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NOVEL CRITICISM in the EIGHTEEN-EIGHTIES by JOHN PECK

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NOVEL CRITICISM in the EIGHTEEN-EIGHTIES by JOHN PECK NOVEL CRITICISM IN THE EIGHTEEN-EIGHTIES by JOHN PECK (Registered as a student at Bedford College) A thesis submitted to the University of London in candidature fo r the degree of Doctor of Philosophy October 1975 - 1- ProQuest Number: 10098307 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10098307 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 STATEMENT This is to state that the accompanying dissertation is the result of my own independent investigation, and that as far as possible the extent to which I am indebted to other sources is fu lly indicated in the text, footnotes and bibliography. DECLARATION The accompanying dissertation has not already been accepted for any degree, and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. -2 - ABSTRACT Most theoretical discussions of the novel published in the eighties were crude and unimpressive, but the criticism of individ­ ual novels was more interesting. Discussing novelists such as payn and Oliphant c ritic s showed that they were not prepared to accept any novel just because i t was constructed along traditional lines. Meredith was the most respected novelist. He defended accepted moral values but in a way that struck his contemporaries as ambitious and original. Other novelists were less acceptable because they chall^ enged the moral convictions of the c ritic s . Zola's novels provoked intense controversy, but the excitement was short-lived. However, his realism did inspire a whole new movement of reaction - the revival of romance. This fic tio n was escapist and therefore unpopular with critics, who preferred realistic fiction, but realistic fiction that endorsed traditional moral values. They particularly admired philan­ thropic themes and admired Gissing for his use of them. But Gissing dealt with the failure of philanthropy. This led onto wider doubts about the social system and a new emphasis on the individual. Such an emphasis was unacceptable to c ritic s who preferred a picture of social integration. James made a greater emphasis on the individual than any other novelist in the period and his work baffled c ritic s . Hardy started with concepts of community and shared values but showed the ir disintegration. Critics refused to accept his vision and misinterpreted his works as pictures of a structured social order. Wishing novelists would present a vision of social cohesion c ritic s referred back to George E lio t, although her vision was not as straight­ forwardly positive as most critics seemed to believe. Critics would have liked novelists in the 'eighties to emulate her thore>ugh social - 3- picture. They wanted to see a picture of society functioning well, not a pessimistic picture of social chaos. - 4- CONTENTS PREFACE CHAPTER ONE THE NOVEL IN THE EIGHTEEN-EIGHTIES - THEORY AND CRITICISM. 1. REPRESENTATIVE THEORETICAL STATEMENTS FROM THE PERIOD, 2. WALTER BESANT ON 'THE ART OF FICTION'. 3. HENRY JAMES ON 'THE ART OF FICTION'. 4. CRITICAL REACTIONS TO THE NOVELS OF JAMES PAYN. 5. THE POPULARITY OF MRS OLIPHANT'S NOVELS. 6. THE REPUTATION OF MEREDITH. CHAPTER TWO REALISM - DEVELOPMENTS IN THE 'EIGHTIES. 1. THE DOMESTIC REALISM OF THE ENGLISH NOVEL. 2. THE ENGLISH REACTION TO ZOLA'S NOVELS. 3. DISCUSSIONS OF ZOLA'S THEORIES. 4. THE NOVELS OF GEORGE MOORE. 5. REASONS FOR THE CONTROVERSY OVER REALISM. CHAPTER THREE THE REVIVAL OF ROMANCE 1. STEVENSON'S THEORY OF FICTION. 2. RIDER HAGGARD AND HALL CAINE ON THE AIMS OF FICTION. 3. CRITICAL REACTIONS TO THE NOVELS OF RIDER HAGGARD, 4. CRITICAL REACTIONS TO THE NOVELS OF HALL CAINE. 5. CRITICAL ADVICE TO STEVENSON. - 5“ CHAPTER FOUR THE DIDACTIC NOVEL AND THE NOVEL OF IDEAS. 1. CRITICAL ATTITUDES TO DIDACTIC FICTION. 2. THE POPULARITY OF THE NOVELS OF SIR WALTERBESANT. 3. GISSING: RESPONSES TO HIS EARLY NOVELS. 4. GISSING: THE NATURE OF THE EARLY NOVELS. 5. GISSING: RESPONSES TO HIS MOST CHARACTERISTIC NOVELS. 6. THE "MARK RUTHERFORD" NOVELS. 7. THE RESPONSE TO OLIVE SCHREINER'S THE STORY OF AN AFRICAN FARM 8. THE RESPONSE TO ROBERT ELSMERE CHAPTER FIVE HENRY JAMES AND THE ANALYTIC NOVEL. 1. MODERN CRITICS ON THE CONTEMPORARY DISCUSSION OF JAMES'S NOVELS, 2. DISCUSSIONS OF JAMES AS A REALISTIC NOVELIST. 3. DISCUSSIONS OF JAMES AS AN ANPdVTIC NOVELIST. 4. AN EXPLANATION OF THE FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND JAMES'S NOVELS. 5. CONTEMPORARY APPRECIATION OF JAMES'S NOVELS. CHAPTER SIX THE RESPONSE TO HARDY'S NOVELS (FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD TO THE WOODLANDERS). 1. REVIEWS OF FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD (1874). 2. REVIEWS OF THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE (1878). 3. REVIEWS OF HARDY'S MINOR NOVELS IN THE EARLY 'EIGHTIES. 4. GENERAL ASSESSMENTS OF HARDY'S WORK BEFORE 1886. 5. REVIEWS OF THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE (1886) AND THE WOODLANDERS (1887), 6. LONGER ARTICLES ON HARDY'S ACHIEVEMENT. - 6- CHAPTER SEVEN HARDY'S REPUTATION IN THE 'NINETIES, 1. HARDY IN THE 'NINETIES. 2. ENTHUSIASTIC REVIEWS OF TESS OF THE D'URBERVJLLES (1891). 3. RESPONSES TO JUDE THE OBSCURE (1895). CHAPTER EIGHT GEORGE ELIOT IN THE 'EIGHTIES - SOME CONCLUSIONS ON THE PERIOD, 1. CRITICS AND THE TRADITION OF THE NOVEL. 2. GEORGE ELIOT'S REPUTATION IN THE 'EIGHTIES. " 7“ PREFACE The object of this thesis is to consider what was written about the novel by c ritic s in the eighteen-eighties. I t might be fe lt that in various Critical Heritage volumes^ and in such a work as Kenneth Graham's English Criticism of the Novel 1865-1900^ the views of c ritic s are given quite enough exposure and consideration. However, i t is my contention that something is missing in these works. Kenneth Graham's book - which I c ritic is e often in the course of this thesis, but which has also proved an excellent introductory guide - covers such a long period that he has to rush fa ir ly quickly through the 'eighties. The tendency in his book is to concentrate on longer essays and not to make much use of individual reviews. This has the effect of shutting out from consideration much of the best c ritic a l writing of the period. The C ritical Heritage volumes do present individual reviews, and present a far more detailed picture than is possible in Graham's volume. But, again. Critical Heritage collections, although comprehensive in th e ir treatment of one author, are deficient in that the approach followed prevents the establishing of a wide context in which to assess the reviews pre­ sented. This sometimes leads the editors of the C ritical Heritage volumes to treat many critics rather dismissively simply because they failed to respond positively to the works of the author under con­ sideration. In this thesis I have attempted to be more specific than Graham and at the same time more general than the C ritical 1. The C ritical Heritage volumes on E lio t, James, Hardy, Meredith and Gissing are referred to where relevant in the course of the text. 2. 1965. -8 - Heritage volumes. The main burden of my argument is that the failu re to apprec­ iate a novel by James, Hardy, or Gissing was not a result of c r it ­ ical stupidity, nor did i t stem from a simple preference for reassuring fic tio n . Indeed, one of the most admirable qualities of criticism in the period is that the inability to appreciate the values of some modern novelists did not send c ritic s o ff into an unquestioning enthusiasm for any conventional and comforting novel. But critics did look to fiction for a socially cohesive picture. The result was that most novels published in the 'eighties failed to please them. Critics disliked most of the significant new novel­ is ts , but they were not much happier with the shallowness and un­ re a lity of the majority of traditional novels. Precisely why they disliked so much new fic tio n , and how they expressed this distaste, is the subject-matter of this thesis. I have tried to treat the critics as sophisticated men whose views are worthy of respect. Of course, not a ll c ritic s deserve to be approached so positively, but there is possibly a tendency in Graham's book and in the C ritical Heritage series to treat the c ritic s too patronisingly because they could not immediately accept radical new developments in the novel. I have attempted to reconstruct a fa irly positive view of what they did expect from fic tio n . Although the c ritic s of the period need to be treated with greater respect they are often irrita tin g . I t is possible to have the greatest sympathy for the social and moral values reflected in th e ir criticism yet to wish that they had been prepared to accept a more rapid modification of their values and expectations. In some ways the theme discussed in this thesis is a frustrating one as the “ 9“ c ritic a l values discussed were often sta tic. I t is for this reason that I have interpreted the time-limit loosely. I have gone back to the f ir s t responses to Middlemarch (1872) and Far From the Madding Crowd (1874) as this provides something of a contrast to the 'eighties.
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