DEFOE - SWIFT

03/01/2021

NEWS PAPER

General features of the 18th-century novel

Niccolò Sansone

Novel

DANIEL DE FOE

What is a novel?

His novel The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner is regarded as the first English novel. The novel is a true realistic one: it is based on the real story of a Scotch sailor, Alexander Selkirk, who had lived alone for four years on the Isle of Juan Fernandez in the Pacific after a shipwreck.

Modern novel began to develop during the 18th century. The term novel derives from the Latin ‘novus’ and from the Italian ‘novella’. It was in opposition to the term ‘romance’, referring to a chivalric story in verse. It was used to refer to a prose fiction which was new because it told stories about recent events.

JONATHAN SWIFT

Was the greatest satirist of his age. Using irony and satire he tried to change his own society and attacked it at all levels. Together with Alexander Pope and others, he established the Scriblerus Club, an association of witty writers who satirized their contemporaries. People of his own time failed to see the irony and, sometime, they cried shame.

COMPARISON

DANIEL DEFOE - JONATHAN SWIFT

JONHATAN SWIFT

DANIEL DEFOE

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS

ROBINSON CRUSOE

Full Title: The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an uninhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by Pyrates Author: Daniel Defoe Type Of Work: Novel Genre: Adventure story; novel of isolation Language: English Time And Place Written: 1719; London, England Date Of First Publication: 1719 Narrator: Robinson Crusoe is both the narrator and main character of the tale Point Of View: Crusoe narrates in both the first and third person Setting (Time): From 1659 to 1694 Protagonist: Robinson Crusoe Rising Action: Crusoe disobeys his father and goes out to sea. Crusoe has a profitable first merchant voyage, has fantasies of success in Brazil, and prepares for a slave-gathering expedition.

Full Title: Gulliver’s Travels, or, Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, by Lemuel GulliverAuthor: Jonathan Swift Type Of Work: Novel Genre: Satire Language: English Time And Place Written: Approximately 1712–1726, London and Dublin Date Of First Publication: 1726 (1735 unabridged) Narrator: Lemuel Gulliver Point Of View: Gulliver speaks in the first person. He describes other characters and actions as they appear to him. Setting (Time): Early eighteenth century Protagonist: Lemuel Gulliver Rising Action: Gulliver’s encounters with other societies eventually lead up to his rejection of human society in the fourth voyage

COMPARISON

ROBINSON CRUSOE - LEMULE GULLIVER