Sinko, A. Students' other obligations severely delimit the number of the further reading suggestions; the choice of the interpre - tative propositions is governed here more strictly by the methodologi - cal precepts. In light of the above, the proposed functio functions ns of the LECTU LECTURE RES S are, oriented guide to a systematic inquiry into primary texts and secondary sour ces, and, brief consp ectus of the studied m a t e r i a I, to help the student to it before a colloquy or an examination. The SURVEY is a compilation of It was not feasible to acknowledge all sources (especially when they were numerous hand - books) or even to determine what is an abstract and what a word - by by - - word quotation. Only in the case of some monograph topics, major writers and more significant titles was it possible to mark the pertinent passages passage s on the margin with the initials in itials of the author from whose work the abstractlquotation is is taken (see in each case the Bibliography). The The responsibility respon sibility for any any alterations of the idea or in i n the drift of the argument is, of course, cours e, that that of of the compiler. compi ler.
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Special words o Special words of f gratitude gratitude go go to to Professor Professor the critical the critical reader reader of of volumes volumes I and of of the the LECTURES, LECTURES, both both for for her her support of support of the the project project and and for for a a number number of of suggestions suggestions as as to to what what the the students should students should know know more more about. about. David David Duff Duff - although although he he thought thought the students the students should should know know less less and and think think more - read read both both volumes volumes patiently and patiently and his his help help with with the the crude crude English English manuscript was manuscript was invaluable invaluable in making in making it it presentable. presentable. I also also owe owe many many thanks thanks to Marek to Marek - the computer expert - for for his his outstanding outstanding professionalism professionalism and and personal personal involvement.
General view of neoclassicism. The Age (1700 1740) Age -
Neoclassicism is a long and fruitful epoch in the history of British literature and culture. Its most characteristic features began to mould intellectual trends and artistic phenomena in the Restoration - more influentially influen tially a t of the period - to dominate fully fully th e culture of the country in the century. Most speaking, neoclassicism may be as a kind of continuati on of th e Renaissance tradition. tradition. First, it worshipped antiquity, tried to its achievements achievements on classical classical examples, examples, and attempte d to follow classical standards. The first neoclassical - period, the was so called by analogy to the Golden Age of Roman letters, the Emp ero r Augustus, which was well well due to such names as Virgil, Ovid, and Horace. Second, neoclassicism also characterized by intellectual curiosity concerning details of t he surrounding world. world. The the acquisition and of knowledge powerful power ful that t he epoch is often called the Enlightenment (cf. the Polish ierm for the corresponding period). This general thirst for knowledge immediately influenced lit erature: its aesthetic function function diminished hed and l iterat ure was con- diminis primarily as a means of education, becoming mostly didactic and Here neoclassicism loses its similarity to the Renaissance. Renaissance. manifesting additiona additionally lly t he furthe r of from the th e philosophic and the abstract toward towardss the wordly, wordly, the phenomenal a nd t he concrete. This shift among others, by Essay Concerning Understanding (1690) and by its stress on direct experience as th e source of all knowledge knowledge (cf. (cf. Lecture Lecturess on Brit ish Literature , part I, p. 107) - is observed obser ved in two dominant intellectual trends of the epoch. One of the trends was rationalism. The people of those years were chiefly interested in human beings and in the observation of human activities. They thought that man's greatness lies primarily in his being a rational entity. Rationalism - the belief belief i n reason and experiment - led Lo th e of life as it was, to the contemplation of things them selves . Imagination was controlled - it was enclosed in the frame of "
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probability and verisimilitude; a sober air of attem pted objectivism domi nated the of Defoe and Pope, Fielding and Smollett, and even those of Swift. Swift. Neoc Neoclass lassical ical lite rature was, as a whole, ra tional and mimetic - if by understand the acceptance of the model of phenomenal reality as the dominating design of the fictional univ universe. erse. In tendency slight modification: The imposed burden of didactic duties not only authors strive for of thought and elegance of style in order to be better understood and enioved. but also forced them to look for new to interest and move of time time more more works began to temper t heir readers: in th e course of strict smuggling in a substitute fo forr th e expression of of feelings feelings in t h e form of of sentiment. sentiment. Observation of of reality reality even with restrained emotion under the discipline of reason often led to a critical view of individuals and to critical attitudes towards society: in truth, criticism of of life life became on e of of the the most popular sources of of literary literary inspiration. In effect, th e neoclassical poetry th e Restoration o n satiric and argumentative genres - th e lyricalmost died out. But prose appeared a still better instrument of reason: among th e literati of of the the period we meet a number of journalists, journalists, diarists, letter writers, essayists, and then, novelists. T h e other trend - deism - manifested towards th e in religious sphere, also bearing th thee stamp ofrational scepticism. Generally of emotions, of emotions, people started to abhor t he quality of of enthusiasm enthusiasm in religion an andd began to suspect the fanatic Puritan attitudes. Many had troubles even with th e belief in th e divine nature of Christ an d in Providence; they thought that God was th e Creator, t h e Constructor of Nature neither interested nor intervening directly in human affairs. It was a belief belief in in a kind of natural of natural wh o was, of of course, course, benevolent an d great - an d hence, necessarily, everything created by Hi m had th e same values. No wonder that th e philosopher came to th e conclusion that the existing universe was th e best of all possible worlds. T he same conclusion o n e ca n in Alexander Pope's Essay on Man (1733-1734); his famous statement whatever is, is right summarizes best th e rationalistic complacence of th e epoch. Third, when we compare neoclassicism to th e Renaissance, we se e that i t is far more standardized and 'conventional. It is a colder and more restrained period, th e epoch of of the the fixing of habits, marked by th e strict "
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following of following of t he worked ou t rules of behaviour behaviour an d writing, preoccupied preoccupied mainly with manners and accepted standards which were defined pre dominantly by detachment and moderation. moderation. - the writers try to reach the golden and a ttem pt to achieve achieve the classical classical of and balance in the development of an argument, in style and diction. In short, the periods the neoclassica neoclassicall epoch, th e Age and the Age of Johnson, ar e perhaps best characterized characterized by th e key key notions of imitation, rationalism, a nd convention. convention. Th e forty forty years years of the Age (1700-1740) - in spite of the War of the Spanish Succession and the Jacobite risings risings - seemed to be rather and prosperous. The country acquired control of the seas, seas, stimulating assura nce in in thesafety of tradeandstr engtheni ng the patriotic th e especially the completed union be tween Scotland and England; t he peoplea ppearc d t o be generally pleased pleased with the existing state of things. Th e decisive decisive factor in political and social social the middle class which absorbed landowner s and started to decide decide not only in politics. politics. The new class was was ambitious, and although the main motive in its activities was the accumulation of wealth, it wanted to know know what to do with th e gathered riches, how to spend money. A young bourgeois admired intellect, reason, logical thought; hc needed and demanded a new explanation of t h e universe, new knowledge knowledge and new education not onlv in matters of science and ar t, but also in conduct, in polish and elegance of social behaviour. Rising to political power and social dominance, th e middle class class wanted to bc monitored as far as moral standa rds were concerned, it own social norms and conventions established. Since the court as a focus of literary, cultural and artistic influences became relatively unimportant, the middle class worked out its own centre s of public life, own centres centres ofcultur e. Part icular local groups of people began to in coffee-houses which took the function of both lunch or rooms and meeting places, places, evolving into regional city clubs in which people the most varied topics: they mentcd upon political events, talked talked on party strategies, re - told t he news andd an gossip, trade and insurance matt ers, exchanged exchanged opinions on cultural, artistic and literary events of the day. The institution of coffee - houses developed cliques and parties, taught people the art of "
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conversation, became the breeding place of th e 18th century standards conversation, and tastes as well as started important cultural innovations. The coffee - house gave gave birth t o th e typically typically British instit ution of a club, and constituted the direct direct stimulusfor the development of British and European journali journalism. sm. Th e existence existence of only local local centres of public information created - in a - the demand for the broader natural of news and vie views. ws. This dema nd was met by the rapid develop ment of newspapers and periodicals. Newspapers appeared in England as the Renaissance, periodicals a t the close of of th e 17th century. century. But the Age brought a sudden rise in the number of both newspapers a d periodicals published. published. This development of English journalism owe much to the activity of SIR 1729) 9) and JO SEPH ADDISON STEELE (1672-172 the writers, editors and literary personages of of the epoch. Sir Richard Steele wrote and edited at leas leastt seven periodicals, and his major journalistic contribution was the tritri-weekly Tatler (April 1709-January 1711). Joseph Addison edited and worked on five peri odicals, but his main and most famous daily was was The Spectator (March 17 11-Dece 1-December mber 1712; Ju ne 1714 - December 1714). 1714). Besides passing infor mation about the political affairs affairs of the day and on social matters - as in th e first issues issues of " The Tatler " - th e periodicalsevol evolved ved in time t o a n essay essay a n issue, trying to the middle class class new morals or to ridicule manners in orde r to reform social behaviour behaviour and the prevalent mo de of thinking. thinking. Main policy of of " The Tatler " was recommend recomme nd trut h, honou r and virtue as th e chief chief orna ments of life", while while the pur pose of " The Spectator " was " to enliven morality with wit wit and to temper wit with morality" as well as " to bring philosophy ou t of closets and libraries, school s and to dwell in clubs an d assemblies, the teatea -tables and in the coffee coffee-houses " , In time the periodicals periodicals became theexquis ite of teaching the new class class the most important virtues of a new type of a gentleman, not neglecting the matters of philosophy, among others the most essential statements of Locke. The periodicals educated the literary taste of the new class, too. The essays essa ys not only ridiculed ridiculed snobbe ry of men an d weaknesses of women, but also - applying classical rules for literatu re - popularized the taste for wit wit and humour, and taught to appreci ate the appropr iate kinds of reminding the reader, reader, for instance, instance, about th e requirements that should b e "
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met in a n epic poem. It was was in t he periodicals periodicals that folklor e ballads ballads were brought to t heatt enti on of the reading publi public; c; theneoclassical critics critics admired in them the of th e primitiv primitive, e, although not elegant and not literary, genius. 274 essays by Addison and 236 essays by Steele in " The Spectator " presented a series of gentlemanly conversations by a group of fictitious persons, each member of the group representing a different class of society. soci ety. Th e conversations conversations developed developed as fr ee talks on various matt ers of social intercourse, intercourse, on the duties and jo joys ys of family family life, life, on th e rules of elegant behaviour and manners, on the role in society, society, o n social amusements and reading. Presenting a club of individual figures, the essays are usually known as th e famous Sir Roger papers , and need only a love plot to be resolved int o a novel.. . The majority of personages of the period either wrote for periodicals periodic als or edited the them. m. Th e most famous were The Review (F e bruary 1704 - June 1713) and Mercurius Politicus edited by Daniel Defoe. Alexander Pope published the weekly satirical review Grub-- street Journal in the years 1730-1737. Grub "
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prose interests ts and techniq techniques ues of prose writers in the period . The interes were strongly defined by the of their public: merchants, shopkeepers, artisans. Hence, was centred on the issues of the times. and its tone was mostlv in a man ner typic typically ally neoclassical. neoclassical. SWIFT 'The pamphlets of written in the beginningg of t he beginnin undertook religiou religiouss topics - then still importa nt. A Tale of a Hi s (1704) (17 04) tried to demonstr ate the superior ity of the Church of England over the Catholic and Churches, but criticis crit icism m of church quarrels served served here to ridicule th e Church of of England, England, too. In other religious pamphlets Swift attacked th e approaching deism and discussed th e relations between government, religion and morals, often displaying his his own ironic humour, based upon double - edged pr oposals and statements, like - for instance - that of "
so n in combining sentiment with didacticism, but it s loose an d fra g men tary construction also shows th e influence of of Sterne. Sterne. T h e post - Richardsonian novel of of sentiment sentiment undertook undertook themes themes of of more more domestic range, presenting simple, everyday life, frequently idyllic, and describing family and home affairs. Th e best known of these is perhaps th e novel written by (1728-1774) under t he title of aa certain D r Primrose, (1766). It tells th e story of Vicar of a learned man, happy in his domestic hearth, who in th e course of of action action is drawn to misfortune, poverty, jail an d dishonour both by a series of accidents an d by t he machinations th e wordly an d vicious characters. T h e idealistic D r Primrose bears all his misfortunes with gentle resigna tion, attaining almost resilient in face of of his his fate. Using th e motif motif of of aa hidden identity, th e author t he plots oft towards a happy end, an d restores th e protagonist to hi hiss family an d quiet life. . , Many characteristics of of this this type of of th th e sentimental novel may b e found in a later novel written by HENRY FIELDING "Amelia mainly du e t o th e shaping of th e title protagonist, a virtuous who bears stoically both th e poverty an andd th e follies and infidelities of he of he r husband. Later th e censoring of of th thee excessive sentimentalism an d th e influence o f f tt h e techniques worked ou t by Fielding i n his other novels will pave th e road for th e structuring of another novelistic variant - t h e novel of .. manners. While th e sentimental novel heavily burdened with sentiment an andd moral purpose, t he other variant variant which which was born in the same age - usually called the realistic'! novel - was marked by rationalism and satiric pur It originated as individual indivi dual reaction of a journalist and a writer of burl esque plays, plays, Henry Fielding, Fielding, t o th e exemplary, exemplary, conventional and utilitarian morals of Richardson's Pamela. Fielding began a kind of parody of Pamela , entitled History and Adventur Adventures es of Joseph shaping his protagonist as a fictitious broth er of Pame la, who is subjecte subjectedd to sexual sexual temptation in a situation similar to that of his sister sister.. T he parody thins thins out when Joseph together with his friend, Parson Adams out from his village village to travel by the English roads and begins to meet all kinds of adventures. The motif of travel -
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characters an andd social o r economicaspects of of Iife Iife together of th of th e English country an andd town settings and manners. Begun as a parody, bean the Comic Epic poem in Prose , which suggests suggests its similarity similarity to the mo ck - heroic epi epics. cs. It mocks primarily hypocrisy - for Fieldi Fielding, ng, virtue does not depend o n publi publicc demons tratio n (as was was the case with Richardson's Richardson's Pamela): v irtue is a matter of inborn disposition and intention. Th e main example of it in the is Parson Adams, who alwa always ys misinterprets conventions fo r trut h, who believes everybody, everybody, taking a beating becaus e innocence and Like Don he lacks knowledge knowledge of t he world, and it is inexperience inexperien ce that resul ts most often in trouble, adven tures and comic Not only the farcical incidents of the plot, but also the nar tor's tor 's at titud e to th e characters characters and t heirpredicaments an at titude full full humour - discl disclose ose here the combination of satirica satiricall purposes with t he o n the necessity necessity of knowledge, knowledge, especially th e knowl uman nature. r vein Fielding his masterpiece, The of To Tom m in which which once mo re his debt to the tradition and t he picaresque romance was revealed. As the author ted, hc intended give a picture of the plain, simple nest nature an andd to recommend goodness and innocence has been [his] since re endeavo ur in this history . professed aims were neoclassical: belief in the p od nat nature ure of Man dominated dominated the Contrary to Puritan opinions and conventions, Fielding did not connect with sexual control, hence the rather loose conduct of his protagonist (oneshould remember thes ewere - more or le less ss years in which Diderot wrote his Jacques Nevertheless, was a moralist. Allhough h e treated the sins of flesh as less important than against of feeling, Fielding present -
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ed a development of his protagonist from a passion ate youth t o a thought ful adult - and this developm development ent look plac placee on the road of prudenc prudence. e. Besides, Besid es, the nov novel el was one m ore attempt achieving the status of the an atlempt to elevate th e craft craft of fiction and the dignity of the genre, although this attem pt seems to us today foreign to novelistic techniques: techniques: the typical typical 18 th century discursiveness is is revealed in th e sho rt essays essays on art and philosophy preceding preceding particular as well as in t he digres digres -
