The Rise of the Novel

​What is a novel?
DEFINITION:
an invented prose narrative that is usually long and complex and deals especially with human experience through a usually connected sequence of events. 

​In the 18th century there were some important factors that led (lead, led, led = condurre) to the rise of thfe Novel.

The most important ones were:
1 The GROWTH OF THE MIDDLE CLASS
2 The EXPANSION OF THE READING PUBLIC
3 The DECLINE OF DRAMA & THEATRES

​In this period the MIDDLE CLASS saw an important DEVELOPMENT , that is to say merchants, bankers, traders, shopkeapers worked hard, they could earn a lot of money and had more free time. So they could buy and read books.
A large part of this reading public was made up of WOMEN, as they were beginning to change their social role. They went to social events, to public places, and they liked reading novels.
Both men and women were interested in books that REFLECTED their LIVES, their PROBLEMS, their EXPERIENCES.....

​The newspapers became more and more popular, and the CIRCULATING LIBRARIES gave the people who lived in small cities, small villages without a LIBRARY the opportunity to read. Even people who werent rich, and couldn't buy books, could borrow them from these circulating libraries spending little money ( just one penny for one volume).

​

DECLINE OF DRAMA AND THEATRES

There was an ACT (a law passed) that introduced the CENSORSHIP(=censura) for all the PLAYS which criticised the monarch or the Government.

The readers weren't interested in the plays which had PASSED the censor, i.e. that had been approved by the censorship, so they looked for other activities to do in their FREE TIME, AND THEY READ NOVELS

WHAT THEATRE IS THIS?

DO YOU RECOGNIZE IT?

The novels in this period weren't based on the PAST HISTORY or on MITHOLOGY, but they concentrated on the individual experience of the contemporary REAL PEOPLE

• They were SET IN REALISTIC PLACES, well described, that the readers could recognise

• They depicted a FAITHFUL (= fedele) REPRESENTATION OF LIFE

• The protagonists were CHARACTERS(=personaggi) generally coming from the MIDDLE CLASS , they were REAL PEOPLE, and the readers could IDENTIFY in them