La novella

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Data:	11.09.2007
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NOVEL
In 18th century in England arrived a new genere called Novel(it is different to romanzo, roman,romancio). The word ‘novel’ has a Latin origin(novus) and told new and original, not traditional, stories. The firs graet writers were Defoe, Richardson, Fielding and their stories didn’t tell about classical or Christian mytology, epic, history and Bibble. The plots of their novels are taken instead from incidents at that time quite common.

In opposition with Middle Ages and Reinassance, 18th century’s novels were realistic. The modern idea of realism is reflected in the fact unlike previous fiction, novels deal with recognizably contemporary objects, language and situation(not with extraordinary, fantastic or magical events told in rafined language). The lenguage of the novel is plain,factual, similar to the lenguage of newspapers and magazines. The novel’s main features are:
- chronological sequence of events;
- a great stress on contemporaty reality;
- abdunance of realistic details;
- the novelty of the stories.
Deteiled realism shows in two elements: place and time. Time ceased to be a eternal and immutable power(felt through death and physical decay), it becomes a sharping influence on a character’s personal development. The main characters in Richardson’s Pamela and Fielding’s Tom Jones go through a process of growing up and their identity is changed by experience.
Defoe intend the space as a geographical entity(his sea voyages are measured by longitude and latitude, there are names of real sea, ships and harbours). Space in novel is a description of people’s interiors. Richardson describe with great precision books, pictures in a room and forniture as well as the clothes the people in it are wearing.
The realism of the novel reflects the middle-class life. In Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flandera there are a lot of middle-class characters full of enterprise and commercial eisdom, Richardson’s novel show us the respectable, pious side of the middle-class. The middle-class is described by a lot of vistues: temperance,economy,sobriety and modesty and faith in God’s favour is a distinctive feature of the Protestant an Puritan. The novel came into being to satisfy the needs of middle-class with origilal stories come from the experiences in a similar language to that of the averange man. The most of novel’s readers come from the new commercial and mercantile middle class.
The origins of realism were social, historical and philosophical. The realism come from the empirical philosophy of Descartes and Locke: everythings come from a personal experience.

The novel tended to include and trasform older narrative prose tradictions(tales of adventure, historical, diary and letter writing). Letter writing gave birth to the epistolary novel, the tales of adventure to the picaresque novel and utopian fiction novel. An exemple of utopian fiction is Gouliver’s Travels by Swift: it show a immaginary worlds presented as a counterpart to actual imperfect societies.
Epistolary novels included letters written by one person(a traveller in a real or immaginary country), letters between several corrispondents(point of view ar multiplied). Richardson used letters as a means of psycological analysis, his female characters write when they are under the strong impressions and feelings( this style was called “writing to the moment”).
Very popular were the picaresque novel( the best writer was Fielding inspierd by Cervantes’ Don Quixote). In Tome Jones, he improves on the picaresque pattern; Tom adventures are not casua but they are a part of a process of growing up, at the and of the story he become responsible and reliable.

DEFOE
He was born in 1660 in london into a family of Puritain. He became a novelist in 1719 and he wrote the story of a shiprecked who for 28 years menages to survive alone on a desert island: Robinson Crusoe.
In Robinson Crusoe we have at the first a fictitious narrative then a lot of realistic elements(realistic story but not come from a real experience). The story in told by a first-person narrator and is thus a fake autobiography. The realism is conferred by: name and surname, where he lives in England, parents and relatives ‘ jobs and where they come from(and a short life-profile). Place (England and far-away countries) aren’t generic but carefully described in a geographical context. Time is real, Robinson starts writing a diary in which he records everythings happens.
In this 28 years he doesn’t despair but he does everithing for survive and he makes his life as comfortable as possible. Robinson has a religious conversion: he understands tht man is not alone in this world and providence has an important role. Defoe built his novel arroun defined pattern of development in Robinson’s personality: his novel is a parable or an allusive allegory.
Robinson is the exemple of English mercantile spirit and the prototype of the commercial hero( money is the real driving force in Defoe’s universe), he is the archetype colonist or pioneer(in the last part after the meeting with Friday): armed, intelligent and he has Puritan’s convintion that he has God on his side. The Friday and Robinson’s relation is the relation between colonist and native, or master and slave( an exemple of European colonialism). The native learns his master’s language(to undersand and answer him) and religion. Robinson has three great advantages: technical advantage(weapons and sophisticated utensil), linguistic advantage(he imposed Engish), cultural advantage( Friday admits that his god is inferior to the Christian God).

THE MYTH OF NATURAL MAN: ROUSSEAU AND ROBINSON
In the 18th century there were two mhyts: that of the machine and that of the perfection of the state of nature. The natural world as a machine regulated by rational laws came from the Industrial Revolution. The mechanical model was applied to man and its workings, a loto of philosophers and scientists opposed because they thought that universe wasn’t a machine but a living organism. Rousseau a Enlightement’s philosopher belived in the interaction between nature and man, nature is good and man too. From this idea comes the myth of bon sauvage(the good naturalman). Its main exponent was Jean-Jacques Rousseau: he considera society to have spoilt the freedom and virtue of primitive peoples who lived close to nature, the basis of society is artificial and ha advocates a return to nature. He wants his philosophy at the core of the modern educational system, only one book is necessary: Robinson Crusoe(Dofoe’s novels are essential to child’s education for the radical individualism and for satisfy only primitive necessities.
Defoe and Rousseau had a different ideas of nature: Rousseau hero want live a natural life in a desert place in solitude and he leaves the island as soon as he can. Defoe mainly conceived of nature as a resource to be exploited economically. Robinson doesn’t feel closer and he doesn’t lose much time philosophizing and he rappresente the absolute freedom from social restraints. Robinson is the archetype colonist, his interest is only economically: he is an homo economicus(the exemple of 18th century Englishman with his economical empire). Robinson’s education of Friday is the exemple of modern colonialism:
-name giving. Name Friday reminds Indian his debt to the white man, Friday calls Robinson “master” for signed the role.
-new European clothes. Robinson change Friday, his clothes and his style of life
-new language. Robinson doesn’t learn Friday language, he teachs him English.
-new religion. Robinson teachs him the principles of Christianity.
-technical superiority. Robinson never gives Friday a weapon and doesn’t shows him where is his gun.