Schulz_article

"Novel," "Romance," and Popular Fiction in the First Half of the Eighteenth Century Author(s): Dieter Schulz

Source: Studies in Philology, Vol. 70, No. 1 (Jan., 1973), pp. 77-91 Published by: University of North Carolina Press

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"Novel," "Romance,"and PopularFiction

in the FirstHalf of the Eighteenth

Century

By DIETER SCHULZ

E NGLISH andAmericancriticismof fictionhas traditionallydistinguishedbetween two chief modesof prose narrative,the realistic"novel" and the non-realistic,poetic,andmythic"ro-

I

mance." No periodin Englishliteraryhistoryappearsto demonstratethe validityof this distinctionmoreconvincinglythanthe first half of the eighteenthcentury.A long line of excellentscholarshas describedthe developmentof the eighteenth-centurynovel as a severebreakwith the non-realistictraditionof narrativecommonly labeled"romance.2" This criticalpositionseemstobe borneout most

Theory, Interpretation,and History, ed. Peter Demetz, Thomas Greene, and Lowry

1929); Arnold Kettle, An Introductionto the English Novel, I (London, 1951), Ch. ii; Ian Watt, The Rise of the Novel (University of California Press, 1957); Lionel Stevenson,The English Novel: A Panorama(Boston, I960), Ch. iii; Ronald Paulson, Satire and the Novel in Eighteenth-CenturyEngland (Yale University Press, 1967).

77

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78 "Novel,""Romance,"and PopularFiction

impressivelyby thenoveliststhemselves,whoin theirpolemicsagainst earlierandcontemporarywritersconstantlyattackedthe supernatural in fiction,extravagantnotionsof honorandlove,exaltedrhetoric,etc.- all featuresthatwereseen by themas typicalof the "romance."

The matterbecomesmorecomplicated,however,when we turn to theiruse of the term"novel." With the exceptionof Smollett, none of the majoreighteenth-centurynovelistsappliedthis termto his own work. On the contrary,in theirpolemicalstatementsthey censured"romances" and "novels" as equally"romantic" and perverse,and they did so despitethe fact that the moderndistinction betweenthe twonarrativemodeshad beenestablishedin the second half of the seventeenthcentury.

In the followingdiscussionI wishto examinethisapparentcritical confusionandexploreits relevanceto the currentnotionof the origin of therealisticnovel. I shallrelatethe indiscriminatepolemicsagainst "novel" and "romance" to certainaspects of popularfictionbefore Pamela,andsuggestthatthe novelsof Defoe,Richardson,andFielding should perhapsbe viewed as a reactionagainstthe kind of romanticizednovel or novellaproducedby such writersas Aphra

Behn, Mary Manley, and Eliza Haywood, ratherthan as an alterma- tive to the traditionof "high" romancerepresentedby the heroic romancesof the seventeenthcentury.

The distinctionbetweennovelandromanceis clearlyprefiguredin Congreve'soften-quotedPrefaceto Incognita(I692):

Romancesare generally composedof the constant loves and invincible couragesof heroes,heroins [sic], kings and queens, mortalsof the firstrank, and so forth;where lofty language, miraculouscontingencies, and impossibleperformanceselevate and surprizethe readerinto a giddy delight....

Novels are of a more familiarnature, come near us and representto us intrigues in practice, delight us with accidents and odd events, but not such as are wholly unusual or unpresidented[sic], such which not being so distant from our belief bring also the pleasure nearer us. Romances give more of wonder, novels more delight."

Walter F. Greinerand othershave pointedout that Congreve's definitionechoes similarstatementsmade by seventeenth-century

' Quoted from George L. Barnett, ed., Eighteenth-CenturyBritish Novelists on the Novel (New York, I968), p. i8.

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Frenchwriterson the differencebetweenromanandnouvelle. Congreveand his Frenchpredecessorstriedto distinguishbetweentwo stronglycontrastingkindsof prosefiction: the heroicromanceon the one hand, and a realistic,often satiricalshortnarrativeon the other.4

If, as Greinerfurtherimplies,Congreve'sdistinctionbecame a commonplacein eighteenth-centurycriticism,andif the novel developedas a reactionagainstthe traditionof romance,as is commonly assumed,one would expectthe majorwritersof realisticfictionto availthemselvesof Congreve'stermsin articulatingtheirown position. This, however,is not the case,or only partiallyso. As already indicated,Defoe, Richardson,and Fielding did employ the term

" " denouncethe typicalfeaturesof earlierfiction, romance in orderto

but insteadof adoptingthe term"novel" for theirown work,they censured"novel" and "romance"equally.

At firstglance, one might supposethat the novelistscould not adopt Congreve'sterminologybecause to them, as to Congreve, "novel" referredto shortnarrativesof the novellatypeandtherefore couldnot be appliedto such bulkyworksas Tom Jones,much less

Clarissa. Chesterfield, in a letter presumably written in late I740

"A small tale, generally of love." But there is sufficient evidence to suggest that before the middle of the century "novel " could be used to designate longer narratives. Already Mrs. Haywood'sLove in Ex- cess(I7I9-20), whichhasaboutthe samelengthas JosephAndreuws, presentsitself as a "novel." In the Prefaceto her Works (1725),

Mary Davys claims to have read "a French Novel of four hundred

4 Greiner, Studien zur Entstehung der englischen Romantheoriean der Wende

zum z8. Jahrhundert(Tiibingen, I969), pp. 59-60, I68-90; IrLne Simon, "Early Theories of Prose Fiction: Congreve and Fielding," in Imagined Worlds: Essays on some English Novels and Novelists in Honour of John Butt, ed. MaynardMack and Ian Gregor (London, I968), pp.

'Quoted fromIoan Williams,ed., Novel and Romance,z700-1800: A Docu- mentary Record (New York, 1970), p. IOO.

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8o "Novel,""Romance,"and PopularFiction

pages"(Bamett,p. 38). In a letterpublishedin the secondedition of Pamela (I 74 I ), Aaron Hill writes that Richardson'sbook presents religion and morality "under the modest Disguise of a Novel'" (Williams, p. Richardsonhimself, in "Hints of Prefaces for Clarissa,"considerscalling Clarissa"a Religious Novel." 6

Clearly,then, the criterionof length could not weigh heavily with Defoe, Richardson,and Fielding. The crucial point is that if these writershesitatedto accept the term, they did so not for considerations of length, but because to them the contemporary"novel " exhibited the same lack of realismand moralpurposeas the romance. The following passagesshow that they rejected the "novel" on much the same grounds as they censured the romance.

Instructorbums her "Play-Booksand Novels," her "Songs, Plays, Novels, Romances,and such like Stuff" (ioth ed., I725, p. IOI). In the Introductionto The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell (1720), Defoe expresseshis " Hopes of engaging many curious People of all sorts to be my Readers, even from the airy nice Peruser of Novels and Romances . . . to the grave Philoso- pher" (p. 7). In Mist's Journal,he classes novels among the "two Sortsof Writings which seem to be of no Use to the World."8

Although a major thrust of Richardson'sand Fielding's polemics was aimed at "those idle Romanceswhich are filled with Monsters, the Productions,not of Nature, but of distemperedBrains" (Tom

Novels, and idle Romances, the Poison of Female Minds, abound

first edition of the work cited, with London as place of publication.

8A Collection of Miscellany Letters, Selected out of Mist's Weekly Journal, IV

(London, I727), I24. For some of my quotations from Defoe I am indebted to Maximillian E. Novak, "Defoe's Theory of Fiction," Studies in Philology, LXI

(1964), 650-68.

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with" (Lettercxlvii). Mr.B. addressesthisironicremarkto Pamela: "thereis sucha prettyAir of Romance,as you relatethem,in your Plots,and my Plots,that I shallbe betterdirectedin what manner to wind up the Catastropheof the prettyNovel" (Pamela, Vol.

II, 3rd ed., I74I, p. I7). Qualities commonly associatedwith the romance, such as " the Marvellous and Improbable,"its tendency to inflame the passionsand "to fire the Imagination,"are attributed to romance and novel alike (Pamela, Vol. IV, ist ed., 1742, pp.

In his famous letter to Aaron Hill, Richardsonexpresseshis hope that Pamela "might possibly turn young people into a course of reading different from the pomp and parade of romance-writing, and dismissing the improbableand marvellous, with which novels generally abound, might tend to promote the cause of religion and virtue."9

In his Preface to the third edition of Clarissa (I75I), Richardson warns his readers not to expect " a light Novel, or transitoryRomance" (Williams, p. i 67)."1 In "Hints of Prefaces for Clarissa" and the Postscript,Richardson(or his advisers) consistentlyuses both terms side by side. He criticizes the "Authorsof Novels and Romances, who always make their Heroes and Heroines contend with great Distresses (the more romantic, with them, the better)," and who "seem to think they have done everything, when they have joined the LoversHands."He expressesdissatisfactionwith the "Variety of Intrigues and Adventures,"the "Strangenessand Variety" of romances and novels, and he is anxious to point out that Clarissa is no "mere Novel or Amusement, not "a mere Novel or Romance." For those "who suppose this Work to be of the Novel Kind," it should be made clear that Clarissais a "Religious Novel," a "new Species of Novel." In "Hints " and "Postscript" there are only a few referencesto the romance alone."

' Quoted fromJohn Carroll,ed., SelectedLettersof Samuel Richardson(Clarendon

" The quotationsare from Samuel Richardson,Clarissa: Preface, Hints of Pre-

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In Joseph Andrews (I742), Fieldingcensures"the Authorsof immense Romances, or the modern Novel and Atalantis Writers" for the improbabilitiesof their narratives(Bk. III, Ch. i). In one of the prefatoryessaysof Tom Joneshe sets a certainstandardof learning for the writer of "histories." The authors of "foolish Novels, and monstrousRomances" are capable of nothing more than "indecent and abusive" language; "to the Composition of Novels and Romances, nothing is necessary but Paper, Pens and Ink, with the manual Capacityof using them" (Bk. IX, Ch. i).12

The indiscriminateuse of "novel" and "romance" is not confined to the major novelists. Quite early in the eighteenth century both termswere used to denounce practicallythe same phenomenon,

A ridiculouscoxcombin Lindamira(I702) woos the heroinewith

"abominable,far-fetchedmetaphors,with incoherent fragments out of plays,novels,and romances.'13" In the Spectator, No. 254 (2I Dec. I7I I), we findthe followingremark:"I am afraidthy Brains are a little disorderedwith Romances and Novels." Later, romances and novels are describedas inflamersof passion (No. 365, 29 April

I7I2). In A LetterConcerningEnthusiasm(1708), Shaftesbury points out the pernicious influence of romancesand novels (p. 9). In Advice to an Author (17Io), he reprimandsthose who prefer "a Romance, or Novel, to an Iliad."

seventh essay (" Of the Study of History") in Hume's Essays,Moral

faces, and Postscript,Augustan Reprint Society, No. I03 (University of California,

I964).

"Fielding also uses "romance" and "novel" as neutral terms, i. e., without derogatoryconnotations;for "romance" see Preface to Joseph Andrews, and his Preface to Sarah Fielding'sDavid Simple, 2nd ed. (I744; rpt. Barnett, P. 53); for "novel " see his Prefaceto FamiliarLettersBetweenthe PrincipalCharactersin David Simple (x747; rpt. Bamett, pp. 56-8). Of course, the use of "romance" to denote longer works of prose fiction in general was quite common in the i8th century, alongside of the more specific usage in which the term referred to a particular, non-realisticmode of fiction. Similarly, in our time "novel" often means simply " long narrativein prose,"without necessarilyimplying the quality of realism. Such terminologicalinconsistenciesdo not materiallyaffect my argument, as I am only concemed with the modal use of these terms.

""The Adventuresof Lindamira,a Lady of Quality, ed. Benjamin Boyce (University of Minnesota Press, I949), p. 12.

"Characteristicksof Men, Manners,Opinions, Times (n. p., I71I),

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andPolitical(Edinburgh,174 ), romancesandnovelsarecondemned as "false Representationsof Mankind"(p. 70). The high-flown rhetoricof romancewas regardedas typicalof the novel as well. WritesW. Walsh in I749: "Romancesand Novels are often writ in this mixt languagebetweenPoetryand Prose;and hence it is sometimescalledthe Romantickstyle." 15

It seemsclear,then, that Congreve'sdistinctionwas either completely forgottenor disregardedin the firsthalf of the eighteenth century.16As I havesaid,of themajorwritersof fictiononlySmollett did not attackthe "novel." Smollett,indeed,furnishessomeof the earliestexamplesof modernusagewhen he statesthat "A Novel is a largediffusedpicture,comprehendingthe charactersof life " (Dedicationto FerdinandCount Fathom,1753; rpt. Barnett,p. 65), or whenhe praises"thenovelsof Fielding" (I 757).17 Suchcomments areindicativeof a generaltendency,settingin aroundI 750, toward a neutralor even favorableconceptof the "novel"-a trendthat is particularlystrikingin severalcontemporaryreferencesto Fielding's

" novels" (Williams,pp. I26, I63, I7I, 176-9). On theotherhand,

FieldingandRichardson,whosenovelisticcareersbeganearlierthan Smollett's,had a decidedlynegativeview of the "novel." Defoe, Richardson,and Fielding did not accept the term for their own work (at least not withoutstrongqualifications),becausein their

15Leters and Poems amorousand gallant; quoted from Femand Baldensperger,

apologetictone of statementsby practitionersof the "novel," e. g., Penelope Aubin's

"novel" and "romance " appears to be an article by John Hawkesworth in the

Adventurer,No. 4 (I8 Nov. I752; rpt. Williams,p. 193).

"'The History of England; quoted from Kem, "The Romance of Novel / Novella," p. 526.

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84 "Novel,""Romance,"and PopularFiction

view the "novel" sharedcertainqualitieswith the romance.As the statementscited abovedemonstrate,the "novel" was found deficientin preciselythosefeaturesthatCongreveandmanylatercritics attributedto it. To the seriouswritersthe "novel" appearedjust as "romantic"as the romanceitself. In addition,both genreswere condemnedasimmoral.

To explainthis phenomenon,one has to go beyondquestionsof termninologyand the polemicalstatementsof the novelists. Congreve'sdistinctiongrewout of the historicalconditionsof fictionin the seventeenthcentury. Similarly,the indiscriminatepolemics

" " " "

against romance and novel in the firsthalf of the eighteenth centuryreflectthe state of contemporaryprose fiction, which is characterizedby a rapprochementof novella (i. e., "novel") and heroicromance.The popular"novel" beforeI740 is relatedto the romanticnovella, not to the more realisticand satiricalvariantof the genre,and even wheresatiricaltendenciesplay an importantpartas in the chroniquesscandaleuses-theresult,as we shallsee, is not greaterrealism.This kindof fictiondefiesthe classificationsuggested by Congreveandhis Frenchpredecessors.

In the followingdiscussionof popularfictionI shallbrieflyoutline certainaspectsof the earlierhistoryof the novella,and then go on to examinethreewidely-readwomenwriters,AphraBehn(I640-89), MaryManley(i663-I724), andElizaHaywood( 1693>-I756), whose worksappearrepresentativeof the kindof fictionthatis mostlikely to have been the targetof the polemicsdiscussedabove.18

Accordingto LudwigBorinski,thereare two contrastingtypesof novellain medievalliterature."9On theonehand,thereis the courtly narrative,often writtenin verse,with long speechesin the ornate styleand subtlepsychologicalanalysis.Boccaccio's"Filostrato" and

Instead, I try to focus on those aspects of popular fiction that appearmost relevant in view of the polemics discussed above.

19 For the following commentson the novella see Borinski,Der englische Roman des z8. Jahrhunderts(Frankfurt am Main, I968), pp. 8i-3.

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Chaucer's"Knight'sTale" arerepresentativeof this genussublime. On the otherhand,thereis the conciseexemplum-adidacticnarra- tive allegedlybasedon facts, originallyused in sermons-andthe fabliau-a shortcomictalewhich depictscharactersand incidentsin lower life, often with elementsof satire and ribaldry. Chaucer's "Pardoner'sTale" and "Miller'sTale" arespecimensof the genus humile. The Stiltrennungof high and low genrelatertendsto be obliterated,as for instancein the sixteenthcentury,when Belleforest amplifiedBandello'srelativelyplain narrativesby inserting long speechesandreflectionsin the neo-Platonicstyleof the Heptameron, therebylayingthe foundationfor the Euphuisticromance.20

In France,afterthe middleof the seventeenthcentury,the low strainof the novellamergedwith the traditionof the Spanishpicaresque novel and the satiricalnovel to producea floweringof realistic fictionin the worksof Scarron,Furetiere,and others,which successfully competedwith the heroicromances.The developmentof fictionin Englandin thelateseventeenthandearlyeighteenthcenturies reversedthe realistictrendso prominentin Frenchwritersof the secondhalfof theseventeenthcentury.Perhapsasaconsequenceofthe "romancy" culturalclimateafterthe Restoration,thepopular"novel" in Englandresurrectedthehighmodeof thecourtlynovella,although, as we shallsee, its exaltedrhetoricusuallydegeneratedinto a veneer forsensationalismandpseudo-romanticeroticism.2'

Someelementsof the earlierStiltrennungare still discerniblein the novellasof AphraBehn, which were widely read in the early eighteenthcentury(Richetti,p. Realisticstories,such as the slightly sentimental"Adventureof the Black Lady,"the satirical " Courtof the Kingof Bantam" (a kindof fabliau),and "The UnfortunateHappyLady,"contrastwith talesof extraordinarypassion, atrociousrevenge,andunheard-ofadventuresWhereas.the first-men- tionednovellasare all set in Londonand give a remarkablyvivid portraitof life and mannersin the city, the narrativesof the second

20 See Walter Pabst, Novellentheorieund Novellendichtung: Zur Geschichteihrer

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