Novels Preceding the Critical Realism (Jane Austen and Walter Scott)

NOVEL OF THE 19th CENTURY

o depicting life on the British Isles, social problems, class conflicts
o prose becoming more important, broader scope of readers
o important role of women

JANE AUSTEN (1775-1817)

o novels of gentle but complex characterization and irony
o living in the English country, not interested in the French Revolution or Napoleonic
wars or the industrial revolution
o writing about the higher middle or noble classes, about visits, conversations, balls and
weddings
o took place in them herself, never married, great ability of depicting life which she
knew well
o criticism: daughters and mothers spending all their energy on hunting rich grooms,
laziness, cheating, snobbism, stupidity, backbiting etc.

o 6 novels + an unnamed, unpublished novel in letters (later named Lady Susan)

o novels are non-sentimental, realistic, deep in ideas and emotions
o created the domestic novel – depicting family life in detail
o characterization – direct (included ironic comments of the author) + indirect (through
dialogues, behaviour of the characters)

o Sense and Sensibility

o conflict of the Enlightment’s cult of reason and the new cult of feelings
(Sentimentalism)
o emphasizes the inevitability of reason (Elinor Dashwood) as a reaction to the
sentimental games (Marianne)
o tension btw the two poles and the two sisters, finally reach harmony of the two
qualities, develop into mature women before they get married

o Northanger Abbey
o parody on the fantastic Gothic novels, and their readers who loved the spooky stories
o Catherine Morland, enjoying her fear produced by her own literary imagination
o falls into awkward situations; scares herself and displeases the man who loves her
o gradually learns to distinguish fantasy from truth, in literature and life

o Pride and Prejudice

o full of humour and irony, conflict btw two strong characters and the two qualities
named in the title
o Lizzy Bennet – very vivid, but full of prejudice, also proud and offended by Darcy’s
ignorance
o Darcy – young aristocrat, whose pride is stronger than his solid character, also
prejudice towards a girl from a non-aristocratic family

o Mansfield Park
o Persuasion

o Emma
o rich, self-confident, full of energy, pretty and smart, but also spoilt by her privileged
position in the society, which led her to pride, selfishness and snobbism
o under the influence of pain and love, she develops into a mature woman who starts to
understand other people

o weddings – main motif and goal of all her novels

o however: not monotonous but very variable and bright
SIR WALTER SCOTT (1771 – 1832)
o born in Edinburgh, lawyer, fell into bankruptcy and wrote in order to repay debts for
himself and his partner
o founder of the historical novel
o as a child he had polio, listened to his grandma telling stories about Scotland, Scottish
kings and wars with England
o later collected old ballads and folk songs – Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border
o own long narrative poems – The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Lady of the Lake
o overshadowed by G.G.Byron, decided to write a novel:

o Waverley
o first true historical novel, where history was depicted as an organic part of the present
o Scott expressed his worries about the decadence of Scottish national traditions,
caused mainly by the English economic and political supremacy
o conflicts are depicted as conflicts of human individualities or national communities
o people are products of the long historical development and current social environment
o faithful image of the time and place, combination of Romanticism (countryside
descriptions, romantic atmosphere of the Scottish nature) and Realism (objective view
of man and history
o Waverley – young Englishman coming to Scotland as an army officer, his name
indicates the uncertainty btw his faithfulness to the House of Hannover and romantic
admiration towards the Scottish Stuarts
o also uncertainty btw 2 Scottish girls

o Rob Roy
o the Scottish “Jánošík” (lived at about the same time)
o hero similar to Waverley, whom Rob Roy is bravely helping

o The Heart of Midlothian

o title is a nickname for an old prison of Edinburgh
o massacre on the citizens of Edinburgh by captain Porteous, he is put to prison but
forgiven the death sentence by the Queen
o when the citizens find out they break into the prison and hang him

o When Scott ran out of the Scottish history, he started to write about other European
nations

o Ivanhoe
o describing the Middle Ages of English chivalry
o Richard the Lion Heart, Robin Hood (under the name Locksley)
o conflict btw the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman conquerors

o The Talisman
o topic of the crusades, creativity going down