The Eighteenth Century and the Rise of the English Novel

Abstract

It is not by chance that the English Novel dates back to the Eighteenth century. This does not imply that nothing existed in the form of a novel before 1700. Then, Daniel Defoe made novel come to existence, completely. Nothing comes from nothing, even the greatest masterpieces of literature starts off from what was available from the previous eras. The novelist in the Eighteenth century had on one hand, the medieval romance and its successors; the courtly novel of Italy and France and the English stories. The Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries were developed and grown out of some important sources: Lyly’s Euphues, Sidney’s Arcadia and Green’s Menaphon. On the other hand, the rogue novels and the Picaresque tradition were two other significant factors to the rise of the English Novel. Certain other factors were helpful to the rise of the English novel; from them; translations from the classics such as The Golden Ass of Petronius, Boccaccio as well as the authorized version of the Bible.