Lecture Two

The “Englishness” of the English Novel

Scope: We will begin this lecture by refining our definition of the novel. More specifically, we will identify the novel as a
form with two major dimensions: one sociological, the other psychological. A great novel can seem to take in an
entire society, exposing the hidden connections among entire classes of people. At the same time, novels can give us
a vivid sense of how particular individuals think and feel. By the time we have finished reading a novel such as Ian
McEwan’s Saturday, we may feel that we know the main character better than we know our own friends and
neighbors. Once we have defined the novel in this way, as a form preoccupied with the relationship between
individuals and their larger social world, we will be ready to consider some of the most distinctive features of the
English novel tradition, including its preoccupation with courtship and marriage and its traditional preference for
comedic plots. As a final illustration of these differences, the lecture will compare two novels focused on the life of
a writer—one French, Balzac’s Lost Illusions, and the other English, Dickens’s David Copperfield. Whereas the
English hero eventually finds a way to combine personal fulfillment with professional success, the French
protagonist is destroyed by his quest for fame and social distinction.
Outline
I. In our last lecture, we arrived at a basic definition of the novel and considered some of the ways in which it differs
from other forms of writing. In this lecture, we will refine our understanding of the novel form.
A. We will begin by identifying the novel as a form with two major dimensions: one sociological, the other
psychological.
B. We will then go on to ask ourselves what might distinguish the English novel tradition from other national traditions.
Are there themes or structures that tend to recur in English novels, and if so, what are they?
II. The sociological dimension of the novel is crucially important, because novels are almost always concerned with
social distinctions, social hierarchies, and social values.
A. Novelists seem to be especially attentive to issues of social status, noting what matters and how one gets ahead in
particular communities.
B. In my view, novelists noticed these things long before they were codified by sociologists. Novelists also noticed the
social phenomenon later labeled as status incongruence, that is, the possibility of conflict or tension among different
factors in the status equation.
C. This is not to say that all novelists explore such issues in exactly the same ways.
1. Many novels, such as those by Jane Austen, are focused rather narrowly, concentrating on the members of a family or
the residents of a small town.
2. Other novels take advantage of the form’s length, taking in dozens of characters and moving from the top to the
bottom of the social ladder. A novel such as Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, published in monthly installments during
1847 and 1848, may seem to describe an entire society, uncovering relationships among classes of people.
III. In addition to exploring these sociological issues, the novel also delves into human psychology, providing vivid
images of how individuals think and feel.
A. Whereas plays and films may be forced to concentrate on externals—how a character moves or speaks—novels are
free to probe the inner recesses of both head and heart.
1. Some of the most important scenes in a novel may involve no dialogue at all. In such scenes, a character may be
sitting quietly, reflecting on his or her thoughts.
2. Because the novel can go slowly, such scenes may allow us to trace very subtle shifts in feeling or mood. A recent
example, one that illustrates the continuing vitality of the novel tradition, comes from Ian McEwan’s Saturday
(2005).
3. The central character is Henry Perowne, a middle-aged neurosurgeon. Perowne is usually on the left politically,
but recently, in the course of his medical practice, he has treated an Iraqi expatriate—a professor who is still
suffering the aftereffects of torture at the hands of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

4. In a passage from Saturday, Perowne examines the question of the war from all sides.
B. This passage provides an excellent example of the novel’s interest in the inner workings of the human mind. By the
time we finish reading a novel like Saturday, we may feel that we know the characters better than we know our own
friends and neighbors.
IV. The sociological and psychological dimensions of the novel form are closely related.
A. Indeed, the novel’s close attention to the relationship between society and the self or the individual is one of its
defining features.
B. Novelist Jane Smiley puts it well when she describes the form as being “first and foremost about how individuals fit,
or don’t fit, into their social worlds.”
V. Having defined the novel in this way, as a form preoccupied with the relationship between self and society, we can
appreciate the most distinctive features of the English novel tradition.
A. Perhaps the most obvious aspect of the English tradition is its virtual obsession with courtship, love, and marriage.
1. Almost all of the greatest English novels of the 18th and 19th centuries can be described as love stories.
2. Love and marriage also loom large in the novels of the 20th century, dominating such Modernist classics as Sons and
Lovers (1913), Ulysses (1922), and To the Lighthouse (1927).
3. This is really quite unusual. Major works in other traditions (The Brothers Karamazov, Moby-Dick) are not best
described as love stories.
B. Even more important to the English tradition, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, is its striking preference for
comedic plots.
1. Comedic endings are indeed happy endings. But there’s more to such endings than meets the eye.
2. In comedic endings, as characters are fit into the larger social order, a sense of harmony and
reconciliation is achieved.
3. Because virtue is rewarded and vice is punished, a sense of poetic justice also prevails.
4. Thus, comedic endings offer us a vision of the world as well-ordered and generally sympathetic to human needs and
desires.
C. Taken together, the dominance of the courtship plot and the comedic ending account for much of what we might call
the “Englishness” of the English novel tradition.
VI. To flesh out our sense of these matters, we compare two novels based on the life of a writer—one French, Balzac’s
Lost Illusions (1837–1843), and the other English, Dickens’s David Copperfield (1849–1850).
A. Although these novels are roughly contemporary, and although they share an interest in the literary life, Balzac’s
depiction of the literary world is much more detailed, and much more unsettling, than Dickens’s.
1. By the end of Balzac’s story, the central character has been destroyed by his pursuit of fame and fortune.
2. Balzac’s point is not that the character should have held fast to his original ideals but, rather, that idealism is
dangerous. It sets you up for a fall.
3. Dickens’s hero, by contrast, emerges triumphant. He refuses to negotiate with publishers and pays no attention to
reviewers. He’s devoted exclusively to his art.
4. At the end of the novel, he returns home, not to be lionized, but to marry his childhood sweetheart.
B. The difference in these endings suggests the larger differences between these two literary traditions.
1. In the French novel, society overwhelms and undermines the individual.
2. In the English novel, society provides for the hero. The world of David Copperfield, though not without its
difficulties, is finally a hospitable and satisfying one.
VII. Let us now look ahead to upcoming lectures. The lectures in our first part will cover a period of about 130 years,
ending with the death of Dickens in 1870.
A. We’ll start by considering the origins or rise of the novel in the middle of the 18th century, when our focus will be on
two strikingly different figures: Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding.
B. In subsequent lectures, we’ll consider the emergence of several different kinds of novels, including the gothic novel of
Ann Radcliffe, Sir Walter Scott’s historical novel, and the multiplot novels of Thackeray, Eliot, and Dickens.
C. By the time we get to 1870, we’ll begin to see some testing of limits, as such writers as Thackeray, Dickens, and
Emily Brontë work to complicate the conventional comedic ending.