There was a public demand for the novel. With the expansion of the middle class by the middle of the 18th century, more people could read and they had money to spend on literature.

There was already a high interest in autobiography, biography, journals, diaries, memoirs. Alexander Pope's dictum that "The proper study of mankind is man" led to increased interest in the human character.

The early English novel departs from the allegory and the romance with its vigorous attempt at verisimilitude and it was initially strongly associated with the middle class, their pragmatism, and their morality.

Pamela, (I, 1740; II, 1741) by Samuel Richardson, is usually considered the first fully-realized English novel.

DANIEL DEFOE

Sometimes called the founder of the modern English novel, Defoe established:

• a dominant unifying theme with a serious thesis
• convincing realism (through an almost-journalistic first-person narrative)
• a middle class viewpoint

Major Works:

• Robinson Crusoe (1719)
• Moll Flanders (1722)

SAMUEL RICHARDSON

Richardson created the novel of character.

Whereas Defoe's characters too often seem to be simply fighting their way out of circumstantial dilemmas, Richardson's characters are complete and complex human beings.

Major Works

• Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (I, 1740; II, 1741): story told through a series of letters
• Clarissa (1747-48)

HENRY FIELDING

Defoe claimed his fiction to be fact; Richardson considered his works moral preachments.

Fielding is the first to unashamedly and forthrightly write novels.

Fielding's two major works, Joseph Andrews (1742) and Tom Jones (1749), both contain essays constituting the initial English attempt to define and explain the novel as a literary genre.

JANE AUSTEN

Though not an 18th century novelist, Austen has more in common with the novelists of the 18th century than she does with the novelists of the early 19th century.

Austen is the greatest English novelist of manners.

Restricting herself to the society of landed gentry, Austen is a miniaturist; the feminine Augustan.

Major Works:

• Pride and Prejudice (c. 1812)
• Emma (1816)