Why Were Novels So Popular in the 19th
Century ?
• Appeal to “young, ignorant, and idle”
• Appeal to newly-literate audiences (working classes, middle class, women)—leads to “highbrow” and “lowbrow” notions of writing
• Economically feasible (subscription publishing, libraries, serials)
What does the 19th C British novel
emphasize?• Questions of social identity (class, inheritance,
gender roles)
• Moral values (faith, ethics, courage, dignity)
• Realism in subject, tone, description
• Mood, sensation, feeling (e.g. “gothic”)
Jane Eyre
• Published by Charlotte Brontë in 1847 as “an autobiography”
• Pseudonym “Currer Bell”
• Immediate success
Why a pseudonym?
“Averse to personal publicity, we veiled our own names under those of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell; the ambiguous choice being dictated by a sort of conscientious scruple at assuming Christian names positively masculine, while we did not like to declare ourselves women, because -- without at that time suspecting that our mode of writing and thinking was not what is called 'feminine' -- we had a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice; we had noticed how critics sometimes use for their chastisement the weapon of personality, and for their reward, a flattery, which is not true praise."
Autobiographical Elements?
• Brontë was a clergyman’s daughter• She and her sisters
attended a similarschool
• She became agoverness
• Sisters died of“consumption”
• Siblings were all artists
When we read novels, we look
for
• Plot• Setting• Characterization• Dialogue• Theme • Narrator’s point of view• Repeated patterns which may have symbolic or
thematic importance
Patterns of Repetition Signal
Importance• Landscapes and viewpoints
• Words and synonyms (rebel, liberty)
• Episodes (Jane being singled out)
• Characters (kindly female supporters: Bessie, Mrs. Fairfax, the Rivers sisters)
• Actions (e.g. painting pictures, “taking likenesses,” etc.)
Plot
• At its simplest, “what happens why”• Story = what happens• Structure = how the plot is revealed in the
narrative• Sequence: how things happen in the plot or
structure• “The King died and then the queen died.”• “The King died and then the queen died of grief.”
The Plot has
Falling Action
Resolution(Denouement)
Introduction
Complication(Conflict)
Intensified by Rising Action
Climax
This is complicated by 3-volume structure—are there mini-climaxes in each section?
Setting
• When it was written
• Where it was written
• Milieu
• Verisimilitude
• Fashions (e.g. “Gothic”)
What Is Literary Gothic?
• In 19th century, “irregular”, “wild,” “supernatural,” “uncivilized”
• Some indicator words: mad, wild, free, authentic, natural, dark, exotic, ancient, spooky, brooding…
• General tone is dark, brooding, creepy, mysterious, malevolent…think Tim Burton
• Mysterious house, broodingly handsome hero, madwoman in attic—all Gothic conventions
Characterization
• “Round” characters: fully-developed, three-dimensional
• “Flat” characters: not fully-developed, often stereotyped
• Implicit vs. explicit characterization
• Think about how characterization is conveyed to us (description, other characters’ reactions, etc.)
Theme
• Idea or point being put forward by a work
• May or may not be synonymous with “message”
• May be explicitly or implicitly conveyed and reinforced
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