Before Jane Austen: The Shaping of the English Novel in the Eighteenth Century

by Harrison R. Steeves

Few centuries have seen greater changes in social perspective and guiding ideas than the eighteenth century; literature in every Western country was a powerful instrument not only in recording these changes but in bringing them about. In England, the rise and development of a new literary form - the novel - graphically mirrors that great transition in social ideology, often with rare entertainment.

Originally published in 1965, in the words of Professor Steeves: 'This volume is to deal with the years in which the novel was still an experiment. At the beginning of the eighteenth century there was no novel. By the end, novels of every description were being published, not in dozens, but in hundreds. The badness of the product was universally recognized, but perhaps fifty had emerged out of the ruck of mediocrity, some tolerable, some good, and some great.'

The author tells us that it is the province of the novel 'to deal with what seems to be real people, in situations which have the tang of the life of the time and which pose significant problems related to that life.' He examines the changing view of the social scene in the works of the great novelists of the period - Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne - and in the less familiar but still significant novels of others from the time. The discussion ends with Austen because she comes 'exactly at the end of a century highly important in intellectual and cultural history, and at the beginning of another century equally epoch-making.... Miss Austen can properly be called the first modern English novelist, the earliest to be read with the feeling that she depicts our life, and not a life placed back somewhere in history, or off somewhere in imagined space'.

Genres: History

399 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[Noel Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written literary history of the novel up to and including Jane Austen. Mr. Steeves is in complete command of his subject and there is some subtle humor throughout. I like that he gives some good guidance on which of these old books to read and the many more to avoid and a select few to approach with caution depending on your interests. Despite how long ago it was written it doesn't seem dated at all. The last section covering Miss Austen's works was the only area were I started to tire a bit. He defends her passionately and intelligently but if you are a fan of her writing it's like preaching to the choir. I'm glad it was in there but that part didn't hold my interest.

[Kelsey Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times I loved this book, at others I winced, and at others I didn’t know exactly what to think. This can probably be accounted for by the fact that I haven’t read such a deep or lengthy book of literary criticism before. I am absurdly glad I read it, however. It opened up a whole world to me I barely knew: eighteenth-century English literature.

This book definitely requires concentration, but it’s extremely enlightening and thorough. If you’re a literary nerd, it’s fun to read. Harrison Steeves’ tone sometimes feels condescending toward his subjects, but that’s typical of criticism. He explains where 18th-century (and earlier) English fiction falls short by modern standards, but he also applauds just how significant and groundbreaking the great writers of the period were. He’s often quietly humorous. Of the books he discusses, I’ve only read Jane Austen’s novels, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels, The Vicar of Wakefield, Evelina, Cecilia, and The Wanderer. I agreed with much of what he said about all of them, and also learned a lot about how to interpret them. I think I was more impressed with The Pilgrim’s Progress and Fanny Burney’s novels (the last three on the list) than Harrison Steeves was, but I’m not as critical a reader, and I also have different beliefs. He wrote from a secular, liberal perspective, so he had some harsh things to say about The Pilgrim’s Progress and other religious fiction. Actually, quite a few of his general statements I found myself disagreeing with—but I didn’t mind.

He gave excellent synopses of many novels. Thanks to Steeves, I now want to read, for example, Joseph Andrews (Henry Fielding), Rasselas (Samuel Johnson), and Humphrey Clinker (Tobias Smollett); also thanks to him, I do not want to read Tristram Shandy (Laurence Sterne), Moll Flanders (Daniel Defoe), or Clarissa (Samuel Richardson). He traces how the English novel arose from romances and plays of earlier centuries, then follows its development up until the time of Jane Austen. He delves into various early genres, such as novels of manners and social reform and Gothic and Oriental romances.

The chapters were nicely organized. Each covered an author or two or sometimes more, principally: Bunyan, Aphra Behn, Defoe, Swift, Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, Sterne, Oliver Goldsmith, Henry Mackenzie, Frances Burney, Samuel Johnson, William Beckford, Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Gregory Lewis, Robert Bage, Thomas Holcroft, William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, Maria Edgeworth, and finally Jane Austen. Interspersed were chapters that dealt with literary trends such as sentimentalism and the historical context of the eighteenth century. He explained, among many other things, the rampant immorality and inequality of the times and the bearing they had on fiction. At least you aren’t left with illusions of an idyllic eighteenth century.

Although this book takes a while, if you have any interest in “The Shaping of the English Novel in the Eighteenth Century” Before Jane Austen is an indispensable read.