Samuel Richardson - Henry Fielding

letteratura inglese

Samuel Richardson

He was a self-made man and his modest origins allowed him to receive a basic schooling. He composed letters for those who were illiterate and he set up the printing and the publishing of the books he wrote. He greatly contributed to the development of the English novel, the epistolary novel. His sty 444j91e le was totally new on account of the careful analysis that he made of characters' emotions and state of mind. He aim was to teach that virtue is always rewarded and vice punished. He was the first author to the social pressures put on women.

Henry Fielding

He began his career as a playwright where he immediately his taste for cutting satire on English society. He attacked the system of justice in England. The "licensing act" put an end to his theatrical career. He turned to novel writing and became on of the greatest writers of the century. He detested the sentimentally and hypocrisy of Richardson ane he refused the epistolary form preferring what he called "comic epic poem in prose". He was a barrister, a magistrate and a journalist to denounce the corruption and lawlessness of the English society. He believed in realism. He combined stories of adventure with a psychological insight into the mind and soul of the middle class.

Sentimental comedy

Sentimental comedy grow up as a reaction against the licentiousness and immorality of the restoration drama. It responded well to what the middle classes wanted form the theatre: good must triumph on evil. As a result the characteristic features of the sentimental comedy were exaggerated emotionalism and melodrama.

The English language in the 18^th century

Previous to the 18^th century one of the main point of discussion concerning the role of English was whether it was worthy of use in writings which had previously been traditionally written in Latin. Attention now turns for the first time to the question of grammar and to the vocabulary of the language. What is needed is a dictionary. Dryden took the step of translating everything into Latin and then converting it back to English in order to have peace of mind as to the correctness of his language. The Royal Academy was similar to the Accademia della Crusca. In the royal academy Johnson produced the first dictionary. The royal society created a committee to improve the English language, based on the structure of the Latin language.