János Barcsák, Márta Pellérdi

English literature 1660-1900

The novel of adventure

Inspired by the true story of the Scottish Alexander Selkirk who spent four years on a desert island, Defoe wrote his own fictional version. The full title of Robinson Crusoe provides a summary of the story: The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an uninhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by Pyrates. Defoe did not claim authorship of the work. Thus readers were led to believe that the book was written by the castaway himself in the form of an autobiography. The first part of the novel (there were two sequels) sold out in four editions before the end of 1719. The most memorable and major part of the work deals with the years spent on the desert island. But there is a frame story as well. In trying to construct Crusoe’s identity so that he would have claim to being called an actual person, Defoe presents Crusoe’s family background and situates his exact social position in society to be in the “middle,” between the upper and lower classes. His father attempts to dissuade him from becoming a seaman and his reasons are given in detail by providing a praise of the “middle state:

Tartalomjegyzék

Kiadó: Akadémiai Kiadó

Online megjelenés éve: 2018

ISBN: 978 963 454 261 2

Irodalom PPKE BTK jegyzetek

A history of the English literature is presented here, with a scope on the years 1660 to 1900. The book is written in three main parts; beginning with the Restoration Period of the 17th century, followed by the first, and second halves of the 18th century. Thus, a sequential development of literary genres is presented, with explorations of the key figures and texts which drove these. The book also synthesises the historical, cultural and sociological background which gave rise to this literature, and allows the reader to effectively contextualise these.

Hivatkozás: https://mersz.hu/barcsak-pellerdi-english-literature-1660-1900//

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