Date of Award
5-1932
Degree Type
Bachelors Essay
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Department
English
First Advisor
Thomas P. Whelan
Abstract
The difficulty which presents itself to anyone writing a work such as this is the determination of the standard of criticism that can be applied to the novels of the eighteenth century. It is for this reason that it is necessary to make a rather intensive study of the biographers of the novelists of that period and the men who devoted a great amount of time and labor to this task. Merely to read the novels is not sufficient. For, although one can obtain a fairly accurate determination of the author's purpose and and ideas, one can never be very sure one's opinions are right.
A brief history of the novel up to the eighteenth century is also necessary to provide the proper background and the influence on the novel as interpreted by Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, Sterne, Goldsmith, and others. This part will be treated in the first chapter of this thesis. We will endeavor to discover in turn what the novelists of the eighteenth century considered a good novel. That they did conform to certain standards of criticism is apparent from the novels as well as the word of the authors themselves. We cannot read the novels without noting the individuality in style and philosophy, but we are aware .that there exists some similarity in the standards of a good novel.
The books used to aid us in this study of the eighteenth century novel were many, but we wish to voice our appreciation of two books that have been a great help to us. The Eighteenth Century Novel in Theory and Practice by Charles Herbert Huffman, M.A. has one of the most clear and comprehensive studies of the novel of that day that we have been able to acquire. Wilbur T. Cross's Development of the Novel has also aided us greatly in this study. To these two authors and the others mentioned in the Bibliography we wish to voice our sincere appreciation.
Recommended Citation
Blyn, Natalie, "Criticism of the English Novel in the Eighteenth Century" (1932). Bachelors’ Theses. 347.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/bachelor_essays/347
Comments
A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the College of Liberal Arts, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts.