Page 111 - DENG402_HISTORY_OF_ENGLISH_LITERATURE

History of English Literature Digvijay Pandya, Lovely Professional University

Notes Unit 14: The Eighteenth Century-Approach/Transition

Towards Romanticism (Decline of Novel,
Agricultural Revolution and Industrial Revolution)

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
14.1 Decline of Novel
14.2 Agricultural Revolution
14.3 Industrial Revolution
14.4 Summary
14.5 Keywords
14.6 Review Questions
14.7 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
Describe decline of novel and agricultural revolution.
Define the spirit of freedom.
Explain technological developments during industrial revolution.

Introduction
The death of the novel is the common name for the theoretical discussion of the declining importance
of the novel as literary form. Many 20th century authors entered into the debate, often sharing their
ideas in their own fiction and non-fiction writings.

14.1 Decline of Novel

The novel was well-defined by the 19th century. In the 20th century, however, many writers began
to rebel against the traditional structures imposed by this form. This reaction against the novel
caused some literary theorists to question the relevancy of the novel and even to predict its ‘death.’
Some of the earliest proponents of the “death of the novel” were José Ortega y Gasset, who wrote
his Decline of the Novel in 1925 and Walter Benjamin in his 1930 review Krisis des Romans. In the
1950s and 1960s, contributors to the discussion have included Gore Vidal, Roland Barthes, and John
Barth.

Did u know? Ronald Sukenick wrote the story The Death of the Novel in 1969.
Tom Wolfe in the 1970s predicted that the New Journalism would displace the novel. Italo Calvino
is considered to have turned round the question “is the novel dead?”, as “is it possible to tell
stories that are not novels?”
The years around the termination of World War II (1945) constitute something like a watershed in
the history of the English novel. Both Virginia Woolf and James Joyce, who were among the

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