2. Novel of manners

• habits, way of life

• requires a lot of observation

• a limited group of people, connected somehow, a small world

~ Fanny Bourney

- “Evelina” “Cecilia”

- Young girl who enters the world with its cruelty, hypocracy

~ Maria Edgeworth

- “Castle Rackrent”

- she’s Irish

- she wrote about Ireland seriously

~ Jane Austen

• rather schematic novels

• focused on 3 or 4 families in a village, relationships

• she writes briefly & main plots are connected with getting married ( women were depended on men- so getting married was a serious issue)

• “Pride and Prejudice” “Sense and sensibility” “Emma” (young but thinks she knows all)

• she’s the master of English language

• subtle irony

• control of the style & emotions

Chick literature- literature wrote by women and about women

3) Historical romances

• 1^st convention which treats history as a subject, not background

Walter Scott

• A failed poet, not a lot of money of poetry

• 1^st novels under pseudonyms

• he wrote about Scottish history; past but not remote

• 1745- the last rebellion against the English (last decisive moment; most of his novels are set in this time)

• he writes about the events that took place about 60years before his life (he’s objective thanks to this)

• romantic protagonist (the man who fells in love with a woman also involved in r.) needs Scotts involved in resurrection

• He wrote about past to know it, but not to come back and analyze, not to get stopped

• he’s pragmatic at history

• Romance- to distinguish from novel- realistic contemporary issues

• love and adventurous journey

Mickiewicz’s works are somehow imitations of Walter Scott’s style of writing.

WYKŁAD 7

THE VICTORIAN PERIOD (about 60 years)

1 832 --- ca. 1890’s

symbolic ending of romanticism; bill regulating (reducing)

death of Walter Scott- work of children, time of work, etc- very symbolic

the last romantic- writing poet

(Wordsworth lives but doesn’t write in this style)

1. 1832- 1860 The Early Victorian Era: Dickens, W. M. Thackery

2. 1860- 1890’s The Late Victorian Era: new generation of writers

Great Expetations

• without revolutionary changes, rather evolutionary, a “growing revolution”

• novel is the most dominating genre, however, poetry is still important

• time of very spectacular changes

• period of drastic changes (but they were slow); a lot of things came to shape we know them today (banking, universities, first computers

Consequences of industrial revolution:

• England was rural, now there’s growth of industrial cities

• landscape of England changes forever (organization changes)

• railway

• change of time (thanks to railway, to avoid mistakes in railway communication)

Social structure of English society:

A ristocracy

Middle class 18^th century

Peasants

19^th century

- appears working class (that for a long time has no right)

- rise of middle class- it’s time of middle class; class that’s no longer unimportant; more rights, quality, people who are consumer-read books, newspapers, etc

Population growth: result of improving medical knowledge; longer life expectancy

CENSUS: spis ludności (sort of fashion for big families)

1801- 10.5 mln

1901- 37mln

Advantages:

- bigger amount of men- bigger military potential

• medical knowledge- more people survived, people lived longer (hygiene was imposed); fashion of big families (6-8 children- in all classes)

T ime of great colonial expansion

Essay by Thomas Matthus: people

number of people grows fast great gap

number of people grows slower

food

disasters, wars, epidemics- sent by God, natural regulation, we shouldn’t prevent them

• it was very controversial

• thesis of Matthus were proven wrong

Adam Smith:

- free marker economy

- “the state shouldn’t interfere too much; the less state the better”

John Stuart Mill

• philosopher, mathematician

• his discipline was logic, civil rights (he didn’t use this term but talked about human dignity, etc., women should be granted for voting)

• human being has rights because of being a human being (sex, colour of skin- not important)

Carl Marx

• 1^st conception of capitalism & communism

Henry Spencer

• sociologist

• developed theories “social determinism”

Sir Charles Lyell

• geology; controversial books

• “the Earth is longer than the Bible put it”- undermined the Bible

• Earth was not created as single process as thesis presented in the Bible but it was long process

Charles Darwin

• theory of revolution interested in animals, biologist

• were totally heresy in 19^th century

H. Spencer

- “if you’re so poor, have no money-you should die & not propagate ypur poor genres”

improvements:

• hygienic

• fixing bread price

A MAN:

Family man, believes in hard work

But:

Many public houses, many pornographic papers (underneath)  hypocrisy

WYKŁAD 8