1、18th Century British Literature (1688-1785),The 18th Century,Historical Background (events),Historical Background,A. A constitutional monarchy（君主立宪制）-After the Glorious Revolution the ruling power in England passed from the king to the parliament. B. The continuous, large-scale enclosures of land re
2、sulted in rural bankruptcy. The poverty and misery of the exploited and unemployed laboring masses in the cities increased. C. The exerted an immense impact on human thinking Industrial Revolution, which started in the 1760s, D. The 13 former British colonies in North America Announced their indepen
3、dence in 1776.,Historical Background (generalization)Politically, Abosulute monarchy constitutional monarchy Socially, rising of urban middle class or bourgeoisie Economically, a. industrial revolution b. expansion of its colonies abroad,Ideologically, Age of Enlightenmenta. scientific discoveries (
4、Newton) and flourishing of philosophies, French enlightenment started.b. expression of struggle of the progressive class of bourgeoisie against feudalism.c. constitution of Renaissance in belief in the possibility of human educationd. rationality, natural right and equality,The Enlightenment Movemen
5、t,The 18th-century England is known as the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason.The Enlightenment Movement was a progressive intellectual movement which flourished in France & swept through the whole Western Europe at the time. The movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance of the 15th & 16t
6、h centuries. Its purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the light of modern philosophical & artistic ideas.,What is Enlightenment?,The enlighteners considered the chief means for the betterment of the society was “enlightenment” or “education” for the people. The Enlightener celebrated reason
7、 or ration, equality, science and human beings ability to perfect themselves and their society. They called for a reference to order, reason & rules & advocated universal education. Famous among the great enlighteners in England were those great writers like John Dryden, Alexander pope & so on.,Adap
8、tion of Englightenment in Literature -Neoclassicism,neoclassicism:In the field of literature, the Enlightenment Movement brought about a revival of interest in the old classical works. This tendency is known as neoclassicism. According to the neoclassicists, all forms of literature were to be modele
9、d after the classical works of the ancient Greek & Roman writers . They believed that the artistic ideals should be order, logic, restrained emotion & accuracy, & that literature should be judged in terms of its service to humanity. This belief led them to seek proportion（均衡）, unity, harmony & grace
10、 in literary expressions, in an effort to delight, instruct（教导） & correct human beings, primarily as social animals. Thus, a polite, urbane, witty（富于机智的）, & intellectual art developed.,Adaption of Englightenment in Literature -Sentimentalism（感伤主义）,Sentimentalism is one of the important trends in Eng
11、lish literature of the middle and later decades of the 18th century.Along with a new vision of love, sentimentalism. presented a new view of human nature which prized feeling over thinking, passion over reason, and personal instincts of “pity（怜悯，同情）, tenderness（敏感，亲切）, and benevolence（仁慈，善行）“ over s
12、ocial duties. Literary work of the sentimentalism, marked by a sincere sympathy for the poverty-stricken, expropriated（征用） peasants, wrote the “simple annals（年报，年鉴） of the poor.”,Sentimentalism embraces（信奉） a pessimistic outlook and blames reason and the Industrial Revolution for the miseries and in
13、justices in the aristocratic（贵族的）-bourgeois society and indulges in sentiment. Writers of sentimentalism justly criticized the cruelty of the capitalist relations and the gross social injustices brought about by the bourgeois revolutions. Writers of Sentimentalism try to concentrate on the distresse
14、s of the poor unfortunate but virtuous（善良的，有道德的） people, conveying the idea that virtuous people may finally be rewarded.,sentimentalism,Sentimentalism was a direct reaction against the cold, hard commercialism and rationalism which had dominated peoples life since the last decades of the 17th centu
15、ry. fictionPamela, Samuel Richardson. poetry Thomas Grays Elegy（挽歌） written in a Country Churchyard（教堂墓地）, Goldsmiths The Deserted Village, etc.,Outline of the Development in Literature,Early 18th Centuryneo-classicism Alexander Pope (poetry)prose literature Addison and Steele (periodicals期刊，杂志 )the
16、 first realistic fiction Daniel Defoe Jonathan Swift,Middle 18th Centuryrealistic novels Henry Fielding drama Richard Brinsley Sheridan the last decades of the 18th century sentimentalism Thomas Gray (poetry) Oliver Goldsmith (prose fiction小说选粹 ) pre-romanticism（前浪漫主义） William Blake Robert Burns (po
17、etry),Daniel Defoe,a successful businessman, a typical hardworking Englishman at his age a journalist and political pamphleteer（小册子作者(尤指带政治性出版物的小册子作者)；活页文章撰写者；小册子出版者）, a novelistHe favors the capitalist adventure in an new world. His first and greatest novel is known by everyone in China once as Rob
18、inson Crusoe, the most famous tale of shipwreck and solitary survival in all literature.,His major works,Defoe is generally considered the first great realistic novelist in English fiction. He based his stories on current events & materials, such as the maps & logs of actual sea voyages, personal me
19、moirs（回忆录）& historical or eyewitness reports. Perhaps his most popular novel is Robinson Crusoe (1719) an adventure story based partly on the actual experience of a man (In 1704, Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor, was marooned（孤立无援的） on the island of Juan Fernandez in the Atlantic, and lived ther
20、e alone for 4 years.) who had been trapped on a deserted island.,The Characteristics of his Novels,Deal with the personal history of some of the heroes and heroinesThe all-powerful（全能的） influence of material circumstances or social environment upon the thoughts and actions of the hero or the heroin,
21、 the struggle of the poor unfortunate for mere existence, mixed with their desire for great wealth are highlighted. (3) The first literary works devoted to the study of problems of the lower-class people (4) His sentences are variable, sometimes short, crisp and plain, and sometimes long and ramblin
22、g（闲聊的）, (5) The language is smooth, easy, colloquial（通俗的） and mostly vernacular（本地的，方言的）.,Robinson Crusoe (1719),Robinson Crouse, an adventure story very much in the spirit of the time, is universally considered his masterpiece. In the novel, Defoe traces the growth of Robinson from a naive & simple
23、 youth into a mature & hardened man, tempered（锻炼） by numerous trials（磨练） in his eventful（多变故的） life.,plot,It tells of his misfortunes at sea which cast him ashore（在岸上） an uninhabited island, living 28 years of isolation there.He builds himself a house, domesticates（驯养） goats, grows corn and barley（大
24、麦）, and makes himself a boat. It describes the visit of cannibal（吃同类的，凶残的） savages（野蛮人） to the island, and his rescue of the poor savage Friday from death.The book is an adventure story, a moral tale, a commercial account and a puritan（清教徒的） fable（寓言）. It celebrates the 18th century western civiliza
25、tions material triumph and the strength of human rational will to conquer the natural environment.,Comment for his novel,If the philosophy of the time asserted that life was, in Hobbess words, “solitary, poor, nasty（肮脏的）, brutish（残忍的）, and short”, the novel showed the ways of coping with brutish rea
26、lity and making the best of it. Robinson is everyman, struggling with patience and fortitude（不屈不挠） through persistent work to conquer nature. Defoe highly praises the active, aggressive and unbeatable spirit in Crusoe.,Crusoe is the prime example of the so-called “Economic Man”. Much of the fascinat
27、ion of the novel lies in the detailed account of his successes in taming（制服） Nature and harnessing（治理） her resources. He is seen as one of the first capitalist heroes, who overcomes extreme difficulties to reach economic security. The story embodies（体现） many of the aspects of the triumph of the midd
28、le-class ones, where money is the driving force.,The Merits and Demerits of Robinson Crusoe,A. The artistic character of the novel: the concreters of the description and vividness. B. The author does not express the character with his words but let the character show himself in his own action. The c
29、omplements of comments and diaries. C. Dofoe is said to be the “当代小说的源头”。（通过一个主人公的遭遇对现实生活进行描写的文学模式） D. Dofoe reillustrate the “isolated island” in his literature work. D. Limitation（局限）:a. simple structure b. loose and repletion（充斥） c. minor characters lack much impression,Literature on “Isolated Is
30、land”,“荒岛模式”在文学上的功能 （1）把小说的叙述安排到非常陌生、荒凉的处境中，运用的是“陌生化”的文学原则。(defamiliarlization) （2）能够给作家一个非常真实的再现“创世纪”过程的机会，通过对荒岛故事的讲述方法，安排在荒凉中生存的逻辑。 （3）荒岛的处境有助于作家表现人物性格。 人与荒凉的大自然之间的关系是一种新的关系，人与荒蛮的社会也是一种新的关系。作家和读者关注的是在这种新的关系中，人物有哪些心理特征。,Character analysis of Robinson,The character Robinson is not common sailor. He
31、is a businessman who takes overseas business as his cause. He is also a typical eighteenth-century English middle-class man with a great capacity for work, inexhaustible energy, courage, patience & persistence in overcoming obstacles, in struggling against the hostile（敌对的） natural environment. He is
32、 the very prototype（原型，模范） of the empire builder, the pioneer colonist.,Robinson is a bourgeoisie with adventurous spirit Robinson is a bourgeoisie of practical spirit. Robinson is bourgeoisie of colonizing character.,Postcolonial view,Robinson is a typical 18th century middle-class tradesman, who i
33、s the prototype of the empire builder, the pioneer colonist. As a colonizer, he establishes on the island a model of his own society. His belief in God, or in what he himself is doing, is never questioned. Crusoe, having survived 28 years on his desert island, sees his investments make him rich, and
34、 sees his island colonized, without any sympathy for Friday whom he views as the simple native, improved by his master and by his conversion to Christianity. Alternatively, Friday can be seen as the victim of colonization whose territory and beliefs are usurped（侵占） by the coloniser.,Crusoes loneline
35、ss is a magnified（放大的） version of the solitude of all men and women in an individual society.Religion and imperialism go hand in hand. In colonialism, “savagery” and civilization exist side by side. Freedom is for Englishmen, not aboriginal people.,Jonathan Swift,Irish-born, once was priest and dean
36、 of a Cathedral church, lived often in England. Swift is generally considered the greatest prose satirist in English literature. Through fables, allegories, & pamphlets he savagely（野蛮地，残忍地） exposed the vices &follies（罪恶） of mankind. He defined a good style as “proper words inproper places.” Clear, s
37、imple, concrete dic-tion（用语，措词）, uncomplicated sentence structure, eco-nomy and conciseness of language mark all his writings-essays, poems and novels.,His Main Works,The Battle of Books （A College History of English Literature, P245）A Tale of a Tub（无稽之谈） A Modest Proposal Gullivers Travels (P192),G
38、ullivers Travels,The book consists of four books, each of which deals with one of the four voyages of Lemuel Gulliver, the protagonist（主角）, to the four remote and fantastic countries Lilliput（小人国）, Brobdingnag（大人国）, Laputa（飞岛）, and Houyhnhnms（慧骃国 ）-after he has met with shipwrecks, or pirates or oth
39、er unfortunate happenings on the sea. Through the description of Gullivers adventures, Swift strips（脱去） off the veil that covers the hypocrisy（伪善，虚伪）, injustice, crude（天然的） vices of his society, to expose them all to the satire.,Gullivers Travels (1726): a masterpiece of satire not only on all parts
40、 of Britain but also on the vice, folly and weakness of the whole mankind. Part I: voyage to Lilliput (小人国), the land of miniature（微小） Part II: voyage to Brobdingnag (大人国), the land of giant Part : voyage to Laputa(飞岛) Part IV: voyage to the land of Houyhnhnms慧恩,具有人类理性的马匹, a noble breed of thinking,
41、 talking, high-minded horses. Jonathans point of view: Houyhnhnms: noble and rational yet cold and dullYahoos(格列弗游记 中的一种人形兽): low yet natural the human race,1. Their literary activities: They jointly ran two newspapers, the Tatler（闲谈者英国期刊） and the Spectators, and published essays dealing with manner
42、s, morals and literature.2. Their importance: Their essays truthfully portrayed the social life of England, and paved the way for the coming of the English novel.,Richard Steele(1672-1729) & Joseph Addison(1672-1719),Henry Fielding,Father of the English Novel He was the greatest playwright and the g
43、reatest novelist in his own time. The first to write specifically a “comic epic in prose” (喜剧散文史诗 ),whose subject is “the true ridiculous” in human nature.,Main Works,The History of the Adventures of Joseph AndrewThe Life of Mr Jonathan Wild, the Great Amelia The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling Do
44、n Quixote in England,The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling,Tom Jones, generally considered Fieldings masterpiece, brings its author the name of the “Prose Homer.” The language is one of clarity & suppleness（柔软）. And last of all, the plot construction is excellent. It is divided into 3 sections, 6 bo
45、oks each, clearly marked out by the change of scenes: in the country, on the high way & in London. By this, Fielding has indeed achieved his goal of writing a “comic epic in prose.“,His achievement in English novel,Fielding has been regarded by some as “Father of the English Novel,“ for his contribu
46、tion to the establishment of the form of the modern novel. Of all the eighteenth-century novelists he was the first to set out, both in theory & practice, to write specifically a “comic epic in prose,“ the first to give the modern novel its structure & style. Before him, the relating of a story in a
47、 novel was either in the epistolary form (a series of letters), as in Richardsons Pamela, or the (to be continued),picaresque form (adventurous wanderings) through the mouth of the principal character, as in Defoes Robinson Crusoe, but Fielding adopted “ the third-person narration,“ in which the aut
48、hor becomes the “all-knowing God.“ He “thinks the thought“ of all his characters, so he is able-to present not only their external behaviors but also the internal workings of their minds. In planning his stories, he tries to retain the grand epical form of the classical works but at the same time ke
49、eps faithful to his realistic presentation of common life as it is.,Richard Brinsley Sheridan,The only important English dramatist of the eighteenth century The Rivals and The School for Scandal are regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw, and as
50、 true classics in English comedy. Morality is the constant theme. His plays carry his severe satire and are the product of a dramatic genius as well as of a well-versed theatrical man .,Lives of the English Poets,Pope: New things are made familiar, and familiar things are made new If pope be not a poet, where is poetry to be found? Gray: The churchyard abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo.,
