Eighteenth-century English novels
Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (I719) introduces us to some central features of novels in general. Crusoe is shipwrecked on a desert island: by presenting him in isolation Defoe can convey a full impression of how man structures his world, then, when other people appear, he can examine man in a social context. From its start, then, the English novel looks …
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A Short History of British and American Literature: Part 2
Victorian literature develops from, rather than reacting against, romantic literature, and the poets of this age (1830 to the end of the century), such as Tennyson and Browning, are the heirs of the romantics. They cannot, however, sustain the romantics' confidence in the autonomy of their own imaginations. There is no longer the same ability to cr…
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A Short History of British and American Literature: Part 1
Every work of literature has a generic context. In addition, every work has a historical context: that is, it belongs to a particular historical period. Writers at a given time tend to have similar concerns and, often, similar values. An awareness of the historical context of a writer, then, should tell you what you can expect to encounter in, for examp…
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