M.A. (English) Part-I Semester-Ii Course-Vii
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M.A. (English) Part-I (Semester-II) 82 Course-VII M.A. (ENGLISH) PART-I COURSE-VII SEMESTER-II NINETEENTH CENTURY FICTION LESSON NO. 19 Author : Dr. Sushil Kumar Major Literary Trends/Movements and History of Nineteenth Century INTRODUCTION In 19th century, the novel emerged as the dominant form of Western literature. The novel written in this era set milestones in the development of the genre. The major novelists provided new shape and strength to the genre of novel. They initiated the art of observation and intricacy to the novel form and they have been the source of inspiration for the further coming novelists ever since. Terry Eagleton rightly observes in his book English Novel: An Introduction, “The late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was one of the most fertile, diverse and adventurous periods of novel-writing in English history, as Gothic fiction, romance, regional and national tales Jacobin and anti-Jacobin novels, novels of travel, sentiment, abolitionism and the condition of women, stories of foreign and domestic manners, and works derived from ballad, myth and folk lore, tumbled copiously from the presses. The literary situation was exceptionally fluid, and the realist novel as we know it, crystallized only gradually in this crucible ingredients. Once that novel was up and running, it did not simply suppress these competing forms; on the contrary, it incorporated them, as a glance at the Gothic or romantic elements in, say, the Brontes would suggest” (94-95). Major Literary Trends and Movements : Gothic Novel Etymologically the word Gothic is derived from the northern European tribe Goths. They resisted the Roman Empire. But as a term, the art historian Giorgio Vasari used it to signify the monstrous, barbarous, and disorderly in a medieval visual art. It indicates a different style from the Greco-Roman tradition. And Gothic novel represents a saga of terror, fantasy, superstition, suspense and mystery. It is usually set in an old and horrible castle, ruined morbid house, suitably picturesque surrounding or monastery. The gothic tradition in novel began with Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764). At this juncture, novel was a recent phenomenon. Gothic novelists reacted against the limited subject matter of the earlier novelists. M. G. Lewis’ The Monk 1796 and Ann Radcliffe’s Mysteries of Udolpho 1794 also depicted horrible ghosts and demons. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) is also a fine example of gothic novel. Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (1847)can also be considered as Gothic novel. Jane Austen satirized the trend of Gothic novel in her Norihanger Abbey (1818). Many American writers like Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Allan Poe M.A. (English) Part-I (Semester-II) 83 Course-VII and Ambrose Bierce attempted to write in Gothic tradition. One can trace gothic elements in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House and Great Expectations. Naturalism Naturalism is a literary genre that started as a literary movement in late nineteenth century in literature, film, theater and art. The theories of Charles Darwin are often identified as playing a role in the development of literary Naturalism. It is a type of extreme realism. This movement suggested the role of family background, social conditions and environment in shaping human character. Thus, naturalistic writers write stories based on the idea that environment determines and governs human character. Naturalism took its cue from Darwin’s theory of evolution that says life is like a struggle and only fittest ones can survive. Though Darwin never applied his theories to human social behaviour, and in doing so many authors seriously abused the actual science. There was in the late nineteenth century a fashion in sociology to apply evolutionary theory to human social woes. This line of thinking came to be known as Social Darwinism, and today is recognized as the systematized, scientific racism that it is. Naturalism, for better or worse, is in some respects a form of Social Darwinism played out in fiction. One could make the case that Naturalism is merely a specialized variety of Realism. In fact, many authors of the period are identified as both Naturalists and Realists. Edith Wharton is frequently identified as perfect representative of both aesthetic frameworks. However, Naturalism displayed some very specific characteristics that delimit it from the contemporary literature that was merely realistic. The environment, especially the social environment, played a large part in how the narrative developed. The locale essentially becomes its own character, guiding the human characters in ways they do not fully realize. Plot structure as such was secondary to the inner workings of character, which superficially resembles how the Realists approached characterization. The work of Emile Zola provided inspiration for many of the Naturalist authors, as well as the work of many Russian novelists. It would be fairer to assert that all Naturalist fiction is Realistic, but not all Realistic fiction is Naturalist. The dominant theme of Naturalist literature is that people are fated to whatever situation in life, their heredity, environment, and social conditions prepare them for. The power of primitive emotions to negate human reason was also a recurring element. Writers like Zola and Frank Norris conceived of their work as experiments in which characters were subjected to various stimuli in order to gauge reactions. Adverse social conditions are taken as a matter of fact. The documentary style of narrative makes no comment on the situation, and there is no sense of advocating for change. The Naturalist simply takes the world as it is, for good or ill. The Naturalist novel is then a sort of laboratory of fiction, with studies underway that ethically could not be performed in the real world. M.A. (English) Part-I (Semester-II) 84 Course-VII Steinbeck in his novel, The Grapes of Wrath portrays Joad family and its changing environment from the naturalistic point of view during the times of great depression in the United States. Stephen Crane in his short story, “The Open Boat” portrays men on a boat, representing human endurance against indifferent nature where they feel themselves helpless. Thus, it contains the theme of naturalism. Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening gives a picture of a good example of a naturalistic novel, as its leading character, Edna Pontellier lives in a world where no one understands her. Neither does she fit in Creole society, which often causes misunderstandings in her life, nor can she understand its people, “Edna wondered if they had all gone mad.” The theme in Jack London’s novel, To Build A Fire is man versus nature; thus it is another good example of naturalism. Naturalism in this novel shows how human beings need to be careful at every corner, as death could reach them anywhere, waiting for them to commit a mistake and take their lives. The story is about a man with his dog trying to survive harsh cold weather by building a fire. In fact, the author uses Darwinian Theory of “survival of the fittest” in his work The impact that naturalism left on literary writers was colossal, leading to the evolution of the modern movement. Generally, naturalistic works expose dark sides of life such as prejudice, racism, poverty, prostitution, filth and disease etc. Since these works are often pessimistic and blunt, they receive severe criticism. Despite the echoing pessimism in this literary output, naturalists are generally concerned with improving human condition around the world. Naturalism is a precursor to realism that partially overlaps with it. Realism, the subsequent literary movement, also emphasizes depicting life as accurately as possible without distortion. Naturalistic writers-- including Zola, Frank Norris, Stephen Crane, and Theodore Dreiser -- try to present their subjects with scientific objectivity. They often choose characters based on strong animal drives who are "victims both of glandular secretions within and of sociological pressures without”. Typically, naturalist writers avoid explicit emotional commentary in favor of medical frankness about bodily functions and biological activities that were almost unmentionable during the earlier literary movements like Transcendentalism, Romanticism, and mainstream Victorian literature. The end of the naturalistic novel is usually unpleasant or unhappy, perhaps even "tragic," though not in the cathartic sense, Aristotle, Sophocles, or Elizabethan writers would have understood by the term tragedy. Naturalists emphasize the smallness of humanity in the universe; they remind readers of the immensity, power, and cruelty of the natural world, which does not care whether humanity lives or dies. Terry Eagleton states in The English Novel: An Introduction, “The naturalistic novel of Emile Zola and his colleagues aimed for a clinical, dispassionate view of human affairs. The novel became a kind of quasi-scientific experiment, placing men and women in specific M.A. (English) Part-I (Semester-II) 85 Course-VII circumstances and recording how the biological instincts induce them to react. There is a streak of naturalism in Hardy who from time to time likes to widen the narrative focus so as to gaze on human existence with the imperturbable eye of the gods”(196). Romanticism Romanticism as a modern term applied to the profound shift in Western attitudes to art and human creativity that dominated much of European culture in the first half of the 19th century began with the publication of the Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It has shaped subsequent developments in literature. It emerged in the 1790s in Germany and Britain, and in the 1820s in France. Wordsworth’s “Preface” to the second edition (1800) of Lyrical Ballads, in which he described poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”, became the manifesto of the English Romantic movement in poetry. William Blake was a principal poet of the movement’s early phase in England. The first phase of the Romantic Movement in Germany was marked by innovations in both content and literary style and by a preoccupation with the mystical, the subconscious, and the supernatural.