Novel in XVIII and XIX century

5th November

The ability of making the protagonist of the story a common man is one of the reasons of Robinson Crusoe‘s great success. The hero of the novel is not a super human entity, more like a God than a man. The middle-class reader who was reading Robinson Crusoe would have felt such an entity far away from himself (or herself). Instead, they felt that Robinson was “one of us”. The character of Robinson is built so that he looked like a contemporary of the common readers of the XVIII century. Defoe himself maintains that what he’s writing is true life, that’s why he gives the novel the form of a diary. Also, in the preface Defoe defends the existence of his character as a real man against whoever may doubt it. The invention itself of a new word (novel), used to distinguish the new types of composition from the

Robinson che prega Pubblico Dominio

Robinson che prega
Pubblico Dominio

romance, witnesses the anxiety for truth: “they are no fantastic compositions”. There is an evident will to bring up sources, documents just to prove the authenticity of the story. In conclusion there is an evident claim of identity between novels and real world.

The novels of the XVIII century are said to have a relationship of reflection with real world, like a mirror. Novels are the mirror of contemporary world. Mirrors do not change reality which they reflect.

Victorian novels introduce new elements. The authors no more pretend that their stories are real (the truth). On the contrary, they share a general awareness of the invented nature of their stories, but they consciously use them to analyse the world around. The novel becomes an instrument of investigation (James, Conrad, Dickens). Charles Dickens uses the novel to start raging discussions among his readers, public opinion reacts to his novels through the pages of newspapers, even the Parliament is concerned. The myth of the intellectual as the Guardian, whose mission is that of helping England to become a better world is a creation of the Victorian Age.

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