SOCIAL PROTEST AND THE RISE OF THE NOVEL

The early eighteenth century witnessed the early development of the dominant literary form of modern times, the novel. The novel emerged as a form with structure and interplay between individuals and their relationships to society. As a new form, the novel tends to make some significant, critical, and social statements about the society. Hence, the novel is used to create a new environment that is related to life and people. Indeed, this is what makes the novel appeal to readers as a new genre. Novelists either try to deal with daily social problems that happen in the lives of people or pretend that they are telling real stories. It is not surprising to find that Daniel Defoe molds his Robinson Crusoe (1719)on a real story while Samuel Richardson in Pamela (1740) turns out to be didactic to meet the needs of the growing numbers of female readers. On his part, Henry Fielding tries to expose his society to the readers in his masterpiece The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749); from now on Tom Jones. Accordingly, the novel becomes popular at this time because it has something relevant to the mob; it deals with their social life, and they can identify themselves with its characters in the actual daily life. Through Tom Jones, Fielding presented “a true and realistic picture of human nature” (Kettle, 71). As long as its main concern is the existing society, novelists feel so involved that their criticism becomes direct, frank, and effective. My paper deals with these concerns as depicted in the novels mentioned above.

Mental Events.

Mental events, changes that take place in the consciousness of the narrated characters or the narrating entity, are an essential theme of narrative works. This book first undertakes a typologization of the procedures by means of which the content of consciousness is represented, as well as outlining the conditions of events and the criteria of eventfulness. Then, classic narrative works from various cultures and epochs – from Parzival and Tristan, through Samuel Richardson and Jane Austen, to Fëdor Dostoevskij and Anton Čexov – are examined in terms of how mental events are shaped in them. The book follows three guiding questions. What philosophy of events and consciousness is expressed in the works? How disposed are different cultures and epochs to eventfulness? To what extent do they allow for the presentation of fundamental mental changes?

Richardsonian Fiction, Women’s Raillery, and Heteropessimist Humour

The fiction of Samuel Richardson is not fundamentally humourless. This article analyzes the rich vein of humour found in Pamela in her Exalted Condition (1745) and The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753–54) to show that Richardson was acutely aware of the interpersonal power of laughter and that he harnessed it for aesthetic and moral ends. Novelistic scenes of spontaneous conversation dramatize the various and often embodied effects of humorous performances. Using theories of gender and humour, I argue that Richardson critiques and modifies Restoration wit by using women’s raillery as the primary vehicle for novelistic humour. Richardsonian fiction thus feminizes the domineering tendencies of masculine wit and the adversarial harms of ridicule, replacing them with chaste female models of “satirical merriment.” Such pleasure does not equate to liberation or even subversion. Through Pamela and Charlotte Grandison, the novels generate a heteropessimist humour in which women’s dynamic wit ultimately promotes their marital subordination to flawed, disappointing men.

Editorial

When I first studied the novel, the form was believed to have originated in the eighteenth century with the fiction of Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding and Samuel Richardson, and was synonymous with literary realism. The novel emerged from the Age of Reason, was closely associated with journalism, satire and conduct literature, and marked a profound break with the supernatural, fantastic and romance narratives of the past. Its perfect embodiment was to be found in the work of Jane Austen, even today an immensely popular writer, and widely regarded as a defining practitioner of the novel form. This kind of novel was/is in every respect different from Shakespeare: new, ‘novel’, not old; prose, not poetry; narrative, not dramatic; realist, not magical; fictional, not metafictional; and could deal with Shakespeare only as an objective feature of the society and culture being represented.

Fanny Hill, la pornografía y la novela sentimental: el eslabón faltante en la gesta de la novela inglesa dieciochesca

Este artículo analiza la manera en la cual la novela inglesa Fanny Hill (1748) de John Cleland sintetiza el idealismo cervantino, propio de la novela sentimental, y el realismo, heredero de la picaresca femenina. Al situar esta obra en la gesta de la novela dieciochesca inglesa, especialmente frente a las obras de Samuel Richardson y en constante diálogo con el legado picaresco y cervantino, Fanny Hill emerge como una novela compleja, metaficticia y reflexiva. En su reflexividad, Cleland se enfoca en analizar los mecanismos de la novela en general y de la novela pornográfica en particular. Los mecanismos que se destacan son la reflexión sobre el ejercicio literario, el registro lingüístico y la recepción. Sobre todo, Fanny —como “narradora”— se detiene a analizar con detalle el savoir faire de la novela pornográfica en la cual el tema central del sexo, en cuanto mecánico y repetitivo, exige una narrativa mecánica y repetitiva. Finalmente, el artículo destaca la complicada agencia simbólica, literaria, económica y de género, que despliega la “narradora” Fanny ante otras protagonistas de la novela inglesa, como Pamela o Clarissa. Al enfatizar la síntesis que la novela hace del idealismo y del realismo, así como su constante reflexividad, arguyo que Fanny Hill debe ser considerada más que una obra exclusivamente pornográfica y entrar en el canon de la novela inglesa del dieciocho.

Eliza HAYWOOD, «Anti-Pamela; o, el descubrimiento de la falsa pureza»

El pasaje que traduciremos a continuación pertenece a la obra publicada en 1741, Anti-Pamela; or, Feign’d Innocence Detected, por la novelista inglesa Eliza Haywood (1693-1756) una de las personalidades literarias más atractivas del s. xviii. No se sabe con exactitud la fecha o el lugar de nacimiento de Haywood, aunque muchos la sitúan en 1693. Inició su carrera en Dublín, en un principio como actriz; sin embargo, más tarde, en 1719, comenzó a centrarse en la escritura con la publicación de su primera novela, Love in Excess (1719). A pesar del desconocimiento de su obra en nuestro país, pues tan solo se ha realizado una traducción al gallego de una de sus publicaciones en 2010, titulada A dama solitaria & fantomina (traducida por María Fe González Fernández), Haywood logró consagrarse como una de las novelistas más conocidas de su época en el panorama de la literatura inglesa de su tiempo.[1] Por lo que respecta a su obra Anti-Pamela, la pretensión inicial de la autora al publicarla fue la de realizar una crítica jocosa de la novela epistolar más importante de la época, Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded, publicada en 1740 por su coetáneo Samuel Richardson. La novela de Richardson gira en torno a Pamela, una humilde criada que rechaza las constantes e indecentes propuestas de su amo, el señor B, con el objetivo de proteger su virtud. Este comportamiento se ve más tarde recompensado a través de una propuesta de matrimonio por parte del señor B. Haywood realiza una crítica de los valores propuestos en esta novela, así como del personaje principal y las intenciones ocultas que se encuentran tras sus actos a través de la creación del personaje de Syrena, una joven criada cuyo juicio queda nublado por su ambición y codicia desmesuradas, dispuesta a hacer lo que sea para conseguir ascender en el escalafón social y llevar una vida acomodada y sin preocupaciones. El extracto expuesto a continuación corresponde a la tercera carta que Syrena escribe a su madre, cómplice de sus fechorías y engaños, en la cual la protagonista expone el cruel engaño al que el señor L, un joven adinerado heredero de la fortuna de la familia para la que Syrena trabaja, se ha visto sometido. Este fragmento constituye una de las partes más importantes de la novela, pues realiza un retrato perfecto del comportamiento y la ambición sin límites tanto del personaje principal como de la madre de esta. [1] Para mayor información, véase: Lorenzo Modia (1998), Ingrassia (2004: pp. 7-43), King (2015: en línea) o Enclyclopaedia Britannica (2019: en línea).

Tarnished Virtues: From Richardson to Beardsley

The starting point of the article is a statement about “tarnished virtues” by one of the characters of Poor Folk, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s first novel. The word combination evokes various associations, allusions, and numerous variants of interpretation. A remark on virtues made in the frame of an epistolary novel immediately recalls the novels of a coryphaeus of the genre, 18th-Century English writer Samuel Richardson, especially his first one, in which the word “virtue” appears in the title – Pamela Or, Virtue Rewarded. However, Richardson’s comprehension of virtue seems to be quite narrow, a fact that had been already noticed by his contemporary writer Henry Fielding, who wrote a parody on Pamela. A brief analysis of the parody discovers a common vision on the nature of virtue by both Fielding and Dostoevsky, which becomes even clearer when one finds out their mutual reference point – Cervantes’ Don Quixote. The article explores other novels by Richardson, his influence upon European literature as well as his inner correlation with such writers as Karamzin and Pushkin. Besides, the article investigates the question – raised by its author some years ago – of a certain similarity between the plotlines of Clarissa and Poor Folk, the appearance of “Lovelace” in Dostoevsky’s first book, and the sudden turn of the plot from Richardson’s glorification of virtue to Dostoevsky’s dramatic realism. A few interpretations of Poor Folk are briefly analyzed, including that of Aubrey Beardsley, who illustrated the novel. Several explanations of the sentence on “tarnished virtues” are explored, and finally, the author offers a new one.

Tarnished Virtues: From Richardson to Beardsley

The starting point of the article is a statement about “tarnished virtues” by one of the characters of Poor Folk, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s first novel. The word combination evokes various associations, allusions, and numerous variants of interpretation. A remark on virtues made in the frame of an epistolary novel immediately recalls the novels of a coryphaeus of the genre, 18th-Century English writer Samuel Richardson, especially his first one, in which the word “virtue” appears in the title – Pamela Or, Virtue Rewarded. However, Richardson’s comprehension of virtue seems to be quite narrow, a fact that had been already noticed by his contemporary writer Henry Fielding, who wrote a parody on Pamela. A brief analysis of the parody discovers a common vision on the nature of virtue by both Fielding and Dostoevsky, which becomes even clearer when one finds out their mutual reference point – Cervantes’ Don Quixote. The article explores other novels by Richardson, his influence upon European literature as well as his inner correlation with such writers as Karamzin and Pushkin. Besides, the article investigates the question – raised by its author some years ago – of a certain similarity between the plotlines of Clarissa and Poor Folk, the appearance of “Lovelace” in Dostoevsky’s first book, and the sudden turn of the plot from Richardson’s glorification of virtue to Dostoevsky’s dramatic realism. A few interpretations of Poor Folk are briefly analyzed, including that of Aubrey Beardsley, who illustrated the novel. Several explanations of the sentence on “tarnished virtues” are explored, and finally, the author offers a new one.