The History of English Literature. The 17th and the 18th centuries. C11.
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1. William Congreve, Preface, Incognita (1692)
“Novels are of a more familiar nature; Come near us, and
represent to us Intrigues in practice, delight us with
Accidents and odd Events, but not such as are wholly
unusual or unpresidented, such which not being so distant
from our Belief bring also the pleasure nearer us.
Romances give more of Wonder, Novels more Delight.
And with reverence be it spoken, and the Parallel kept at
due distance, there is something of equality in the
Proportion which they bear in reference to one another,
with that between Comedy and Tragedy; but the Drama
is the long extracted from Romance and History: ’tis the
Midwife to Industry, and brings forth alive the
Conceptions of the Brain.”
2. Daniel Defoe, Preface to Robinson Crusoe (1719)
“If ever the story of any private Man's Adventures in
the World were worth making Publick, and were
acceptable when Publish’d, the Editor of this Account
thinks this will be so. [...]
The Story is told with Modesty, with Seriousness, and
with a religious Application of Events to the Uses to which
wise Men always apply them, viz. to the Instruction of
others by this Example, and to justify and honour the
Wisdom of Providence in all the Variety of our
Circumstances, let them happen how they will.
The Editor believes the thing to be a just History of
Fact; neither is their any Appearance of Fiction in it: And
whoever thinks, because all such things are dispatch’d,
that the Improvement of it, as well to the Diversion, as to
the Instruction of the Reader, will be the same; and as
such, he thinks without farther Compliment to the
World, he does them a great Service in the Publication.”
3. Henry Fielding, Preface to Joseph Andrews (1742)
“Now, a comic romance is a comic epic poem in prose;
differing from comedy, as the serious epic from tragedy:
its action being more extended and comprehensive;
containing a much larger circle of incidents, and
introducing a greater variety of characters. It differs from
the serious romance in its fable and action, in this; that as
in the one these are grave and solemn, so in the other they
are light and ridiculous: it differs in its characters by
introducing persons of inferior rank, and consequently, of
inferior manners, whereas the grave romance sets the
highest before us: lastly, in its sentiments and diction; by
preserving the ludicrous instead of the sublime. In the
diction, I think, burlesque itself may be sometimes
admitted; of which many instances will occur in this
work, as in the description of the battles, and some other
places, not necessary to be pointed out to the classical
reader, for whose entertainment those parodies or
burlesque imitations are chiefly calculated.”
4. Dr. Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 4, 31 March
1750
In the romances formerly written, every transaction and
sentiment was so remote from all that passes among men,
that the reader was in very little danger of making any
applications to himself; the virtues and crimes were
equally beyond his sphere of activity; [...] But when an
adventurer is levelled with the rest of the world, and acts
in such scenes of the universal drama, as may be the lot of
any other man; young spectators fix their eyes upon him
with closer attention, and hope, by observing his
behaviour and success, to regulate their own practices,
when they shall be engaged in the like part. [...]
These books are written chiefly to the young, the
ignorant, and the idle, to whom they serve as lectures of
conduct, and introductions into life. They are the
entertainment of minds unfurnished with ideas, and
therefore easily susceptible of impressions; [...]
5. Clara Reeve, The Progress of Romance (1785)
“The word Novel in all languages signifies something new.
It was first used to distinguish these works from Romance,
though they have lately been confounded together and are
frequently mistaken for each other. ... The Romance is an
heroic fable, which treats of fabulous persons and things.
– The Novel is a picture of real life and manners, and of
the times in which it is written. The Romance, in lofty
and elevated language, describes what never happened
nor is likely to happen. The Novel gives a familiar relation
of such things as pass every day before our eyes, such as
may happen to our friend, or to ourselves; and the
perfection of it is to represent every scene in so easy and
natural a manner, and to make them appear so probable,
as to deceive us into a persuasion (at least while we are
reading) that all is real, until we are affected by the joys
or distresses of the persons in the story as if they were our
own.”