Watt’s theory of the novel contested.
Many of us have read at least one novel in our lives; however, few of us may have asked ourselves the question when the first 18th century novel was written and how the novel differentiates itself from earlier literary forms.
The aim of this paper is to provide an outline of Ian Watt’s theoretical framework that explains the rise of the novel together with a critique of the same. An attempt will be made to explain how someone’s personal experiences and choices can create a biased view of what defines the 18th century novel.
In his book The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding (p 363-380) published in Michael McKeon’s Theory of the Novel, the English literary critic and professor …show more content…
Feminist literary critiques (Armstrong 2000, Doody 1996), literary historians (McKeon 2012) and socio linguists (Anderson 2008) have built on Watt’s work by providing deeper and more meaningful historical, political and feminist context to the rise of the 18th century novel. The personal preferences and socially constructed biases that influenced the choices Ian Watt made in his explanation to the rise of the novel, have been scrutinized by Marina McKay (2012)
One of Watt’s contemporary literary critiques that taught English at Stanford University at the same time that Watt did, suggests that Watt's book is most useful “for the study of the eighteenth-century novel", but that it "should not be applied to the genre as a whole (Guerard, 1976, p12).
Feminist literary critique’s and historical detectives like Doody, argues that the rise of the novel should in fact be seen as "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years" (1996) rather than a male, invention of the 18th century …show more content…
This argument allows MacKay to create an linkage between Watt’s personal bias towards formal realism and individualism in the 18th century novel and his real experiences and individual struggle to survive as a prisoner of war. It could explain how his choices of writers and writing styles influenced our collective history of what defines the 18th century novel and sets it apart from its earlier literary
Many of us have read at least one novel in our lives; however, few of us may have asked ourselves the question when the first 18th century novel was written and how the novel differentiates itself from earlier literary forms.
The aim of this paper is to provide an outline of Ian Watt’s theoretical framework that explains the rise of the novel together with a critique of the same. An attempt will be made to explain how someone’s personal experiences and choices can create a biased view of what defines the 18th century novel.
In his book The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding (p 363-380) published in Michael McKeon’s Theory of the Novel, the English literary critic and professor …show more content…
Feminist literary critiques (Armstrong 2000, Doody 1996), literary historians (McKeon 2012) and socio linguists (Anderson 2008) have built on Watt’s work by providing deeper and more meaningful historical, political and feminist context to the rise of the 18th century novel. The personal preferences and socially constructed biases that influenced the choices Ian Watt made in his explanation to the rise of the novel, have been scrutinized by Marina McKay (2012)
One of Watt’s contemporary literary critiques that taught English at Stanford University at the same time that Watt did, suggests that Watt's book is most useful “for the study of the eighteenth-century novel", but that it "should not be applied to the genre as a whole (Guerard, 1976, p12).
Feminist literary critique’s and historical detectives like Doody, argues that the rise of the novel should in fact be seen as "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years" (1996) rather than a male, invention of the 18th century …show more content…
This argument allows MacKay to create an linkage between Watt’s personal bias towards formal realism and individualism in the 18th century novel and his real experiences and individual struggle to survive as a prisoner of war. It could explain how his choices of writers and writing styles influenced our collective history of what defines the 18th century novel and sets it apart from its earlier literary