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Book description
The Cambridge Companions to literature series are accessible introductions to writers, periods, and different topics across the literary spectrum, put together to cater especially to the needs of literature students. They are a collection of specially commissioned essays, designed to deliver a variety of viewpoints on a certain subject. In the case of The Cambridge Companion to the Eighteenth Century Novel, this subject is basically the rise of the novel as a new genre and its different shapes and development throughout the 18th century. We may perceive the book as having two main parts. The first being a collection of detailed readings of works by such authors as Defoe, Swift, Richardson, Fielding, Sterne, Smollett and Burney, and the second being a wider overview of three distinct topics of the women writers of the time, the sentimental novels, as well as the world of Gothic fiction. The individual chapters, despite the fact that each essay was written by a different person, follow each other well enough if one wishes to read the book from page one to the very end. In a given essay, we can find distinct connections to what was said in previous chapters. For example, while dealing with the character of Gulliver, we may directly see a connection to the character of Robinson Crusoe, who was dealt with in the preceding chapter, when we are reminded by Seidel that Gulliver mentions Crusoe’s adventure in one paragraph. Another example could be the chapter on Henry Fielding, which begins by his connection to Swift and Richardson, both of which were already dealt with in the previous chapters. Despite their obvious connections, the essays are written in such a way that they could be taken out of the binding of this book and be read separately, as needed. For some readers, that might even be preferable. Due to the different authorship of each essay, a fact that perhaps does present us with a variety of viewpoints which some may find of better use, the overall image created by the book could be for some readers somewhat distorted, as it appears that each author deems different aspects of their given topic as important. (For example, Doody in his chapter on Richardson seems to perceive historical facts as the primary driving force behind his chapter, while Epstein in her essay on Burney seems to keep to Burney’s fiction only.) This may prove as a difficulty if we were to attempt a comparison on the same principles for each novelist or work, based entirely on this Companion. Also, by having different authors, each chapter seems to welcome the reader with a different tone in which it is carried out, as well as different requirement of prior knowledge of the given topic. Michael Seidel is probably the owner of the most distinct voice of all the contributors, given the tone of his chapter on Gulliver’s Travels. We could read his essay in a similarly ironic way as we would read Swift’s own work. It is written in an almost humorous way, with Seidel asking the reader questions, with exclamations such as “How convenient!” or his use of the butterflies joke. In addition, Seidel seems to focus more on the mental aspects of Gulliver’s character rather than a critique of society, namely the Royal Society, which he does not mention at all, which might be a topic the reader would expect in this chapter. As for the amount of prior knowledge when dealing with a chapter, it is perhaps obvious that the two opening and the three closing essays require the least amount of it, as they work more as an introduction to a given broader topic and are therefore more instructing. Both Spencer’s chapter on women writers and Carson’s essay on Gothic fiction have almost a textbook feel to it. For example, particularly Carson starts the chapter by a detailed description of a scene from Radcliffe’s The Italian in such a way that even a reader who has not yet read the novel would understand Carson’s argument. Therefore, there is not much need for a prior knowledge of the themes covered in these chapters, which is not something that can be readily said about the chapters on individual authors, such as on Fielding or Sterne. In the two opening chapters – Richetti’s general introduction and Hunter’s image of a novel in social and cultural context – there are certain themes or topics brought up that carry across the majority of the remaining chapters. Such themes are for example historicity (the approach to or the importance of history in novels), and the image of the woman, be it on the pages of novels or outside of them. Hunter speaks of the literature of the 18th century as somewhat neglected in the past, especially in the historicity of the novels and their dependence on cultural particulars, but points out the renewed interest in the historical dimensions of texts – the social environment and the history within them. He poses a set of questions regarding the amount of knowledge the reader should have in order to fully comprehend the novel. For Rosenblum, reading a novel in the light of real “history” outside of it is useful and he does not see the divide between the real world and the world of the novel as too great. Some of the essays, especially the ones dealing with particular authors, as was stated above, seem to stress the importance of this extensive knowledge. In Defoe’s case, Novak sees some of his themes as reflections of the collapse of South Sea Company (something the general reader might not recall) and even mentions Defoe’s claim that all stories being “historical” meant an endless supply of inspiration. When it comes to satire, the importance of historical facts is naturally of more importance, in order to fully understand it. Such is the case of Swift. In his chapter, Seidel perceives the idea of Gulliver’s Travels as a “vicious attack on the political and cultural institutions of 18th century British civilization in the guise of a satiric send-up of travel literature” only as one possible reading. The other being the mocking of the character of the narrator as a mad unreal contrasting individual, compared to the more realistic Crusoe, something we could understand even without the historical or cultural subtext. Going back to Hunter and his discussion of New History, we can see the emphasis on the conditions, hardships and troubles of individuals’ daily life, over wars, politics, and public affairs. This is revisited in the other essays as well. Doody gives an extensive historical context concerning Richardson and his printing press livelihood, which, we may admit, does indeed concern yet again politics and censorship, however the context shows Richardson’s novels in a different light than being mere sentimental epistolary novels about women’s virtue. It shows that he uses the epistolary form to show he is against censorship by making all of his characters into writers. At the same time, through the misgivings of characters in Clarissa, he shows, according to Doody, an almost encyclopedic picture of England as a culture with deep structure, as he shows the reader the conflicts of sex and class. In Epstein’s chapter on Frances Burney’s novels, we see a similar notion. She sees Burney’s work as important for students of culture and society as it represents the critique of gender and class ideologies as they affected the daily lives of women in the eighteenth century. This leads us to the second major topic – the image of women. This topic is not visited only in Spencer’s essay on women writers but is also mentioned across other chapters. Spencer states that there is a certain insufficiency when it comes to attention to women in general criticism, while in feminist criticism, there are only women being discussed. Unfortunately, her own essay does not answer her own call, as she herself stays within the boundaries of female writers. Carson’s essay on Gothic fiction does speak of women writers, however he makes a clear distinction between female gothic and male gothic, maintaining the distinction. Moreover, this distinction does not help the female writer image, as Gothic fiction is here explained as a combination of the novel and romance, while in Spencer’s chapter, the genre of “romance” was perceived as somewhat devalued, already labeled with generic expectations of sentimental novel. Carson reminds us of Clara Reeve’s attack on the notion of novels and romances as being “proper furniture only for a lady’s library.” However Spencer argues that women writers of sentimental novels were not narrowly domestic or didactic but that they actually encompass a wide-ranging social reflection, in which politics and private life could meet. As for the image of women as such, this can be observed in other novels mentioned, such as in Moll Flanders, about which we are told that Defoe believed women just as capable as men, and tough as nails in order to survive for example the bankruptcy of their husbands. In Pamela, out attention is brought to a revolutionary thought said by the main heroine – “Why am I his property?” – which could be understood in terms of slavery or marital status, both of which would be well ahead of their time. Similarly, Burney’s heroines appear as independent in actions and thoughts, again a modern notion.In conclusion, the Companion is a well put together tool for broadening the knowledge of the 18th century development of the novel. Despite the fact that each essay is written by a different author in a different tone with different aims, they do cover some overlapping themes and help creating a better overall literary image of the century, along with certain historical facts. Although, it might not be wise to approach this work with little or no prior knowledge of the discussed authors and their texts. (submitted as a graded critical review on 21st May 2014, Prague)
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