Joseph Addison   (1672 – 1717) and   Richard Steele   (1672 – 1729)

These two men worked together, happened to be born in the same year, went to Charterhouse School and Oxford.

Addison became acquainted with Steele at school and in Oxford he proved to be a quite scholar. After he got his degree, he went on a trip in the continent especially to France and Italy and remained there nearly for four years, studied classics and became a scholar in them and also wrote Latin prose. He was jobless for a long time after he returned. With the coming of Whigs to the stage, he started to have good jobs and received positions. He was appointed Secretary to Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Under-Secretary of State and finally Secretary of State.

His most distinguished friends were Swift and Steele. Because of Swift's tendencies toward Tories, their relationship did not last for a long time. He married a countess but it was not a successful marriage. About his marriage Dr. Johnson said: "His marriage resembles the marriage as a Sultan gives his daughter a man as her slave."

After a while Addison started to decline since all throughout his life he suffered from asthma, he was retired from his offices, received a very good pension and at 47 he died.

Sir Richard Steele was the son of a Dublin attorney. His father died when he was only five. He went to the same school and university as Addison but he did not get his degree. He had a very impulsive character, quit his education and enlisted in the army which caused his uncle to disinherit him. After a while, he started to improve his position in the army and became a captain.

He was the Whig editor of "London Gazette" i.e. the official journal of government, containing government's appointments, political and foreign news.

In 1709 he began to publish his own newspaper "The Tatler" with the help of Addison. They established the "The Spectator" after it and then they launched   "The Guardian" together. With the accession of George I in 1714 and coming to the power of his Whig ministers, they improved their jobs because they were both ardent Whigs. Steele supported the Hanoverian succession and was knighted by George and was appointed by him as the supervisor to Drury Lane Theater. He also became the member of the parliament twice. After his retirement, he went to a state near Welsh and stayed there until death. He became paralyzed but retained his cheerful sweet nature.

"The Tatler", meaning a person engaged in chattering and gossip, was chosen as the title for the newspaper because it contained column of gossip (i.e. social and political news) and also essays, morals and manners. "The Tatler" was under the dominance of Steele, it was published 3 times a week from 1709 to 1711. It was written under the same name of Isaac Bickerstaff, a name invented by Swift.

"The Spectator" (1711-1712) another newspaper came out immediately after "The Tatler" stopped. It contained the ingredients which were successful in the former periodical. "The Spectator" was dominated by Addison through which we can see his character and style.

"The Guardian" was a Whig journal published by both Addison and Steele. Its essays were written to confront a Tory journal. Its essays were moral and didactic satires concerning mostly with the theme of morals and manners.

Immediately after the period of Cromwell and harsh Puritanism and its didactic moralists, came Restoration and Charles II's reign and its immoralist, sexual adventures and bawdy language. Addison and Steele tried to choose a middle way. That is they advocated moderation, reason, urbanity and good taste in a good humored, polished style. Addison is supposed to be a greater essayist, had a great range of experiences in literature and his style is considered more organized and well structured. On the other hand, Steele had a wider range of life experiences. In his style we can feel sympathy and emotion toward his characters.

The Rise of Novel

Novel came into existence in the 18^th century, much later than poetry, drama and any other literary forms which are as old as mankind. As a matter of fact, the birth of novel is when "Robinson Crusoe" was written (1819).

Daniel Defoe   (1660 – 1731)

He was the son of a butcher, a Dissenter i.e. a Puritan. He had a modest education and did not go to a famous university. He became a merchant and had voyages to Italy, France, Germany and Holland. At 30 he went bankruptcy and faced serious financial problems. All throughout his life he had to bear it out but survived all his problems. His characters are also living with problems but they can somehow bear them out. Defoe was an ardent Whig and wrote many pamphlets in support of them and also an ironical essay against Tories when they were powerful. Consequently, he was imprisoned. Earl of Oxford, a powerful Tory politician rescued him from being executed. In order to attract his attention, Defoe wrote many political journals in favor of Tories while Whig at heart; that was why he was considered Earl of Oxford's spy for years. With the accession of George I and his Whig ministers' coming to power, he went to Whigs and supported them just as he supported Tories.

"Robinson Crusoe"

Toward the later part of his life, he started to write his masterpiece:              "Robinson Crusoe". It is the story of a shipwrecked man who comes to an island which seems uninhabited. In order to survive he takes things from the ship, builds a house and a boat. This is the story of strives of the character in order to survive. Later on, in order to make a sense of reality, Defoe declared that all the events which happened to Crusoe were real. Through his plain prose and ability to describe real things and real details, he somehow tries to persuade the readers to read his works. "Robinson Crusoe" was translated to different languages and many imitated him. Jean Jacques Raussau in "Emile" said that the first book given to a grown up boy should be "Robinson Crusoe".

 Actually, there are some differences between poetry and novel as far as the subject matter is concerned: In novel, we mostly face the lower-class people, pick pockets, thieves and prostitutes whose main problem is surviving. These people do not appear in romances in which we usually see a king or a prince involved in fighting monsters or in quest for a princess or The Holy Grail.

In Defoe's novels the best sense of Puritanism i.e. honesty and sensibility can be traced; all the virtues are being introduced to people and the Puritan pattern of hard working and having faith in God is being presented.

"Moll Flanders"

His second best-known novel is "Moll Flanders". The central character is Moll, a lady who was born to a thief mother who was sent to Virginia for her punishment Moll was brought up by kind people but later on she is seduced, has several love affairs and marries several times. In Virginia, she finds her mother and learns that one of her marriages was unknowingly done to her brother. She comes to England and becomes a pick pocket; consequently, she is captured and sent to Virginia just like her mother. Later, she meets one of her former husbands who was also a thief. They go to America and repent whatever they did and finally die in prosperity and penitence. Again we see people in disastrous situations, their hard working and salvation.

"The Adventures of Captain Singleton"

The central character, Singleton is a sea man who goes on adventures in Africa, gathers a lot of wealth, comes to England and spends it all carelessly. He goes on his second voyage to Africa and gathers wealth again but this time he returns home, being an experienced man, he marries and lives happily.

"Colonel Jack"

It is Defoe's next work. Jack was abandoned by his parents when he was a child. He grows up a pick pocket. In order to do something about it he enlists in the army but when is supposed to go on a mission, he refuses. He is sent to Virginia, works hard for planters and is promoted to be an overseer, gathers a lot of money and comes back home.

"Roxana"

This is his fifth novel the central figure of which is a very wealthy courtesan who is protected by men. She travels all around Europe accompanied by her maid. She marries a Dutch merchant but when he becomes aware of her past, he leaves her without any money. She becomes imprisoned for her debts and dies in repentance.

Defoe's novels are all written in first person narrative to make a sense of reality. They are also examples of the first Novels of Incident that is, in most of them the focus of interest is on the incidents of the story rather than on the characters. Considering the subject matter, his novels can be categorized among Picaresque Novels the first predecessor of which emerged in 16^th century Spain. Picaro is Spanish for Rogue i.e. a carefree, dishonest or mischievous person, and the typical story is about such a character that lives by his wits; usually, there is no alteration of character through the long succession of adventures. Picaresque Novels are: 1.realistic in manner,             2. episodic in structure and usually, 3. satiric in aim.

Samuel Richardson   (1689 – 1761)

He became a writer accidentally. Richardson used to write letters-writing books, but once, when he was writing one of his books, it came to his mind that the writer of the letter might be a young girl and thus, he started to write Epistolary Novels i.e. novels in form of letters. His novels are Novels of Character in which the focus of interest is on characters rather than on incidents.

"Pamela or Virtue Rewarded"

This is the story of a young girl Pamela who serves in the house of a gentleman,    Mr. B. The whole book is made of her letters to her parents containing all the events happened to her. Mr. B. tries to seduce her in different situations but is not successful. On the contrary, the girl succeeds to make him ask her for marriage. Richardson tried to convey the theme of virtue and consequently, being rewarded. Through his narrative style i.e. Epistolary Novel, the narrator is free to reveal her state of mind and heart and due to this reason Richardson is regarded the first psychological novelist.

"The History of Clarissa Harlow"

It is a lengthy book concerning Mr. Lovelace, a gentleman, and his efforts to seduce a virtuous woman named Clarissa. Clarissa falls in love with him but she never reveals it. Mr. Lovelace plays a trick on her, gives her drugs and achieves his purpose. Clarissa loses her mental balance as a result. Then, an affectionate gentleman takes care of her. Gradually, she gets her senses back but lives a gloomy life for a short while and dies afterwards.  Mr. Lovelace feels remorse about her.

"Sir Charles Grandison" 

The book is about a very virtuous gentleman who falls in love with a lady and so does she. Once, he receives a letter and goes to Italy at once where he has already been acquainted with another woman. The woman did not have her parents' permission to marry him due to their religious differences. In the letter, her parents asked him to come and see her because she was in a bad mental state. Finally, the lady permits him to return and start a new life with the young lady.

In Richardson's novels men and women are portrayed realistically and sentimentally. His works were praised by his contemporaries and became very popular among people. They are also considered to have very profound philosophy.

Henry Fielding   (1707 – 1754)

The third novelist is a more mature one than the other two. He was a real observer of life, quite a thinker and a master of plot construction. Henry Fielding was the son of a lieutenant. At 11 he lost his mother and his father remarried. He was sent to Eton School and Eton College. At 19, he tried to elope with a lady but he failed. After a while, he settled in London and started his career as a dramatist and read mostly Latin and Greek literature. He wrote plays most of which are political, satiric and comic concerning the social corruption. But eventually, these satires led to his leaving the career as a dramatist.

In 1737, Sir Robert Walpole, the powerful Whig minister-  the first prime minister of England  and Fielding's main target of satirical attacks – put forward a Licensing Act according to which any play had to be read by the officials and had to be given a permission before being performed i.e. the act of censorship. But Fielding never received permission. Consequently, he commenced studying law and chose a legal career.

With the publication of "Pamela", Fielding felt contemptuous toward it and started to write his own work. He believed that Pamela, the central character, was bargaining rather than being virtuous. In other words, she kept her virginity in order to buy     Mr. B.'s marriage. Fielding attempted his own version which was prosody of Pamela:

"Joseph Andrew"

In this novel, the central character is a virtuous brother of Pamela, Joseph, with whom a lady, named Booby falls in love. Yet Joseph has already fallen in love with a milk-maid; thus he rejects Lady Booby and later on he and his milk-maid become united and marry.

"The Life and Death of Johnathan Wilde The Great"

Johnathan is a thief and quite an expert in pick pocketing. He forms his own gang and becomes quite wealthy, dressed in style like a gentleman, and lives in a beautiful house. He has a lot of mischievous adventures and always keeps himself beyond the reach of law. He is considered great among thieves and achieves his greatness through hypocrisy, crime and corruption. Finally, he is arrested and hung.  Johnathan somehow resembles Sir Robert Walpole.

Fielding's most famous work is:

"The History of Tom Jones the Foundling"

It is a rather long novel with a very complex plot; however, the plot construction is perfect. Tom Jones is found by Mr. Alworthy, adopted by him and brought up in his household while he is thought to be illegitimate.

At 19, he falls madly in love with Sophia, a sweet-natured girl in the neighborhood who is forced to marry Bilfil though she disgusts him. Consequently, she escapes to London with her maid. Meanwhile, Tom is expelled from the house by her stepfather and he also goes to London. Throughout the course of the novel it is proved that Tom is Mr. Alworthy's nephew and he marries his sweetheart. Sophia is a picture of Feilding's wife, Charlotte, a gentle, beautiful, nice woman with whom he lived happily. The central character, Tom, is a generous, kind, loyal and brave young man but he is not perfect, he has some weaknesses. He is impulsive and is full of sexuality. During the course of the story, he has several sexual adventures.

"Amelia"

This is the story of the happy life of a husband and a wife, who is beautiful, loyal and tolerant. Despite all the difficulties, the couple is happy and prosperous.                  The characters resemble Feilding and his wife.

Feilding's characters are real, his plots are refined and in some cases comic.

Tobias Smollett   (1721 -1771)

He is a Scottish writer. He went to Blasco College, enlisted in navy and worked on a ship as a surgeon assistant. After he returned from West Indies, he married and practiced medicine. At the same time he wrote novels.

"Roderick Random"

Roderick Random, whose wife is similar to that of the writer, was born to a penniless father and was abandoned by him. Under the care of his uncle he grew up and became a surgeon on a ship. After he returned from his voyages, he fell in love with a girl. He endured a lot of hardship and finally, he found his father Don Roderigo, who was a wealthy merchant and married his sweetheart afterward.

"Ferdinand, Count Fathom"

This is Smollett's next novel. The central character, Ferdinand is a villain, treacherous and wicked person; a woman chaser who tries to seduce virtuous ladies and girls; but finally he repents and lives a life of remorse.

And finally, Smollett's last work, "Humphry Clincker" is an Epistolary Novel.

Laurence Sterne   (1731 – 1768)

Sterne is quite an interesting writer regarding his style, since his famous novel is actually a progenitor of Stream of Conciousness technique/ mode of narration.

"The Life and Opinion of Tristram Shandy"

This is Stern's unique work, having a chaotic plot. The novel does not have a logical order of a beginning, middle and an end, nor a natural time sequence. Instead, it interrupts scenes in order to recount past or future events and follows whimsically any apparent chance association. Stern has chosen this kind of plot, for he was not concerned with the chronological order of the time, rather, he is mostly concerned with the psychological aspects of the novel.

The story is narrated by Shandy who is talking about his family members, friends acquaintances, etc. The only way to the truth is through Shandy who is regarded a semi-crazy person, for the way he narrates the story is strange. As a matter of fact, he is not crazy. Throughout the story, the readers are taken into his consciousness.

Gothic Novel

This literary form emerged in the 18^th century. The title goes back to an architectural style that was used in The Middle Ages.

Gothic is a type of fiction which was inaugurated by Horace Walpole. Following Walpole, authors of such novels set their stories in the medieval period, often in a gloomy castle with dungeons and sliding panels, or in graveyards, ruins and remote landscapes. The Gothic novelists made plentiful use of ghosts, mysterious disappearances and often sensational and supernatural occurrences; their principal aim was to evoke chilling terror by exploiting mystery, cruelty and a variety of horrors.

Horace Walpole   (1717 – 1797)

He is the founder of Gothic Novel in England and his best-known work is                  "Castle  of Otranto, a Gothic Novel". He was the first who used the term Gothic.

The story of the book is about Otranto, the first owner of the castle. Otranto is poisoned by a man and later on his ghost haunts the castle to avenge the               grand children of his murderer. Finally he revenges and goes back to his place of peace.

Mathew Gregory Lewis    (1775 – 1818)

He was the second Gothic novelist and due to the popularity of his work              "The Monk", later, he was addressed to as Monk Lewis.

The story is about a monk living in isolation to purify his soul. The monk is different from other monks in manners. He falls into the temptation of a woman, Matilda, who disguises herself as a boy and enters the ministry as a novice i.e. a person who decides to be a monk without taking the vow. She seduces the monk and then he is deprived of his salvation and his soul becomes lost. He himself falls in love with one of his penitents, peruses her and tries his best to achieve his goal even by murder and magic and eventually gains his goal and kills the girl – he was afraid of being detected by the inquisitors. However, he is detected, tortured, tried and sentenced to be burnt. In the meantime, he makes an argument with the devil and asks him to help him escape from being burnt, but finally, he was hurled into the fires of damnation and destruction.

The story contains a lot of indecent incidents and many have objected to it, yet it was quite popular.

The third Gothic novelist of the period was a woman:

Anne Radcliff   (1764 -1823)

Radcliff's works were so popular that for one of them she received a great amount of money never received by any other writers. They were not very artistic, but she was a master of suspense. She was not good at portraying human nature and her characters are not real.

"The Mystery of Udolpho"

This is her first work in which the central character is Emily  is taken to a castle by the villainous husband of her aunt; where her honor and fortune are threatened by mysterious incidents. She manages to flee from the castle and goes to France. Through some adventures, she reunites her lover and marries.

"The Italian Villain"

The central character of this book appears in many of the writer's other works. He is a villain who tortures people but he is not hated by the readers and they come to understand him. He tortures people, for he himself has experienced so. Sometimes, he is even loved by the readers and thus becomes a hero. Such a character appears in some other literary works, especially those by Byron and is known as Satanic/Byronic Hero. Originally, this character appeared in Milton's          "Paradise Lost" as Satan . The readers sympathize him since he was once an angle, receiving God's favor.