domingo, 30 de octubre de 2022

Un blog sobre literatura inglesa (1600-1800)

Este blog fue utilizado como material auxiliar para una asignatura del grado de Estudios Ingleses en la Universidad de Zaragoza, asignatura que cubría el período 1600-1800 de la literatura inglesa ("excluding Shakespeare", que se trataba en una asignatura anterior). Estuvo activo durante unos años entre 2018 y 2022, año en el que me jubilé. A partir del curso 2022-23 se usan otros materiales, y este blog ya no tiene ninguna relación con la asignatura en cuestión, que sigue existiendo y tampoco tiene ya ninguna relación con este blog. Lo dejo en la red, sin embargo, por si resulta de utilidad a alguien interesado en el estudio de este período de la literatura inglesa. 

Para usarlo, conviene remitirse a las etiquetas de la derecha, en especial a las primeras de la columna, las numeradas de 0 a 4. Estas entradas remiten a una introducción (0) y seguidamente a cuatro temas, correspondientes aproximadamente a la primera y segunda mitad de siglo XVII, y seguidamente del XVIII.

Estas entradas tienen estructura de blog: es decir, lo más antiguo está al final. Se aconseja, por tanto, ir al final de la entrada, y progresar de abajo arriba,  pasando de una sección separada por una línea horizontal a la inmediatamente superior.  De allí parten enlaces al resto de los contenidos del blog.

A los que también se puede acceder, naturalmente, usando el resto de las etiquetas, que remiten a los diversos autores, géneros y temas tratados.

0. Bienvenida y programa


Bienvenidas/os a esta asignatura. En esta web iremos poniendo alguna información de interés para su desarrollo.
Y materiales adicionales y complementarios, unos para clase y otros para quienes deseen ampliar materia más allá de lo estrictamente necesario—en esos casos indicaré nivel "avanzado". 

Por ejemplo (para nivel AVANZADO): aquí hay un curso de la Universidad de Yale, una serie de lecciones sobre Early Modern English History. Varios de los vídeos tratan sobre el período que nos concierne. (Llevan subtítulos por cierto. Este tipo de vídeos son buen sitio para practicar inglés continuadamente).

Aquí hay uno de ellos: Education and Literacy in Early Modern England:





__________________________________






Programa de la asignatura
Literatura Inglesa II

(Grado en Estudios Ingleses, 2º curso - 27820)


La asignatura está concebida como un estadio intermedio en el estudio de la literatura inglesa. Dicho estudio comienza con la asignatura de primer curso Literatura Inglesa I y continúa con las asignaturas de la materia “Literatura inglesa” impartidas en cursos posteriores. El diseño de la asignatura se basa en el estudio de los principales autores, movimientos, motivos y temas de la producción literaria de los siglos XVII y XVIII, así como del análisis de un corpus representativo de obras literarias del periodo.

Temario de la asignatura:

Seventeenth-century Literature:

1. The literature of the early seventeenth century and the Commonwealth. Metaphysical and Cavalier poetry. Francis Bacon. John Milton and his works. Thomas Hobbes.
Readings: Selection of poems by John Donne, George Herbert,
Ben Jonson,  Edmund Waller, Richard Lovelace, Robert Herrick, Andrew Marvell.
Excerpts from Francis Bacon's Novum Organum and John Milton's Paradise Lost.

2. The Restoration period. Restoration comedy. The flourishing of satiric literature. The devotional prose of John Bunyan. John Locke.
Readings:
From Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. Selections from Dryden and Rochester's satiric poetry. Aphra Behn, Oroonoko.

Eighteenth-century literature:

3. The literature of the Augustan period. The development of satire.
Prose writers. Journals and magazines. The rise of the novel.
Readings:
Excerpts from Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and Roxana.   Excerpts from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Selection from Alexander Pope's poetry.

4. Advancing further into the eighteenth century.
The development of the novel. The Graveyard School and other pre-romantic poets (Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Gray, William Cowper).  Prose writers: Samuel Johnson, Mary Wollstonecraft, and others.
Readings:  Excerpts from Samuel Richardson's Pamela, Henry Fielding's Tom Jones, and Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy.
Selections from the poets and prose writers.



Trabajo de clase

Como las demás asignaturas de la materia de Literatura Inglesa en el Grado de Estudios Ingleses, consta ésta de una parte teórica y una parte práctica. De acuerdo con esto, habrá actividades en clase que se ocupen más específicamente de presentar contenidos de carácter conceptual y teórico, y otras de carácter más práctico, dedicadas al análisis de las obras literarias incluidas en el programa, haciendo uso de los conocimientos y herramientas necesarios para el comentario de textos. Las clases versarán sobre el contexto histórico y cultural de la literatura, los géneros y convenciones usados, y el perfil intelectual y literario de los autores, así como la temática y forma de las principales obras estudiadas, desde el punto de vista del comentario de textos.


Trabajos en grupo y tutorías

Los trabajos en grupo proporcionan la posibilidad de desarrollar el aprendizaje entre iguales, discutir sobre un tema, intercambiar ideas, repartir tareas y producir un resultado que contribuya a la calificación de los participantes. Para elaborarlos, los estudiantes podrán acudir a las tutorías grupales con el profesor, en horario de tutorías, destinadas principalmente a la supervisión de los trabajos en grupo. El profesor también estará disponible para tutorías individuales. 



Horario de tutorías:

lunes, martes, miércoles, 17-19h.  -  despacho 307 D,
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras  3ª planta 

(Segundo cuatrimestre con cita previa).

 
Consultas: garciala@unizar.es

o por teléfono 976 761530


Evaluación

Hay dos opciones: o bien sólo examen final o bien examen final más trabajos en grupo opcionales (examen 60%, trabajos 40%). En el examen, la nota se basa en una serie de preguntas sobre el temario (60%) y un comentario de texto (40%).

- Trabajo 1: trabajo grupal sobre un poema/fragmento a elegir de entre las lecturas obligatorias de los temas 1 y 2 (literatura s. XVII). La fecha límite de entrega del trabajo será el día del examen final. Aunque es recomendable entregar al menos este trabajo antes de fin de año.

- Trabajo 2: trabajo grupal sobre una obra de entre las lecturas obligatorias de los temas 3 y 4 (literatura s. XVIII). La fecha límite de entrega del trabajo será el día del examen final.

- El examen se realizará en las fechas señaladas por la Facultad para las convocatorias de enero/febrero y septiembre. La modalidad de evaluación por trabajos se aplicará únicamente a la primera convocatoria. Es recomendable que los trabajos se entreguen durante el curso; la fecha límite de entrega será el día del examen final.  Para más criterios de evaluación, ver la guía académica —y más específicamente sobre la puntuación del examen, aquí. Insuficiencias en el trabajo de diverso tipo, como la inasistencia continuada a clase, un nivel deficiente de inglés, desorganización en el trabajo, descompensación de nivel entre los trabajos y el examen, etc., podrán impedir alcanzar las calificaciones máximas.

Algunos datos más sobre el examen:

La parte de teoría constará de un tema, a elegir entre dos propuestos, y preguntas breves tipo test. De los dos temas propuestos, uno será uno de los principales autores tratados en el temario (los que figuran por su nombre en ese apartado, arriba, "Temario de la asignatura").  Otro tema será de carácter más general, referido a un género literario o una época (por ej. "La poesía en la Restauración"; "La novela en la segunda mitad del XVIII", etc.). Cada estudiante puede poner más énfasis en preparar un tipo de pregunta u otra, según prefiera.

En la parte de práctica se aprecia tanto la capacidad de contextualizar el texto, en la producción del autor o en la ideología de la época, como la capacidad de analizarlo en su estructura, convenciones literarias y estilo.

Si se entrega únicamente la parte de teoría, ésa será la nota del examen, a sumar a la nota de los trabajos. Si se entrega también la parte práctica, además de los trabajos, la nota del examen valdrá un 40%, y los trabajos un 60%.






Bibliografía recomendada

Muchas de las lecturas obligatorias (ver abajo) están incluidas en The Norton Anthology of English Literature,
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/

Greenblatt, Stephen, et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Major Authors. 9th ed. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt et al. New York: Norton, 2013.

La antología incluye también introducciones a periodos históricos y autores. Es recomendable adquirirla (el volumen primero para esta asignatura, o la 8ª edición en un volumen) y leer cuantas lecturas adicionales se pueda de las allí incluidas relativas al período entre 1600 y 1800.





Historias breves (en un volumen) de la literatura inglesa:

Alexander, Michael. A History of English Literature. Basingstoke y Nueva York: Palgrave, 2000. Es el que recomiendo como manual de curso para esta asignatura.

Barnard, Robert. A Short History of English Literature. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994.
Blamires, Harry. A Short History of English Literature. Londres: Routledge, 1994.
Carter, Ronald, y John McRae. Penguin Guide to English Literature. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1995.
Coote, Stephen. The Penguin Short History of English Literature. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1993.
Peck, John, y Martin Coyle. A Brief History of English Literature. Basingstoke y Nueva York: Palgrave, 2002.
Poplawski, Paul, ed. English Literature in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008.
Sanders, Andrew. The Short Oxford History of English Literature. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000.


Historias más extensas:

Ford, Boris, ed. The New Pelican Guide to English Literature. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1990.
Daiches, David. A Critical History of English Literature. Londres: Mandarin, 1994.


Sobre los siglos XVII-XVIII

Ford, Boris, ed. From Blake to Byron. Vol. 5 of The New Pelican Guide to English Literature. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982. 1990.
DeMaria, ed. British Literature 1640-1789: An Anthology. (Blackwell Anthologies). Oxford: Blackwell, 2001.
Novak, Maximilian E. Eighteenth-Century English Literature. (The Macmillan History of Literature). Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1983.
Parry, Graham. The Seventeenth Century: The Intellectual and Cultural Context of English Literature, 1603-1700. London: Longman, 1989.


Otros libros útiles para prácticas o para la preparación de la asignatura:

Cuddon, J. A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991.
Birch, Dinah, and Katy Hooper, eds. The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature.  Oxford: Oxford UP, 2012.
Drabble, Margaret, ed. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000.
Gill, Richard. Mastering English Literature. 2nd ed. Basingstoke y Nueva York: Palgrave, 1995.
Peck, John, y Martin Coyle. Practical Criticism. Londres: Macmillan, 1995.
Rainsford, Dominic. Studying Literature in English: An Introduction. London: Routledge, 2014.
Wolfreys, Julian. The English Literature Companion. Basingstoke y Nueva York: Palgrave, 2011.

Pope, Rob. Studying English Literature and Language: An Introduction and Companion. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2012. (En edicions anteriores, The English Studies Book, 1998, 2002). Aquí hay una vista previa:
    https://books.google.es/books?id=RPBjFDVu--sC&lpg=PR1
   


Recursos complementarios en Internet:

A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism and Philology  (Incluye información bibliográfica suplementaria sobre todos los autores, géneros y períodos aquí tratados).
    http://bit.ly/abiblio

The Early Modern Center (U of California at Santa Barbara)
    http://emc.english.ucsb.edu

18th-century Resources - Literature. Ed. Jack Lynch (Rutgers U) http://jacklynch.net/18th/lit.html

The Early Modern Colloquium (U of Michigan)
    http://www.umich.edu/~earlymod/links.htm

Eighteenth-century Poetry Archive https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/

Luminarium.
    http://www.luminarium.org

Project Gutenberg
    http://www.gutenberg.org/

Google Books
    http://books.google.es/

Amazon (En muchos libros se incluye un previsualizado)
    http://www.amazon.co.uk

The Norton Anthology of English Literature
   
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/

Voice of the Shuttle: Renaissance and 17th century / Restoration and 18th century
    http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2749
    http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2738

También es recomendable acudir los recursos de información general más usados, como Google, la Wikipedia, etc. Empezando por este artículo:

"English Literature." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_literature


Bibliografía más específica sobre autores, géneros, etc., puede encontrarse en la bibliografía general: http://bit.ly/abiblio











Lecturas:

Pueden comprarse fotocopias de estas lecturas en Reprografía, a la entrada del Interfacultades. Es recomendable ir adelantando su lectura, empezando simultáneamente por la poesía y por las selecciones de narración, más largas, de los temas 3 y 4.


Unit 1:
Daniel, "Are they shadows that we see?";
Donne: "The Good-Morrow"; "Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star"; "The Sun Rising"; "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"; "A Lecture upon the Shadow"; "Holy Sonnet 1: Thou hast made me…"; "Holy Sonnet 10: Death be not proud"; "Holy Sonnet 9: If poisonous minerals…"; "Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart…"; Holy Sonnet 19: "O, to vex me.."
Herbert: "The Altar"; "Love (3)"; "Prayer (1)"
Jonson: "Karolin's Song"; "My Picture, Left in Scotland"; "An Ode to Himself"; Prologue to Every Man In His Humour; "To the Memory of (...) William Shakespeare"

Lovelace: "To Althea, from Prison"; "To Lucasta, Going to the Warres"
Waller: "Go, Lovely Rose!"
Denham, from "Cooper's Hill"
Herrick: "The Bad Season Makes the Poet Sad"; "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time"; "Good Friday: Rex Tragicus"
Cowley, "Against Hope"; from Davideis
Vaughan, "Childhood"; "The Retreat"
Traherne, "Wonder"

Marvell: "The Definition of Love"; "To His Coy Mistress"; "The Mower Against Gardens"; "On a Drop of Dew"
Milton: "Sonnet XIX, On his Blindness"; "Sonnet XXIII, Methought I saw my late espousèd saint"; Selections from Paradise Lost (from Books I, III, IV, IX, XII)


Unit 2:
Rochester: "A Satyr on Charles II"; from "A Satyre against Reason and Mankind"; from Seneca's Troades.
Dryden: From Annus Mirabilis; From Absalom and Achitophel; "To the Memory of Mr. Oldham"
Bunyan: From The Pilgrim's Progress 
Bacon, from Novum Organum and The New Atlantis
Locke, from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Behn: Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave

Unit 3:
Addison, from The Spectator
Defoe: From Robinson Crusoe; from Roxana.
Swift: From Gulliver's Travels.
Pope: From The Rape of the Lock; from An Essay on Man

Unit 4:
Richardson: from Pamela,
Fielding: from Tom Jones
Sterne: from Tristram Shandy
Gray: "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"
Goldsmith: from "The Deserted Village"; "Asem"
Johnson, from Lives of the English Poets and "The Preface to Shakespeare".
Cowper: from The Task
Wollstonecraft, from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Blake, "The Clod and the Pebble"; "London"; "Auguries of Innocence"



PRINCIPALES AUTORES:

Unit 1: John Donne, George Herbert, Ben Jonson, Edmund Waller, Richard Lovelace, Robert Herrick, Francis Bacon, John Milton, Andrew Marvell.
Unit 2: John Bunyan, the Earl of Rochester, John Dryden, Aphra Behn, John Locke.
Unit 3: Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope.
Unit 4: Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Gray, William Cowper, Mary Wollstonecraft.

(Los autores aquí nombrados son los que podrán ser objeto de un tema de redacción en el examen final. A elegir con éste también se propondrá otro tema referido a un género o época en el que se puedan tratar diversos autores)



—oOo—

Guía docente de Literatura Inglesa II (web)

Guía docente de Literatura Inglesa II




—oOo—



Un poco de contexto histórico y científico para el estudio de la cultura: 


- Un documental sobre A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN TWO HOURS

- Una conferencia de Francis Fukuyama sobre los orígenes del orden político

- Y una serie de lecciones sobre el desarrollo cultural de la humanidad: A Brief History of Humankind, a cuenta de Yuval Noah Harari. Hay muchas. Pero es interesante, por ejemplo, esta lección sobre "The Law of Religion":








—oOo—

viernes, 29 de julio de 2022

Exámenes de septiembre

 

El examen de septiembre de Literatura Inglesa II (grupos 1 y 2)  será el miércoles 7 de septiembre, 8,30-11,30, en el aula 1.4 del Inter II (al lado del edificio de Matemáticas).

 

Recordad que el examen consta de dos partes, teórica y práctica. La práctica (comentario de texto) sólo la tienen que hacer quienes no hayan entregado en febrero dos trabajos de curso.

La parte teórica, la que tiene que hacer todo el mundo, consta de preguntas de tipo test (multiple choice) y un tema, a elegir entre dos propuestos. Uno de los dos será uno de los principales autores, los que aparecen nombrados en el programa.  

En cuanto al test, un fallo no descuenta nada, pero cada dos fallos descuentan un acierto. (No contestar ni cuenta ni descuenta). Centraos para prepararlo en el conocimiento de los datos centrales sobre autores, obras y géneros.

 

Acerca de "El Paraiso Perdido" de John Milton | Joan Curbet

miércoles, 27 de abril de 2022

William Drummond - A Discourse on Toleration (NIVEL AVANZADO)

 

Este discurso es un fragmento perteneciente a la History of Scotland de William Drummond of Hawthornden (publicada póstumamente en 1655). Lo pone Drummond en boca de un miembro del Consejo del rey Jacobo V, aconsejándole durante los primeros disturbios de la época de la Reforma en 1540. Según Robert Macdonald, editor de Poems and Prose de Drummond (Scottish Academic Press, 1976), Drummond revisó este texto varias veces durante la década de 1630, "and it was certainly intended as a comment upon the troubles of his own time". Tras el discurso del Consejero, la historia continúa: "But the King followed not this opinione…" (Macdonald 199).

El texto de Macdonald sigue un ejemplar de los manuscritos Hawthornden (N.L.S., MS 2057 ss., 202-8), con correcciones del propio autor, y titulado así, "A Speech on Toleration". No lo he encontrado en la Red, así que lo cuelgo y lo traduzco aquí.
Este texto es para mí uno de los hitos del pensamiento liberal y del laicismo, en una época de persecuciones, inquisiciones, quemas de herejes y guerras de religión, una época en la que se llevaba muy mal la tolerancia: era un concepto por redescubrir, y por teorizar. 

Es un texto, y una actitud, a redescubrir, pues hoy en día somos todos por supuesto muy democráticos y tolerantes, pero algunos sólo con quienes están de acuerdo con ellos contra un tercero (los terceros son "fascistas", o "nazis", o "fundamentalistas", o "inmigrantes ilegales", o "islamistas", o "extranjeros", o "separatistas"). Me llama la atención lo poco valorada que está hoy la tolerancia en muchos ámbitos: la gente la desprecia como algo "paternalista", y exige aceptación absoluta de sus opiniones (que son las correctas) y silenciamiento y represión de las del vecino si a su juicio son políticamente incorrectas.

Hay que tener en cuenta que en tiempos de Drummond la religión era el símbolo máximo de la ideología que constituye una comunidad como tal: decir "tolerancia con diversas creencias" es como hoy decir "tolerancia con el multiculturalismo" en la vida pública. El equivalente de "la única religión verdadera" es hoy "la democracia liberal y no confesional según el modelo occidental". Destaco una frase: tolerancia con todos aquellos que no tramen o lleven a la práctica nada que vaya contra las leyes del Reino. No exige Drummond que estemos de acuerdo con ellos en lo demás, ni ellos con nosotros. Y tampoco es preciso, por supuesto, que las minorías disidentes estén de acuerdo con las leyes: pero sí que las cumplan. Ay, there’s the rub, o la madre del cordero… las leyes. Sin leyes justas, no cabe hablar de tolerancia. Las leyes, y no sólo las actitudes, tienen que ser tolerantes, habría que recordarle a Drummond. Y a nuestros radicales de hoy en día, que no sólo las leyes, sino también las actitudes, tienen que ser tolerantes.


A Speech on Toleration


Sir, amongst the many blessings your Subjectes enjoye under this your Governement, this is not the least, that for the well of your Majestie, and the publicke good of the Kingdome, the meanest of your Subjectes may freelie open his minde and declare his opinione unto you his Soveraigne. And if ever there was a time in which grave, good and sound counsell should be delivered to your Majestie it is this, and the difficulyies of the Commonwealth doe now require it. Not ever in matteres of advice and consultatione can wee embrace and follow what is most reasonable, and what according to Lawes, Justice, Equitie should be, but what necessitye driveth us unto, and what is most convenient for the present time to be, and what wee may well and fairlie accomplish and bring to passe.

The Estate of your Kingdome is troubled with diversitie of opiniones concerning Religione; It is to be wished that the one onlie true Religion were in the heartes of all your Subjectes (Since diversitie of opiniones of Religione and heresies, are the verie punishment of God almightie upon men for their horrible vices and roring Sinnes. And when Men forsake his feare and true obedience, God abandoneth them to their owne opiniones and fantasies in Religion: out of which arise partialityes, factiones, divisiones, strife, intestine discords, which burst forth into civill warres, and in short time bring Kingdomes and Commonwealthes to their last Periodes). But matteres arising to such a hight and disorder, as by all appearances they are like to advance in this Kingdome, the number of the Sectaryes daylie increasing, without dissimulating my thoughts to your Majestie, the preservation of the People being the supresme and principall Law which God almightie hath enjoyned to all Princes, I hold it more expedient to give place to the exercise of both Religions, than under pretence and shadow of them to suffer the commone peace of your Subjectes to be torne in pieces. What can wisdome (Sir) advise youw to doe with these Separatists? Either they must be tollerated for a time or they must altogether be removed, and that by death or banishment? So soon as a Prince beginneth to spoyle, banish, kill, burne his people, for matters abstract from sence and altogether spirituall, hee becometh as it were a plague unto them. It is an errour of state in a Prince, for an opinione of pietie to condemne to death the adhereres to new doctrine. For, the constancie and patience of those who voluntarilie suffer all temporall miseryes and death it selfe for matteres of faith, stirre up and invite numberes, who at first and before they had suffered were ignorant of their faith and doctrine, not onlie to favour their cause but to embrace their opiniones; Pity and commiseration opening the gates: thus their Beleefe spredeth it selfe abroad, and their number daylie encreaseth. It is a no less errour of State to banish them: Banished Men are so manie Ennemyes abroad, reddye upon all occasiones to invade their native Countrie, to trouble the peace and tranquillitye of your Kingdome.

To take arms against Sectaries and Separatists will be a great enterprise, a matter hard and of many dangeres: Religione can not be preached by Armes; the first Christianes detested that forme of proceeding: force and compulsion may bring forth Hypocrites, not true Christianes. If there be any heresie amongst your people, this wound is in the Soule; our Soules being spirituall Substances upon which fire and iron can not worke, they must be overcome by spirituall armes: Love the Men and pittye their erroures? Who can laye upon a Man a necessitie to beleeve that which hee will not beleeve, or what hee will beleeve, or doth beleeve, not to beleeve. No Prince hath such power over the Soules and thoughts of Men, as hee hath over their Bodyes. Now to ruine and extirpate all those Sectaryes, what will it prove else than to cut off one of your armes, to the great prejudice of your Kingdome and weakening of the State? They daylie encreasing in number, and no Man being so miserable and mean, but that hee is a member of the State?

The more easie manner and nobler way were to tollerate both Religiones, and graunt a place to two Churches in the Kingdome till it shall please almightie God to reunite the mindes of your Subjectes, and turne them all of one will and opinione: Be content to keepe that which yee may, Sir, since yee can not that which yee would.

It is a false and erroneous opinione, that a Kingdome can not subsiste which tollerateth two Religiones: Diversitie of Religion shooteth up not societye, nor barreth civill conversatione amongst men. A little time will make persones of different Religiones contracte such acquaintance, custome, familiaritie together, that they will be intermixed in one Cittye, familie, yea mariage bed, State and Religione haveing nothing commoan. Why (I praye) may not two Religiones be suffered in a State (till by some sweet and easie meanes they be reduced to a right governement) since in the Church (which should be unione it selfe and of which the Romane Church much vanteth) all-most infinit Sectes and kyndes of Monkes are suffered; differing in their Lawes, Rules of governement, fashiones of living, dyet, apparell, maintenance and opiniones of perfectione, and who sequestree themselves from our publike unione? The Romane Empyre had its extensione, not by similitud and likenesse of Religione. Different Religiones, providing they enterprise or practise no thing against the politike Lawes of the Kingdome, maye be tollerated in a State.

The Murtheres, massacres, Battailles, which arise and are like daylie to encrease amongst Christians, all which are undertaken for Religione, are a thousand times more execrable, and be more open plaine flat impietie, than this libertye of diversitie of Religiones with a quiet peace can be unjust: for as much as the greatest part of those who flesh themselves in bloud and slaughter, and overturne by armes the peace of their Neighboures (whom they should love as themselves) spoyling and ravaging lyke famished Lyones, sacrifice their Soules to the infernall Poweres without further hopes or meanes of recoverye, and comming bake, when those otheres are in some way of Repentance.

In seeking libertie of Religione, these Men seeke not to beleeve any thing that may come in their Braines; but to use Religione according to the first Christiane institutiones, serving God and obeying the Lawes under which they were borne.

That Maxime so often echoed amongst the Church-Men of Rome, that the Chase and following of Heretikes is more necessarye than that of Infidelles, is well applyed for the inlarging and increasing of the dominiones, Souveraignitie, and power of the Pope, but not for the amplifying and extending of the Christiane Religione, and the Well and benefite of the Christian common wealth.

Kingdomes and Souveraignities should not be governed by the Lawes and interests of Priests, and Church-men, but according to the exigencie, need, and as the case requireth of the publick well, which often is necessitated to passe and tolerate some defectes and faults. It is the duetye of all Christian princes to endevoure and take paines that their Subjectes embrace the true faith, as that semblablye and in even partes they observe all Gods commandements, and not more one commandement than another. Notwithstanding when a vice cannot be extirpate and taken away without the ruine of the State, it would appear to humane judgements that it should be suffered: Neither is there a greater obligatione, bond, necessitye of Law, to punish heretickes more than fornicatores, which yet for the peace and tranquillitye of the State are tollerated and passed over. Neither can a greater inconveniencie and harme follow if wee shall suffer men to live in our Commonwealth who beleeve not nor embrace not all our opiniones. In an Estate manye thinges are for the time tollerated, because they can not without the totall ruine of the State be sudainlie amended and reformed.

These men are of that same nature and condition of which wee are; they worshippe as wee doe one God, they beleeve those very same holye Recordes; wee both aime at salvatione, wee both feare to offend God, wee both set before us one happinesse. The difference betwixt them and us hangeth on this one point, that they having found abuses in our church, require a Reformation: Now shall it be said for that wee runne diverse ways to one end, understand not rightlie otheres language, wee shall pursue otheres with fire and sword, and extirpate otheres from the face of the Earth. God is not in the bitter divisione and alienatione of affectiones, nor the raging flames of seditiones, nor in the Tempestes of the turbulent whirl-windes of contradictiones and disputationes, but in the calme and gentle breathinges of peace and concord. If any wander out of the high way, wee bring him to it again, if any be in darknesse, wee show him light, and kill him not; in musicall instruments if a string jarre and be out of tone, wee doe not freetinglie breake it, but leasurelie veere it about to a concord: and shall wee be so churlish, cruell, uncharitable, so wedded to our own superstitious opiniones, that wee will barbarouslye banish, kill, burne those who, by love and sweetnesse wee might reddilye winne and recall againe?

Let us win and demerite these men by reasone, let them be cited to a free councell, it may be they shall not be proven heretickes, neither that they maintaine opiniones condemned by the auncient Councelles. Let their Religion be compared and paraleled with the Religion of the first age of the Church.

Shall wee hold this people worse then the Jewes, which yet have their Synagoges at Rome it selfe? Let them receave instructiones from a free and lawful Councell, and forsake their erroures, when they shall be clealie and fairlie demonstrate unto them. Heresie is an errour in the fundamentall Grounds of Religion. Shisme intendeth a resolutione in separatione: Let a good Councell be convocated, and see if they be reddye or not to reunite themselves to us.

That which they beleeve is not evill, but to some it will appeare they beleeve not enough, and that there is in them rather a defect of good than anye habit of evill. Other pointes when they shall be considdered, shall be found to consiste in externall ceremonyes of the Church rather than in substance of doctrine, or what is esentiall to Christianitie. These men should be judged before condemned, and they should be heard before they be judged. Which being hollelyie and uprightlie done, wee shall find it is not our Religiones, but our private interestes and our passiones which troubleth us; and the State.



Discurso sobre la tolerancia


Señor, entre las muchas bendiciones de que vuestros súbditos gozan bajo vuestro gobierno no es la menor el hecho de que, para beneficio de Vuestra Majestad, y del bien público del Reino, el más insignificante de vuestros súbditos puede libremente exponer sus ideas y declarar su opinión ante vos, su soberano. Y si hubo jamás un momento en el que haya que dar a Vuestra Majestad un consejo serio, bueno y de fiar, es éste, y las dificultades de la nación lo hacen hoy necesario. En asuntos de consejo y consulta no siempre podemos abrazar y seguir lo que es más razonable, y lo que debería ser según las Leyes, la Justicia y la Equidad, sino aquello a lo que nos lleva la necesidad, y lo que es más conveniente que sea para el momento presente, y lo que podemos hacer que se cumpla y suceda con bien y con justicia.

El estado de vuestro Reino está inquieto con diversidad de opiniones sobre la Religión; sería de desear que la única religión verdadera estuviese en los corazones de todos vuestros súbditos (ya que la diversidad de opiniones en religión y las herejías son el castigo mismo de Dios todopoderoso a los hombres por sus horribles vicios y pecados escandalosos). Y cuando los hombres abandonan su temor y obediencia auténtica, Dios los abandona a ellos a sus propias opiniones y fantasías en religión: de las cuales surgen parcialidades, facciones, divisiones, lucha, discordias intestinas, que hacen brotar guerras civiles, y en poco tiempo llevan a los reinos y las naciones a sus últimos periodos).  Pero llegando los asuntos a tal altura y desorden, como según toda apariencia es posible que lleguen en este Reino, al crecer diariamente el número de sectarios, sin disimular mis pensamientos a vuestra Majestad, siendo la protección del Pueblo la ley suprema y principal que Dios todopoderoso ordena observar a todos los Príncipes, considero que es más conveniente hacer sitio a la práctica de ambas religiones, que hacer que con la excusa y apariencia de ellas se rompa en mil pedazos la paz común de vuestros súbditos. ¿Qué puede aconsejaros la sabiduría, Señor, que hagáis con estos separatistas? O bien deben ser tolerados durante un tiempo o deben ser completamente suprimidos, y eso  - ¿mediante la muerte o el destierro? Tan pronto como un príncipe empieza a despojar, desterrar, matar, quemar a su pueblo, por asuntos abstraídos de los sentidos y completamente espirituales, se vuelve como una peste para ellos. Es un error de Estado en un príncipe, que por cuestiones de opinión en materia de culto condene a muerte a los partidarios de una nueva doctrina. Porque la constancia y paciencia de quienes sufren voluntariamente todas las penalidades temporales y la muerte misma por cuestiones de fe agitan e invitan a muchísimos, que antes de esos sufrimientos eran ignorantes de su fe y doctrina, no sólo a favorecer su causa, sino a abrazar sus creencias, al abrirles la puerta la piedad y la conmiseración; así su creencia se extiende por todas partes, y su número a diario crece. Es un error político no menor el desterrarlos: los exiliados son otros tantos enemigos en el extranjero, dispuestos en todo momento a invadir su país natal, a turbar la paz y tranquilidad de vuestro Reino.

Tomar armas contra sectarios y separatistas sería una empresa enorme, un asunto difícil y con grandes peligros: la religión no se puede predicar con las armas; los primeros cristianos detestaban esa forma de proceder: la fuerza y la obligación pueden producir hipócritas, no auténticos cristianos. Si alguna herejía hay entre vuestros súbditos, esa herida está en el alma; al ser nuestras almas sustancias espirituales sobre las que el fuego y el hierro no pueden actuar, deben ser vencidas con armas espirituales: ¡Amad a los hombres y compadeceos de sus errores! ¿Quién puede imponer a un hombre la obligación de creer lo que no quiere creer, o de no creer lo que quiere creer, o cree? Ningún gobernante tiene semejante poder sobre las almas y pensamientos de los hombres como el que tiene sobre sus cuerpos. Y arruinar y extirpar a todos esos sectarios, ¿qué resultará ser sino cortaros uno de vuestros brazos, para gran perjuicio de vuestro reino y debilitamiento del Estado? ¿Siendo que cada día crecen en número, y que no hay hombre tan despreciable e insignificante que no sea un miembro del Estado?

La manera más fácil y vía más noble sería tolerar ambas religiones, y conceder un sitio a dos Iglesias en el reino, hasta que plazca a Dios todopoderoso reunir las mentes de vuestros súbditos, y volverlos a todos de una misma voluntad y opinión: Contentaos con mantener lo que podéis, Señor, ya que no podéis aquello que quisierais.

Es una opinión falsa y errónea, la de que no puede subsistir un reino que tolere dos religiones. La diversidad de religión no destruye la sociedad, ni impide el trato civilizado entre los hombres. Un poco de tiempo hará que personas de diferentes religiones adquieran tal trato, costumbre, familiaridad, que puedan mezclarse unos con otros en una misma ciudad, familia, y hasta lecho de matrimonio, al no tener nada en común el Estado y la Religión. ¿Por qué (suplico se me diga) no pueden dos religiones tolerarse en un Estado (hasta que de alguna manera suave y amable se reduzcan a un gobierno adecuado) si en la Iglesia (que debería ser la unión misma, y de lo cual mucho se jacta la Iglesia romana) se toleran casi infinitas sectas y clases de monjes, que difieren en sus leyes, reglas de gobierno, maneras de vivir, dieta, vestido, economía e ideas sobre la perfección, y que se aíslan de nuestra unión pública? El Imperio Romano no logró su extensión mediante la similitud y uniformidad de religión. Diferentes religiones, con tal de que no tramen ni practiquen nada contra las leyes políticas del Reino, pueden tolerarse en un Estado.

Los asesinatos, matanzas, combates, que surgen y probablemente irán a más a diario entre los cristianos, todos ellos emprendidos por causa de la religión, son mil veces más execrables, y son más claramente una mera impiedad, de lo injusta que pudiese ser esa libertad de diversidad de religiones con una paz tranquila: porque en la misma medida la mayoría de quienes se hacen a la sangre y a la matanza, y alteran con armas la paz de sus vecinos (a quienes deberían amar como a sí mismos), rapiñando y arrasando como leones hambrientos, sacrifican sus almas a los poderes infernales sin esperanza ni medio de recobrarlas ni de volver atrás, cuando aquellos otros están camino del arrepentimiento.
Al buscar la libertad religiosa, esos hombres no buscan creer cualquier cosa que se les pueda meter en los sesos, sino usar de la religión conforme a las primeras instituciones cristianas, sirviendo a Dios y obedeciendo a las leyes bajo las cuales nacieron.

Esa máxima tan a menudo repetida entre los eclesiásticos de Roma, que la persecución y detección de los herejes es más necesaria que la de los infieles, está bien aplicada para el crecimiento y aumento de los dominios, soberanía y poder del Papa, pero no para ampliar y extender la religión cristiana, ni para el bienestar y beneficio de la comunidad cristiana.
Los reinos y principados no deberían gobernarse por las leyes e intereses de los sacerdotes y eclesiásticos, sino según la exigencia, necesidad y como requiera el caso del bien público, que a menudo se ve obligado a aceptar y tolerar algunos defectos y faltas. Es deber de todos los príncipes cristianos esforzarse y cuidar mucho para que sus súbditos abracen la auténtica fe, de modo que semejantemente y por partes iguales observen todos los mandamientos de Dios, y no un mandamiento más que otro. Sin embargo, cuando un vicio no puede extirparse y suprimirse sin la ruina del Estado, parece razonable a los juicios humanos que haya de tolerarse. Ni hay mayor obligación, compromiso, ni necesidad legal, de castigar a los herejes más que a los fornicadores, que sin embargo por la paz y tranquilidad del Estado se toleran e ignoran. Ni ha de seguirse mayor inconveniencia y daño si toleramos que vivan en la comunidad hombres que no creen ni se adhieren a todas nuestras opiniones. En un Estado muchas cosas se toleran por el momento porque no pueden reformarse ni enmendarse súbitamente sin la ruina total del Estado.

Estos hombres tienen nuestra misma naturaleza y condición; adoran como nosotros a un Dios, creen en las mismas Escrituras sagradas; tanto ellos como nosotros aspiramos a la salvación, ambos tememos ofender a dios, ambos ponemos ante nosotros la misma felicidad. La diferencia entre ellos y nosotros gira sólo en este punto, que ellos, habiendo encontrado abusos en nuestra iglesia, exigen una reforma. Ahora bien, ¿habrá de decirse que como vamos por caminos distintos a un mismo fin, o como no comprendemos bien el idioma del otro, habremos de perseguir al otro con fuego y espada, y extirparlo de la faz de la Tierra? Dios no se halla en la amarga división y enajenación de los afectos, ni en las llamas rabiosas de la sedición, ni en las tempestades y torbellinos turbulentos de contrarréplicas y disputas, sino en los alientos suaves y tranquilos de la paz y la concordia. Si alguno se sale del camino, lo traemos otra vez a él, si alguno está en la oscuridad, le mostramos la luz, y no lo matamos. En los instrumentos musicales, si una cuerda suena desafinada y fuera de tono, no la rompemos enojados, sino que con calma la afinamos hasta que suena con las otras: y seremos tan toscos, crueles, faltos de caridad, tan maridados a nuestras propias opiniones supersticiosas, que bárbaramente habremos de desterrar, matar, quemar a aquellos a quienes con amor y amabilidad podríamos fácilmente convencer y hacer venir con nosotros?

Convenzamos y quitemos la razón a estos hombres con la razón; que se les convoque a un concilio libre; puede que no resulten ser herejes, ni mantengan opiniones condenadas por los antiguos concilios. Que se compare y se coteje su religión con la religión de la primera época de la Iglesia.

¿Habremos de tener a esta gente en peor consideración que a los judíos, que sin embargo tienen sus sinagogas en la misma Roma? Que reciban instrucciones de un concilio libre y legítimo, y que abandonen sus errores cuando con claridad y justicia se les demuestren a ellos. La herejía es un error en la base fundamental de la religion: el cisma intenta buscar la solución en la separación. Que se convoque un buen Consejo, y veamos si están dispuestos o no a reunirse con nosotros.

Lo que creen no es malo, pero a algunos les parecerá que no creen lo suficiente, y que hay en ellos más bien una falta de bien que hábito alguno de mal. Otros extremos cuando se examinen se verá que consisten en ceremonias externas de la Iglesia, más bien que en la sustancia de la doctrina, ni en cosas esenciales para el Cristianismo. Estos hombres deberían ser juzgados antes de ser condenados, y deberían ser escuchados antes de ser juzgados. Y si se hace santamente y con justicia, encontraremos que no son nuestras religiones sino nuestros intereses privados y nuestras pasiones las que nos alteran, a nosotros y al Estado.

Notes on Ian Watt's THE RISE OF THE NOVEL

  1: Realism and the Novel Form

The novel arises in the 18th c. because of favourable social conditions. it's a new literary genre; we must define its characteristics.

Realism. This term has come to mean "fiction that portrays low life" (from Flaubert). But the novel's realism doesn't reside in the kind of life it presents, but in the way it presents it—a scientific scrutiny of life. Epistemological value: in the 18th ce. universals have been rejected; truth comes through the senses (Locke, Descartes). But the method is more important: for the realists, the individual investigator studies the particulars of experience. Importance is given to the relation between words and reality. Descartes followed an individualist method. For the novel, individual experience is always unique, new. It can't be analyzed by referring it to the accepted models. Traditional plots are rejected for the first time (Shakespeare, Milton, the Greeks, the Romans—all considered human life basically unchangeable adn complete). Plot, character and morals are still not perfectly interpenetrated in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding. Tradicional characters (universals) are also rejected (cf. Berkeley: "everything that exists is particular"). Shaftesbury still rejects particularity and the taste of the peculiar. But in Defoe and Richardson we find a particularity of descriptions of characters and environmnet. Individual identity is a matter of controversy to the philosophers of this time. Characters are given particular names and surnames, not generic or descriptive names. (Nevertheless, Richardson's and Fielding's characters still preserve msome of that tradition. But that is a secondary function already. In Amelia names are natural, assigned in a random manner.

Locke and Hume analyze personal identity, and identify it with the identity of consciousness through duration. Both ideas and characters become general by separating them from their particular circumstances of time and place.The novel uses stories set in time: past experience is the cause of present action; time scale is more minutely discriminated. Realism is associated to the slowness of virtual time (stream of consciousness carries it to an extreme). Also, a respect arises for a coherent time-scheme which didn't exist in the classics. Defoe's plots are rooted in time; in Richardson we find a date at the heading of each letter. Fielding mocks Richardson's exactitude, but uses a time-coherent scheme: the Jacobite rebellion in 1745 and the phases of the moon in Tom Jones, etc. Time and space are inseparable. Defoe is the first writer to use a definite space and objects. In Richardson provides description of interiors: settings are, like in Balzac, a pervasive force. Fielding is more conventional, but gives an exact topography. Prose must be adapted to give an air of authenticity. Up to them, rhetoric ws used to embellish in an artificial way. Locke attacks the deceitfulness of rhetoric. Defoe and Richardson are often clumsy, because they want to be real. Fielding is more orthodox and polished But his stylistic virtues bring a selectiveness of vision which is far from the uncompromising application of the realist point of view in Richardson and Defoe. Like La Fayette and Laclos, he is too stylized to be authentic. The novel works more by exhaustive presentation than by selection—more so than other genres. It is also more translatable.

The formal realism of the novel is, too, a convention, but it allows a more immediate imitation of actual experience than other literary forms. It makes less demands on the audience. Predecessors of the novel: Homer, Chaucer, Apuleius's The Golden Ass, Aucassin et Nicolette... But this aesthetic had never been followed systematically. 

2: The Reading Public and The Rise of the Novel

There is a gradual extension of the reading class. About 80,000 in the 1690s— unreliable figures perhaps? But it's still a progress. There was a very limited distribution of literacy. School for the lower classes was intermittent and limited. It was not a necessity to learn. Books were very expensive: circulating libraries appear. The middle class grows, and there are more and more women readers. They read mostly religious works: readers of fiction are a different group. Readers of periodicals, too—a miscellaneous taste, a mixture of improvement and entertainment. Booksellers achieve a strong fiinancial standing, and can influence authors, who are their employees. Richardson was commissioned by them; Johnson was promoted by them. The commercial laws favour prose and copiousness rather than verse: this helps the novel. Writers are independent and not oriented to the Court as in France: there is a lesser force of tradition.


3: Robinson Crusoe. Individualism and the Novel

The novel's concern for the individual depends on
- the society's hight valuation of the individual
- variety of belief and action among ordinary people, to make them intereseing.
In modern society there is a value of the individual apart from society or tradition. Two historical causes: the rise of modern capitalism, and the spread of Protestantism.

Capitalism. Capitalism is linked to economic specialization,  and to more democracy; it promotes freedom of choice. Social arrangements typical of capitalism are individual, not collective (as they were in the family, the guild, the church...). There is a slow rise of capitalim from the 16th to the 19th century. Shakespeare, Jonson, Dryden, etc. defend the traditional order. Now, the contrary is the case. Hobbes stresses individualism. Locke speaks of the rights of the individual. Defoe is in this line of thought; there is a link between individualism and the rise of the novel. Robinson is homo oeconomicus. All of Defoe's heroes pursue money, according to a profit-and-loss bookkeeping technique. They enter continuous contractual relationships. Traditional relationships (family, town, nation...) appear weakened. Defoe's heroes have no family, or leave them to better their situation. The argument between his parents and Crusoe is not one of filial duty or religion, but one of material advantages. Religion has an obstructive role: the contrary appears in Defoe's moral pamphlets. Xeenophobia appears only where there are no economic virtues; "with money in the pocket one is at home everywhere." The plot of Robinson Crusoe is rooted in the realities of the time; merchants, colonists... Sex is placed under strict control as a non-rational factor: there is no romantic love, and little sexual satisfaction. Matrimony is an investment. Crusoe desires a male slave. The story of Xury is significant: relationships are treated in terms of their commodity value. With Friday, Robinson establishes egocentric master-slave relations. Only when he receives mone does he feel deep feelings. His friends are those that secure his economic interests. Crusoe and Defoe are blind to aesthetic experience. The natural scenery is exploited, not admired. If he plays with his animals, he doesn't dance with them. We find Crusoe's adventure intereesting because capitalist economic specialization has deprived us from a lot of daily life experiences. We only do one thing, and enjoy others through printed matter. Crusoe experiences the Dignity of Labour: an absolute equivalence between individual effort and individual reward. Labour is varied and inspiring. This is a Calvinistic idea: labour is a religious and ethical obligation. Friday doesn't bring relaxation, but extended productivity. Defoe cofuses religious and material values: a sophistic creed. There is still a religious framework, but this will disappear in other authors.

Protestantism. Protestantism is associated to individualism. It promotes a direct contact between man and God. Protestants emphasize self-scrutiny; journals are kept, and extreme egocentricity is promoted. Defoe was a Dissenter with no fixed creed. Crusoe has Puritan tendencies: toward self examination, Bibliolatry, interpretation of natural phenomena in an egotistic way. But Crusoe is intended to be a neutral character, a man for whom we could all substitute ourselves. Democratic individualism of Defoe—no high birth for Robinson, etc. Defoe nonetheless subordinates allegory to reality (i.e. he is a novelist, while Bunyan doesn't). Religion in his work is perfunctory: there is an unconscious secularization, due to economic and social progress. Ties with the Church are loosened, resulting in individualism.

Crusoe is a Western myth: the man who can manage on his own, without any social restrictions, and usfulness as the rule, a philosophy of laissez-faire. But it is a false myth: Defoe has disregarded the social nature of all human economies and the psychological effects of solitude. Moreover Robinson has tools: he is not a primitive or a proletarian, but a capitalist. Crusoe turns his disgrace into a triumph: solitude is the prelude to the fuller realization of the individual's potentialities. Defoe is conscious of this meaning, and he even hints that it is an allegory of his own life. An ethics of resolution against bad circumstances; praise of personal alienation from society. Communication is false, only a mockery. The first novel presents us with the annihilation of the relationships of the traditional social order: new relationships have to be built up.


4. Defoe as novelist: Moll Flanders

This is Defoe's most typical novel. Moll is a product of modern individualism; her crimes are rooted in the dynamics of economic individualism, she's not a picaro. (The picaro is not interesting in himself; it is a literary convention for the presentation of satiric observations and comic episodes). The reader identifies with Moll. Indigence is shameful: we see again Economic Man, similar to Robinson. Defoe has little control over his narrative: there are unconscious blunders, and little consistency. There is no authorial conscience—this is ephemeral writing. Most novelists concentrate on a few pictures and reduce synopses of action to a minimum. Defoe does the contrary, which weakens the force of the narrative. But it gives an impression of authenticity. He writes unadorned prose, with many Anglo-Saxon words, and focusing on the primary qualities of objects (there are no colours, sound or taste)—related to the scientific and rational outlook of the eighteenth century. It is popular fiction, highly readable, and of a journalistic nature ("Mr Review", Defoe's editorial character in "The Review", is similar to Moll Flanders as a narrator.

There is formal realism, but an incoherent structure. 2 parts, with a long first part—Moll's career as a wife. The second tells her criminal activities and their consequences. Five marriages, rather rudimentary interlockings. Her criminal adventures lead to her meeting in prison a former husband; later she returns to her family in Virginia. There is a unifying mechanism, similar to "Roxana", based on relationships, both have inconclusive endings. Unity comes through the central character, as in biographies (cf. Hume on identity) —due to a desire to be realistic, or to an inability to be otherwise? According to Aristotle, history is concerned with what actually happened, and poetry with the propable or necessary. Defoe then writes pseudo-history, as a liar.

Moll Flanders is a novel of character without any psychological analysis: elections are made quickly and aptly, automatically. He assumes the heroine's character withougt describing it. But we are told contradictory things; she has hidden information, etc. Is she a loving wife? A heartless mother? Is she affectionate? She enters self-centered relationships with other characters. Moll is similar to Defoe: her feminine traits are superficial. The novel was admired by Virginia Woolf because Moll shows no unconscious feminine traits. She is, according to Defoe, a public-minded citizen who has had bad luck. She doesn't like vice for its own sake. But Moll is also unaffected by her surroundings.

A middle-class notion of gentility reigns, a restless and amoral individualism. There is an unconscious identification between the author and the character. Defoe claims that it is a moral story, that crime doees not pay, but this is unsubstantiated. Moll is not repentant—that would impair the delight the reader takes in the action, and it would also be less immediate. Didactic commentaries fail to be clearly placed at any stage of moral development. Formal realism appears here as an end, not as a means: there is no moral. Morals will later be expressed through the control of the point of view; Defoe has no such control. Claims are sometimes made that he did have it—that he is morally detached from his heroine, e.g. in the ironical preface (Virginia Woolf, Coleridge, E. M. Forster). There is often a bathetic transition from sentiment to action (money, rhum); but the irony has a dubious status, there is no consistent ironical attitude throughout the novel. Defoe cannot ironize—only impersonate (as in "The Shortest Way with the Dissenters"). Only in an ahistorical view can Moll Flanders be considered a masterpiece, by judging it by the standards of our time—which is a tribute to Defoe's vitality as a writer. His formal realism mixes many traditions (tragedy, comedy, history journalism); irony can be achieved by contrasting the attiudes peculiar to them, but Defoe doesn't know that. There is a lack of moral or formal pattern, a weakness of construction, an inattention to detail. But he has a supreme talent as a realist portrayer of episodes. Richardson will have both assets—which is why he is the real founder.

Defoe, like Marlowe, produces unconsciously autobiographic works, episodic in nature—ego vs. mundum.  As in Stendhal, individualism rules: an energetic and unwise vision of life. There is a kind of moral: an energetic stoicism, a comfortable vitality. The chance mingling of attitudes and situations is original, and will influence later novels. Defoe creates both a new subject and a new literary form to embody it.

5. Love and the Novel: Pamela

Richardson solves some of Defoe's failures: he gives the novel a plot. The traditional theme of courtship is exploited in a new way, to give his novels unity, not episodity.

I. Love as a positive value arises in Provence. Like individualism, it has its roots in Christianity (the courtship of the Virgin). However, courtly love was too conventionalied to be a novel plot. In England, a new conception of marriage arises, through puritan influence. Marriage as God-given unity, difficult for women to achieve. In Pamela we find romantic love combined with social class conflicts, and conflicts between sexual instinct and the moral code.

II. The values of courtly love and those of marriage can only be combined when there is consent, free choice. Early modern England was more liberal to women than other countries. Romantic love and matrimony are the correlative of the elementary family and the disgregation of the patriarchal system. In Defoe and Richardson, there is a tendency to the assertion of individual freedom from family ties. But women are under Roman law; they can't realize economic individualism. Roxana is a clear example. The need of a dowry was unfavourable to women.

III. There was a popular concern for these facts. The status of unmarried women declined; they come to be seen as ridiculous: the word 'spinster' appears. They had to accept badly-paid jobs or dependence: there were no convents available for high-class spinsters. Richardson advocates such convents. Bachelors appear as socially deplorable and morally dangerous (especially for Puritans). Richardson's Grandison declares: "I am for having everybody marry." Pamela symbolizes the aspirations of all women in that period, and has been followed by many (in similar conditions). The marriage ceremony goes on for 200 pages; at that time, the terms of marriage aren't still well defined. Mr. B tries to delude Pamela with a mock marriage. Puritans support this view of marriage—even if it means that they must get married in an Anglican church.

IV. Feminine reading public: a taste for fiction and moral works. Pamela has both. Richarson has feminine tastes; domestic detail is an enjoyement to women. The plot provides flattery on women, and discipline on men. The woman rises socially.

V. A clash of two attitudes on sex and marriage, represented by Richarson and Fielding.  Richardson adjusts language to the new feminine code. There is a decarnalization of the public feminine role, and a systematic bowdlerizing. (Richardson's prudery).

VI. These changes explain Pamela's unity and its combination of moral purity and impurity. A departure from Stiltrennung—a combination of high and low motives, e.g. chastity is valued by a servant-girl. The psychological and moral content is deeper than ever: barriers are not social, but psychological. Puritanism builds a bridge between flesh and spirituality, through marriage (Courtly love doesn't). But woman must wait until she is engaged to feel love—in Pamela, when she is going away. Both characters recognize themselves. The plot includes a peripety and recognition which coincide (the best for Aristotle). This is made possible because of the unprecedented disparity between social roles and feelings. This has led to contradictory interpretations—is Pamela a hypocrite? It is social circumstances that forbid openness. It is a sex-centered work; taboo is always the centre of attention and interest. The novel appears as an initiation site to the fundamental mystery of society. Pamela is a combination of sermon and strip-tease.

Chapter 7- Richardson as Novelist - Clarissa

Richardson is a conscious innovator: he hopes that Pamela will induce a new species of writing. Clarissa revolves better the problems of the unification of narrative mode, plot, characters, and morals. There are no digressions: the themes spring from the subject (Richardson says).

I. A better use of the letter form. In Pamela, there is the dange of one-sidedness, compromising the credibility of the heroine. It ends up in a journal; the editor is a clumsy device. In Clarissa the epistolary narrative carries the whole burden. It is a dramatic narrative rather than a history, Richardson claims. The formal division rests on the dichotomy of the sexual roles: Clarisa and Lovelace write to people with their own morals, in an uninhibited way. There is a relationship between the action and the narrative mode. In the first and second volumes, only Clarissa writes; then both, at last only Clarissa. The tempo varies (e.g. in the rape scene). There is a careful characterization: Lovelace did not seem a complete villain at the time. Clarissa sees that he has good sense at the bottom, and it is that which makes her fall in his power. The moral is that both parties were wrong—her parents ought'ntto have forced Mr Solmes on her, and she shouldn't have gone away. Christian morals. As in Pamela, virtue is rewarded—but in Heaven. In spite of this, Clarissa is a tragedy. Knowledge of religion is weak, and there is a sense of defeat at the end. One third of the book is taken up by the funeral. Funeral literature was fashionable at the time; even Puritans allowed rich funerals. In her death, Clarissa collaborates with God, who has marked her for his own.

II. Richardson's moralizing, like Defoe's, is unpalatable. Fielding and Sterne are satirists: we don't judge their values. But Richardson's identification with these values makes Clarissa coherent. An obsession for class distinctions. In Pamela, there is a colliding respect for nobility and a contempt for Mr B's morals. In Clarissa, both belong to a similar class: wealthy landed gentry with aristocratic connections—Clarissa's a little less aristocratic. For James, daughters are chickens brought up for the tables of other men. He is an ally of Solmes—he doesn't want Clarissa to have a a high dowry. Solmes belongs to a lower class, but he is rich, and he only wants her father's estate (which is already hers, given her by her grandfather). Lovelace appears as attractive and motivated by attraction, while Solmes is moved by money. Clarissa is alone: both family authority and economic individualism go against her. She escapes to be free, not because of love. And to Lovelace, one of the two must be a prize. He believes at first that women have no souls—at last he acknowledges hers as superior. All others, except for Clarissa, use people as means (which Kant will forbid to do). Lovelace fears her when she is in his power, because of her inner inviolability. Lovelace believes women's bashfulness to be hypocritical—a Cavalier attitude, whereas Clarissa's is puritan.

Clarissa doesn't want to marry Lovelace—an assertment of the seriousness of the code. A reformed rake will is not a good husband (compare here the plot of Pamela). Lovelace becomes convinced that she loved virtue for its own sake.

Sexual repression can lead to self-deception (as in Pamela). In Clarissa, psychological tension arises from this self-deception. She gradually discovers that she is in love with Lovalce, something which Anna Howe knew all along. Lovelace's sophistries, on the contrary, are conscious: his honour consists in telling the truth to men and lying to women. Sadism is the extreme attitude of Lovelace's position. A sadistic sexual male vs. a masochistic asexual female (the violation episode is one of extreme passivity). Clarissa has a sexual dream in which Lovelace stabs her: an equation of sex and death by Clarissa. And she knows she's not wholly blameless.

There are various perverse deviations of sexual impulse in Clarissa's funeral. Diderot hails Richardson as the first who discovered the frightening reality of unconscious life even in virtuous persons. Evil and good are mitigated; there is a denser psychological pattern. Lovelace's villainy is conscious, buth there is a stifled goodness beneath. Their attitudes are extreme; human love is impossible because Clarissa doesn't recognize the flesh nor Lovelace the spirit; he recognizes himself only through his rakery. They are star-crossed lovers: the barriers between them are psychological—the result of internalized social forces. In theory, the novel offers flat didacticism, but actually there is deep penetration and an insight into the final ambiguity of human life.



Fielding as Novelist: Tom Jones

A widely different conception of the novel in Fielding and Richardson: two outlooks on life. Johnson condemns Fielding as coarse, although he is nearer to his own neo-classicism. He was a friend of Richardson, and finds in Fielding "superficial characters of manners". It is not so much a contrast between physical description vs. psychology as a matter of sketchiness vs. detail in both aspects. Fielding has less characterization and relies heavily on a complicated plot (Coleridge speaks of the plot of Tom Jones as one of the three best plots in literature together with Oedipus and Volpone; a return to norm in Fielding). In Moll Flanders money determines the action. In Fielding it is a plot device. Birth is a determining factor (in Defoe it was money, in Richardson virtue): Fielding is a classist. Tom doesn't discuss the appropriateness of the custom that forbids him to marry Sophia. In Richardson, the individual is crucified by society; Tom Jones adapts successfully. In Richardson, character changes and proximity drive the plot; in Fielding, a kind of law over the individual. Individuals are individual manifestations of the great pattern of Nature; they are not individuals but a species [cf. Johnson's neoclassicism.] Fieldings objective is taxonomic. Also, Richardson's approach is a breach of decorum, an intentional one. But it leads to emotional artificiality—exaggerated reactions in order to show feelings. There is little psychological development in Fielding. Has Tom learned anything? We have to believe Fielding on this issue.

An Aristotelian view of character in Fielding. Actions are not the consequences of moral behaviour; personal relationships are unimportant. Neither can touch a fixed character. There is a lack of communication between characters. Sub-plots are episodes which are dramatic variations of the central theme. There is an explicit authorial control over a fictional world. Tom thinks of Sofia but goes with Molly: he is merely a puppet to desmonstrate an idea of Fielding's. The importance of plot in the novel in general is in inverse proportion to that of character. A complicated plot leads to passive agents, but happily contrived secondary characters, those not hampered by the needs of the narrative design (the protagonists sometimes do actions which are at variance with their authors' intentions).

To Johnson, Fielding makes immoral people attractive. But Fielding's morals are more Shakespearean. He broadens our moral senses: sex is accepted in the tradition of the comedy. The author as omniscient chorus; essayistic digressions, which produce a distancing effect. An ironical attitude rowards the reality of his own creation. Moral sense is conveyed mainly through the author's speech, not through action—a defect. Fielding goes far from formal realism, but gives a wider view of mankind and society. Not of the individual, though.


Realism and the Later Tradition: A Note

Sterne conciliates Richardson and Fielding, with both internal and external approaches to character: formal realism of time, place, and persons, and lifelike action. Great detail. But it is a parody, not a novel. Narration in the present of the author's mind (as in Richardson)—but it is past because of its subject. External time as in Fielding (allusions to Flanders). Contrast between literature and reality; the time of reading, life, and the time of writing. Mental life gives flexibility and accounts for durée. There is a freedom to comment, as in Fielding, but no unrealistic effect because it is autobiographic. Contrastive scenes in order to assess (artificial in Fielding) are natural in Sterne because of the stream of consciousness. Toby is benevolent as Clarissa, but there is also irony (Widow Wadman, similar to Lady Booby in Fielding). Characters are shown in detail, but they are humours. An undermining or a reconciliation of Fielding and Richardson?

Jane Austen and Fanny Burney: Similar to Grandison, emphasis on daily life). Minute presentation of everyday life, but a detached attitude. Authorial narration, not a participant narrator. But they do not produce an inauthentic effect, distancing is discreet. And the point of view is close to the subjective world. The themes too: social and moral problems of economic individuals and the middle-class quest for status. They are centered on the feminine role, marriage.



Notes from Ian Watt's book 

 The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding. (Berkeley: U of California P; London: Chatto & Windus, 1957) Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963.


Un blog sobre literatura inglesa (1600-1800)

Este blog fue utilizado como material auxiliar para una asignatura del grado de Estudios Ingleses en la Universidad de Zaragoza, asignatura ...