Rise of the English Novel: Realism, Individuality, and Locke

The Rise of the English Novel

The English novel became a mature and predominant form in the mid-eighteenth century. Writers such as Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding wrote for the money they earned. The earlier prose fiction was Daniel Defoe’s Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, first published in 1719.

Realism and Veracity in Early Novels

The change in opinion has been attributed to the growing presence of realism in novels. It was also the last step in the novel’s rising acceptability. This realism became the novel’s defining formal characteristic (Ian Watt). Early eighteenth-century readers of travel narratives were apt to criticize authors for making up tales rather than recording actual experiences. Realism in the novel was synonymous with veracity. For that reason Defoe presented Robinson Crusoe (R.C.) as a book written by a real R.C.

By the end of the eighteenth century the reading public happily consumed novels. This realism could suggest veracity: Ian Watt, in The Rise of the Novel, described it as the “particularity of description” and “the primacy of individual experiences.” Authors had to make the story so real that people thought it was the real story of a particular person.

Philosophy, Individuality, and the Novel

In philosophy, John Locke emphasized the individual’s perception of the world. All of us have an inner self within ourselves, which was considered the soul (apart from the physical body). Locke argued that we have a conscience created by our private experiences. When we are born we are like a tabula rasa (blank tablet), and all the experiences we have since childhood make us.

For that reason, in novels there is a rise of the middle class and of individuality as the origin and ground for a new concept of a “deep” self (e.g., Pamela, Robinson Crusoe). John Locke — empiricism. Richardson wrote “for the moment” (letters), providing more detail of what happens and the feelings directly from the character.

Character, Society, and Literary Technique

One had to create a character and place them in a real society. In Robinson Crusoe there are more details and more realism. Change in character focus: epic heroes and nobility that populated so many years of poetry during the Romance era gave way to middle-class protagonists.

Key Points

• Mid-eighteenth century: the novel matures as a literary form.
• Authors such as Richardson and Fielding wrote professionally.
• Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) exemplified realism presented as veracity.
• Ian Watt highlighted particularity of description and individual experience.
• John Locke’s empiricism and the tabula rasa concept influenced novelistic individuality.
• The novel shifted focus from aristocratic epic heroes to middle-class protagonists.