Literature of the Enlightenment
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Literature of the Enlightenment
The 17th and 18th centuries are known in the history of European culture as the period of Enlightenment. The central problem of the Enlightenment ideology was man and his nature. In England the period of Enlightenment followed the bourgeois revolution. Therefore, the aims of the English Enlighteners were not so revolutionary as those of French Enlightenment.
The English Enlighteners were different in their views. Some of them consider that a few reforms were enough to improve the order. They were represented in literature by Daniel Defoe, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele and Samuel Richardson. Other wanted more democracy in the ruling of the country. They were Jonathan Swift, Henry Fielding, Oliver Goldsmith, Richard B. Sheridan.
In the epoch of Enlightenment the poetic forms of the Renaissance were replaced by prose. The moralizing novel became the leading genre of the period. The writers hoped to improve the morals of the people and of society in general. The Enlightenment epoch in England literature may be divided into three periods:
Early Enlightenment (1688-1740)
Big amounts of journals and newspapers appeared at that time. Most popular were the satirical moralizing journals edited by Joseph Addison and Richard Steels. In their essays they touched on various problems of life.
Mature Enlightenment (1740-1750)
The social moralizing novel was born in this period. It was represented by the works of such writers as Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, and Tobias Smollett. Henry Fielding' s works were the summit of the English Enlightenment prose. He created a picture of the 18th century. He also introduced the main requirements that the novel should meet: to imitate life, to show the variety of human nature, to expose the roots and causes of man's shortcomings and to indicate the ways of overcoming them.
Late Enlightenment (Sentimentalism) (1750-1780)
The writers of this period expressed the democratic bourgeois tendencies of their time. They also tried to find a way out of the difficulties of the existing order. But they stand feelings above the force of intellect. The principal representatives of sentimentalism were Oliver Coldsmith, Lawrence Sterne and in drama – Richard Sheridan.
Daniel Defoе (1660-1731)
Daniel Defoe is rightly considered the father of the English and the European novel.
Daniel Defoe's life was complicated and adventurous. He was the son of London butcher. He traveled in Spain, Germany, France and Italy on business. Though his travels were few they, however, gave him, a man of rich imagination, material for his future novels. He took an active part in the political life of Britain (attacks against the Church).
His first literary works were satirical poems dealing with the urgent problem of the time.
His first and most popular novel The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe was written in 1719. It was followed by other novels of advеnture.
The popularity of the novel was due to the fact that Robinson Cruse was a typical nature. He was the first character of a bourgeois ever created in world literature. Through him Defoe asserted the superiority of the new class over the idle aristocracy.
He was typical in his manner of thought, in his thriftiness. He saved the money he found in the wrecked ship, although he understood that it could hardly be of any use to him on the island.
Crusoe was religious and any work he started, he began with a prayer just as any puritan would.
Defoe wrote his novels in the form of memories, which made them look like stories about real people. The detailed descriptions were just interesting too. Defoe's books were written in the living tongue of the epoch. He wanted to be understanding by the readers. He wanted to improve morals of people. The novel Robinson Crusоe praised the creative labour of man, his victory over nature.
The influence of his work on the literary process was great.
JONATHAN SWIFT (1667–1745)
Jonathan Swift was the greatest satirist in the history of English literature Jonathan Swift was born on November 30, 1667 in Dublin in an English family. His family lives in poverty. Jonathan was brought up by his prosperous uncle.
He studied theology. His favorite subjects, however, were literature, history and languages.
He took the Master of Arts Degree at Oxford University.
Among his early work was the allegory “Tale of a Tub”, a biting satire on religion. The meaning of the allegory was quite clear to the readers of that time. The Tub was religion which the state threw to its people to distract them from any struggle. The satire is written in the form of a story about three brothers symbolizing the three main religions in England.
Swift's literary work was always closely connected with his political activity.
His main novel Gulliver's Travels brought him fame and immortality. Gulliver's Travels is the summit of Swift's creative work and one of the best works in world literature. It is one of the books most loved by children. However, it was an exposure of all the evils and vices of the bourgeois society, of its corruption and degradation.
The book consists of four independent parts that tell about the adventures of Gulliver.
The land of Lilliput is a satirical symbol of the England of Swift's time. The author laughs at the shallow interests of the Lilliputians who are as small in intellect as in size.
Swift's art had a great effect on the further development of English and European literature. The main features of his artistic method were widely used by English novelists and many other foreign writers.