Product Description

In this influential study, Ian Watt traves the genesis and development of the most popluar of all literay forms, the novel. In his penerating and original readings of Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding, he investigates the reasons why the three main eighteenth-century novelist wrote in the way they did - a way resulting ultimately in the modern novel of the present day. The rise of the middle classes and of economic individualism, the philosophical innovations of the seventeeth century, complex changes in the social position of women : these are some of the factors underlying an age which produced the authors of ROBINSON CRUSOE, PAMELA and TOM JONES.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #164841 in Books
• Published on: 2000-01-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From the Publisher
A classic and THE standard text on the origins of the modern novel -'A major contribution to the subject, in some respects the most brilliant that has appeared. ' TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT

About the Author
Ian Watt is Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Humanities at Stanford University. He served as Chairman of the English Department (1968-71), and of the Program in Modern Thought and Literature (1977-80), and was Director of the Stanford Humanities Centre from 1980 to 1985. His books include Conrad in the Nineteenth Century (1979), Conrad: Nostromo (1988) and Myths of Individualism: Faust, Don Quixote, Don Juan and Robinson Crusoe (1998).

Customer Reviews

Must have critical classic
If you are an english student, chances are at some point you will be doing, or will have done courses on early novels, and therefore this book is a definite 'must read' that should be on any students reading list. In almost every course I've done so far, this book has been on the tutors reading list. If you're not a student, chances are you've probably read a novel at some point :-), and therefore this book is just as relevant to you.

Basically, it does exactly what is says on the tin, Ian Watt charts the, umm, rise of the novel as a literary form in the 18th century, dealing in particular with Daniel Defoe, Ian Richardson and Henry Fielding. He discusses all the underlying social, philosophical and political factors underlying the age that produced these authors.

Perhaps a bit 'academic' in places, generally it's very readable and understandable, and very fascinating, a definite must read for students and/or lover of literature.