Literature of the Enlightenment

The 17^th and 18^th centuries are known in the history of European culture as the period of Enlightenment. The central problem of the Enlightenment ideology was that of man and his nature. In England the period of Enlightenment followed the bourgeois revolution, while in other countries it came before the revolution (the French Bourgeois Revolution took place at the end of the 18^th century); therefore, the aims of the English Enlighteners were not so revolutionary as those of French Enlightenment.

The English Enlighteners were not unanimous in their views. Some of them spoke in defense of the existing order, considering that a few reforms were enough to improve it. They were the moderates, represented in literature by Daniel Defoe, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele and Samuel Richardson. Other, the radicals, wanted more democracy in the ruling of the country. The most outstanding representatives of the radicals were Jonathan Swift, Henry Fielding, Oliver Goldsmith, Richard B. Sheridan.

In the epoch of Enlightenment the poetic forms of the Renaissance were replaced by prose. The moralizing novel was born and became the leading genre of the period. The Enlighteners idealistically hoped to improve the morals of the people and of society in general. The Enlightenment epoch in England literature may be divided into three periods:

Early Enlightenment (1688-1740)

This period saw the flourishing of journalism. Numerous journals and newspapers appeared at that time. Most popular were the satirical moralizing journals The Tattler, The Spectator, The Englishman edited by Joseph Addison and Richard Steels. In their essays – short compositions in prose – these two writers touched on various problems of political, social and family life.

Mature Enlightenment (1740-1750)

The social moralizing novel was born in this period. It was represented by the works of such writers as Samuel Richardson (Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady), Henry Fielding (The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling and other novels), and Tobias Smollett (The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker and other novels).Henry Fielding' s works were the summit of the English Enlightenment prose. In the novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling the author created an all-embracing picture of the 18^th century England. Fielding also worked out the theory of the novel. In the introductory chapters to the eighteen parts of The History of Tom Jones he put forward the main requirements that the novel should meet: to imitate life, to show the variety of human nature, to expose the roots and causes of man's shortcomings and to indicate the ways of overcoming them.

Late Enlightenment (Sentimentalism) (1750-1780)

The writers of this period, like the Enlighteners of the first two periods, expressed the democratic bourgeois tendencies of their time. They also tried to find a way out of the difficulties of the existing order. However, while their predecessors believed in the force of intellect, they considered feelings (or sentiments) most important. The principal representatives of sentimentalism in the genre of the novel were Oliver Coldsmith (The Vicar of Wakefield) and Lawrence Sterne (Tristram Shandy, The Sentimental Journey) and in drama – Richard Sheridan (School for Scandal and other plays)

1. Topical vocabulary:

enlightenment, n – просвещение requirement, n – требование

order, n – порядок representative, n – представитель

improve, v – улучшать expose, v – показывать

moderate, v – сдерживать root, n – корень

virtuous, adj – добродетельный shortcoming, n – недостаток

reward, v – награждать predecessor, n – предшественник

flourish, v – цвести novel, n – роман

2. Translate the following:

идеология Просвещения, буржуазная революция, выдающиеся представители, радикального крыла, поэтические формы Возрождения, моральные устои общества, шедевры прозы английского просвещения, полная картина общества, сила разума.