Tori Hamby

Outline of Ian Watts The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding
1. Central Question: What makes the novel different from previous literature?
-We are starting with assumption that Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding were the first
novelists (early 18
th
-century writers) (363).
2. Central Argument: Realism is the defining characteristic of the novel as a genre (364).
-Although the term realism has been used to describe art that depicts lower (base)
forms of life, realism actually manifests itself in the novel through how it portrays human
experience (364).
3. Philosophical versus modern realism
-Philosophical realism holds that universals, classes, or abstractions are the only
realities (365).
-Modern realism, from which the novel is derived, rejects universal truth. It holds the
belief that truth can only be discovered through the human senses (365).
-Literary realism, like philosophical realism, focuses on the particulars of experience
by the individual human and releases itself from assumptions based in the past. It also
pays close attention to how words reflect reality (365).
4. The novel is a genre of reorientation
-The novel places a previously unrealized significance on the individual
experience/reality. A novel will always be original because no two humans experience
reality the same way (366).
-Because the novel reflects reality, it rejects many of the formal conventions of high
literature (366).
-The novel rejects the traditional/mythical plots of ancient literature (366).
5. The novelistic plot embraces particulars at the expense of the general/universal (367).
-The Neo-Platonist tradition shuns minuteness and singularity (368).
-Realistic novels appeals to the readers psychological understanding of narrative.
Realistic descriptions allow the reader to form a concrete image in his/her head (369).
6. Novels enable detailed characterization (369).
-Descartes placed a great amount of significance on the individual human consciousness
(369).
-Proper naming
-Name should reflect reality. No names should convey a type of person
or a general idea (369).
-Novelists give characters first and last names (370).
-Examples: Dafoe, Richardson, and Fielding (370-371).
7. Novels embrace the influence of space (371)
-Novels explore self-identity when characters interpret themselves via their memories and
present self-awareness (371).
-Locke: individuation exists in a certain space and time. Therefore, the particular must
also be situated in a certain space and time (371)
-Ancient Greek/Roman philosophy: everything significant that happens, or might happen,
(Forms and Ideas) exists independently from space and time. Literature, according to this
perspective, is ahistorical (371).
-The novel is ultrahistorical. Past experiences always dictate the logical progression of
the plot. Characters also undergo changes related to their identities/personalities through
time (373).
-Ancient Greek/Roman philosophy: temporal unity. Most of the action takes place within
the span of one day or ignores the influence of time altogether. There is little to no sense
of historical past (373).
-Newton and Locke (late seventeenth century) focused attention on the objective study
of history and time (373).
-Examples: Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding (373-74).
8. Novels embrace the influence of space (374).
-Space is inextricably linked to time. Any temporal moment must also be set in a spatial
context (374).
-Until the novel, literature presented general, vague descriptions of space (374).
-Examples: Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding (374-375).
9. Semantics (prose), in the novel, serve the purpose of conveying knowledge (375).
-The novel is a purely referential medium. It values realistic description over fanciful
language (language for languages sake). (376).
-The classical tradition places more emphasis on literary sensitivity to style not
descriptive or denotative uses of language (376).
-Late seventeenth-century shift in attitudes toward language. Languages purpose shifted
toward communicating knowledge (376).
-Examples: Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding (376-77).
10. Formal Realism is a set of narrative procedures that the novel uses to create a full and
authentic report of human experience (378).
-Literary realism did not necessarily emerge as a direct result of philosophical realism.
There was a large-scale shift in focus towards the individual after the Renaissance (378).
-A work that conveys an authentic human experience does not necessarily convey the
truth (378).
-Readers tend to gravitate toward the novel because it requires less effort (379).
-Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding did not pioneer the use of formal realism. They simply
applied it more to their work (379).