

Presents well the contemporary society

Mannerisms and leisure

Pretentions

Social status

Property rights

Status of middle class women

Parameters for women (25)

‘We are not rich enough, or grand enough for them…’ (87)

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’ (1) Rich man, the most sought-after match, ‘the rightful

property’ (1)

Marriageable daughter was the main concern of the parents

‘The business of her life was to get her daughters married’ (3)

‘If I can but see one of my daughters happily settled at Netherfield, and all the others equally well married, I shall have nothing to wish for’ (5)

Marriage, the best vocation for women – ‘the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune’ (90)

They need not be romantic or indulge in any kind of fancy, all that is needed is ‘a comfortable home’ (92)

‘A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment.’ (19)

‘Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.’ (15)

Collins eyed Jane, shifted his focus to Elizabeth, on being refused, very casually turned to Charlotte

Mr. Bennett confines himself to his study after becoming a victim of a beautiful face, hence the advice ‘My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life.’

Mr. Bennet

Mrs. Bennet

Jane

Elizabeth (Lizzy, father’s favourite)

Mary

Catherine (Kitty)

Lydia

5 sisters

Mrs. & Mr. Hurst (sister & brother-in-law)

Ms. Bingley (sister)

Mr. Darcy (friend)

Georgiana (Miss Darcy)

Sir William Lucas

Lady Lucas

Charlotte, Maria

Mrs. Philip (aunt at Meryton)

Mr. Gardiner (brother of Mrs. Bennet)

Mr. Collins

Mr. Denny

Mr. Wickham

Lady Catherie de Bourgh (aunt to Darcy)

Unexpected disclosures and ironic reversals Stateliness of money and rank appears in full

parade Shame and breach of conduct (Lydia’s

elopement), the fallen woman Marriage as business for social security The Napoleonic wars are ignored but not the

spirit of time: Mrs Bennet with her army of daughters declares war against the eligible. Mr Collins’ proposal misses its target. Love is like war, all minds are tensed with it. Elizabeth and Darcy are well armoured. Lady Catherine moves blatantly to attack.