Table of contents
Introduction
Chapter I Literature of the Age of Enlightenment
1.1 Characteristics of the literature of the Enlightenment
1.2 Literature of England
Chapter II English Enlightenment Writers
2.1 Jonathan Swift
2.2 Daniel Defoe
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
In the history of European society, the 18th century is known as the Age of
Enlightenment. Enlightenment figures were not only writers, but also philosophers,
political thinkers. The literature of the Enlightenment grows out of the classicism of
the 17th century, inheriting its rationalism, the idea of the educational function of
literature, attention to the interaction of man and society. Compared with the
literature of the previous century, a significant democratization of the hero takes
place in enlightenment literature, which corresponds to the general direction of
enlightenment thought. The direction of enlightenment realism was successfully
developed in England. So, the "age of Reason" became the time of creation of
outstanding English writers - D. Defoe and J. Swift.
Defoe - the most complete ideologist of the middle bourgeoisie, expresses its
desires and the idea that it has about itself and about its place in the state. And Swift
caustically ridicules modern English society.
The purpose of the study of this control course work is to reveal and show the
features of the works of English writers of the 18th century on the example of the
work of Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift .
The tasks are to assess the level of development of the literature of this period
and trace its stages. Consider the most prominent representatives.
Chapter I Enlightenment Literature
era of enlightenment defoe swift
1.1
Characteristics of the literature of the Enlightenment
The ideological movement, called the Enlightenment, spread to European
countries in the 18th century. It was imbued with the spirit of struggle against all
generations and manifestations of feudalism. Enlighteners put forward and defended
the ideas of social progress, equality, free development of the individual.
Enlighteners proceeded from the belief that a person is born kind, endowed
with a sense of beauty, justice and equal to all other people. An imperfect society,
its cruel laws are contrary to human, "natural" nature. Therefore, it is necessary for
a person to remember about his high destiny on earth, to appeal to his mind - and
then he himself will understand what is good and what is evil, he himself will be
able to answer for his actions, for his life. It is only important to enlighten people, to
influence their consciousness.
The Enlighteners believed in the omnipotence of the mind, but for them this
category was filled with a deeper meaning. Reason was only to contribute to the
reorganization of the whole society.
The future was presented to the Enlighteners as the "kingdom of the mind."
That is why they attached great importance to science, establishing the "cult of
knowledge", the "cult of the book". It is characteristic that it was in the 18th century
that the famous French Encyclopedia was published in 28 volumes. It promoted new
views on nature, man, society, art.
Writers, poets, playwrights of the 18th century sought to prove that not only
science, but also art can contribute to the re-education of people worthy of living in
a future harmonious society, which should again be built according to the laws of
reason.
The enlightenment movement originated in England (Daniel Defoe "Robinson
Crusoe", Jonathan Swift "Gulliver's Travels", the great Scottish poet Robert Burns).
Then the ideas of the Enlightenment began to spread throughout Europe. In France,
for example, Voltaire, Rousseau, Beaumarchais are among the enlighteners, in
Germany - Lessing, Goethe, Schiller.
Enlightenment ideals also existed in Russian literature. They were reflected in
the work of many authors of the 18th century, but most clearly in Fonvizin,
Radishchev.
In the depths of the Enlightenment, new tendencies appeared, foreshadowing
the emergence of sentimentalism. Attention to the feelings, experiences of a
common person is increasing, moral values are being affirmed. So, above we
mentioned Rousseau as one of the representatives of the Age of Enlightenment. But
he was also the author of the novel The New Eloise, which is rightfully considered
the pinnacle of European sentimentalism.
The humanistic ideas of the Enlightenment found a peculiar expression in
German literature, where a literary movement arose, known as the Storm and
Onslaught. Supporters of this movement resolutely rejected the classicist norms that
fettered the creative individuality of the writer.
They defended the ideas of national originality of literature, demanded the
depiction of strong passions, heroic deeds, vivid characters, and at the same time
developed new methods of psychological analysis. Such, in particular, was the work
of Goethe and Schiller.
The literature of the Enlightenment took a step forward both in the theoretical
understanding of the goals and objectives of art, and in artistic practice. New genres
appear: the novel of education, philosophical stories, family drama. More attention
began to be paid to moral values, the assertion of the self-consciousness of the
human person. All this became an important stage in the history of literature and art.
Enlightenment classicism was quite widespread in the literature of this era. Its
largest representatives in poetry and drama, and especially in the tragic genre, was
Voltaire. had a great
the meaning of "Weimar classicism" - its theoretical principles were vividly
embodied in Schiller's poems and in Goethe's Iorigenia and Tauris. Enlightenment
realism was also prevalent. Its representatives were Diderot, Lessing, Goethe, Defoe,
Swift.
1.2 Literature of England
By the beginning of the XVIII century. England came through the bourgeois
revolution of the middle of the 17th century, the trial of King Charles I and his
execution, the regime of the bourgeois military dictatorship of Cromwell, the
restoration of the Stuart monarchy and the “Glorious Revolution” of 1688-1689,
which placed William III of Orange and Queen Mary on the throne. Thus, due to
historical reasons, having survived in the 17th century. two bourgeois revolutions,
England found itself at the origins of the European Enlightenment. It is customary
to date the beginning of the English Enlightenment as the year of the Glorious
Revolution.
Enlightenment in England was of a moderate nature, because its task was not
to prepare a new revolution, but to redistribute political power in favor of the
bourgeoisie. The limited monarchy established after the Glorious Revolution was
revered in the country as the most advanced state system, the private shortcomings
of which supposedly could be eradicated with the help of reasonable reforms. The
Glorious Revolution accelerated the development of capitalism and created the
preconditions for the great industrial revolution of the mid-18th century.
The ideological currents of the English Enlightenment were heterogeneous.
Some writers sharply criticized the remnants of feudalism and the vices of bourgeois
reality (Swift, Fielding, Smollett, Sheridan), other authors adhered to an apologetic
(Addison, Steele, Defoe) or moderate (Richardson) position, hoping with the help of
good-natured satire and moral and religious instructions to instill in people civic
feelings and thereby improve the moral climate in society. In the literature of the
English Enlightenment, periods are distinguished: early (until the 1730s), mature,
covering the 1740s-1750s, and late, stretching from the 1760s to the 1790s. The
leading genres of English early enlightenment literature were the poem, tragedy,
comedy, and essay. The socio-political events of this period contributed to the
expansion of the readership, the birth of new genres, for example, the “ballad opera”
(“The Beggar’s Opera” by J. Gay), such genre varieties as the theoretical and
aesthetic poem A, Pope’s “Experience on Criticism”, satirical moral essays by
Addison and Steele.
National originality of English Enlightenment classicism in comparison with
the "high" French classicism of the 17th century. was explained by its different
ideological content and the softening of classicist normativity, which was due to the
development of English philosophical and scientific thought, interest in national
traditions, adherence to concepts that undermine the role of rationality in the creative
process. In the first third of the XVIII century. Enlightenment classicism occupied a
dominant position in English literature. He actively opposed the Baroque,
accumulated elements of Rococo at the genre level, and at the same time could enter
into a synthesis with Enlightenment realism, which was gaining momentum. The
division into elitist and democratic, characteristic of early enlightenment literature,
was reflected in his work by J. Lillo, who stood at the origins of European pettybourgeois drama. He made an attempt to democratize the genre of classic tragedy.
In his dramas, the main characters were representatives of the bourgeois-commercial
circles of society. Lillo instructively glorified the bourgeois virtues: work,
moderation, frugality, self-control. Comedy in its various genre varieties was widely
spread in the early enlightenment literature . In Steele's moralizing ("tearful")
comedies, with their happy ending, one can see the desire to smooth out the internal
contradictions of the system that was established after the "Glorious Revolution". It
is no coincidence that in "Conscientious Lovers" (1722), the marriage of the
aristocrat Beville to the daughter of the merchant Sealand symbolizes a compromise
between two social groups. The Beggar's Opera by D. Gay (1728) was a satiricpolitical comedy in which street ballads were skillfully used for malicious criticism
of the bourgeois order, and the corrupt mechanism of the state apparatus was
reflected in the events that take place in the world of criminals. At the insistence of
R. Walpole, who recognized himself in the image of one of the heroes, King George
II forbade the staging of the continuation of The Beggar's Opera - Polly (1729). The
satirical denunciation of the ruling regime in the farces of G. Fielding and the
anonymous play "The Golden Tail" served as a direct reason for acceptance into
1737 г. The Act of Censorship, according to which theaters could exist only on the
basis of a royal license, plays had to be subject to prior censorship by the Lord
Chamberlain, they could not discuss political problems and make statesmen actors.
All theaters in London were closed except Drury Lane and Covent Garden.
Significant damage was done to the development of dramaturgy. The novel moved
to the forefront of English literature.
During this period, Enlightenment realism reaches its peak, gradually
displacing Enlightenment classicism from its leading positions. Mature
enlightenment realism is represented by Richardson's epistolary novels, which laid
the foundation for the genre of family psychological novel, Fielding's "comic epics",
and Smollett's social novels. The philosophical basis for Enlightenment realism was
empirical metaphysical materialism. None of the English novelists adhered to the
framework of any one philosophical and ethical doctrine. Fielding's theory of
Shaftesbury collided with the teachings of Mandeville, Richardson, in the polemic
between Mandeville and Shaftesbury, took the side of the latter, while developing
Locke's concepts. Smollett relied on Mandeville and Locke.
The general basis for the entire educational novel was Locke's thesis,
according to which the fate of a person depends on himself ("Some Thoughts on
Education"). At the same time, Richardson's preaching of the triumph of reason over
passions, Fielding's rehabilitation of earthly sensual nature were connected with the
preaching of bourgeois progress, with the desire to eliminate social vices. At the
same time, it turned out that the new social conditions did not always coincide with
the interests of the individual. All this led to the critical moderation of Richardson's
novels, Fielding's gentle humor, Smollett's dark satire.
The literature of the late Enlightenment is characterized by the intensive
development of a sentimental trend, the origins of which go back to the landscape
lyrics of the 1730s (J. Thomson, The Seasons, 1726-1730). The term "sentimental"
in relation to literature appeared in 1749 г., but became widespread after the
publication of "Sentimental Journey" by L. Stern (1768). By the beginning of the
1730s, many had dispelled the illusion of a happy life, which they dreamed of after
the Glorious Revolution. Further fencing of land and the ruin of the peasantry, the
destruction of protected natural areas for the construction of enterprises, the
consequences of the industrial revolution, which aggravated the social stratification
of society and led to the impoverishment of the peasantry and artisans - all this made
one doubt the principles of rational behavior. The turn to the world of feelings of a
particular person was accompanied by criticism of the bourgeois order and feudal
remnants. The lyrical works of the early sentimentalist poets are characterized by
heightened sensitivity, a tendency to contemplation, to reflections in the bosom of
nature, and the poeticization of death. "Cemetery Poetry" by E. Jung, T. Gray, D.
Harvey, R. Blair is filled with religious mysticism, melancholic moods, sorrow for
the frailty of everything that exists, longing for loved ones who have gone to another
world, the memory of them, confirming their immortality. In the works of late
sentimentalists, social protest (O. Goldsmith, W. Cooper, D. Crabbe) and interest in
ordinary people are intensifying. In their novels, O. Goldsmith, L. Stern, G. Brook,
G. Mackenzie and others relied on the ethical concepts of D. Hume, who proposed
to subordinate morality not to reason, but to sensitivity. Late sentimentalists
emphatically strive to show the complexity of the "human nature" of the individual,
the versatility of his spiritual experiences, the origins of his eccentricities and
oddities. Their ideal is a patriarchal life in the bosom of nature with its simplicity of
manners.
In the 1960s and 1980s, educational tendencies were preserved most of all in
poetry - by Robert Burns, as well as in the genre of realistic satirical comedy, the
largest representative of which in the 70s was R. Sheridan. In the second half of the
XVIII century. socio-economic shifts, social trends, the search for new aesthetic
guidelines, opposite to the classic ones, contributed to the formation of preromanticism as a literary trend. In E. Burke's treatise "A Philosophical Inquiry into
the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful" (1757), in Pope's "Experience
on the Genius" and his writings (1756 - 1782) by J. Wharton, in "Letters on Chivalry
and Medieval Romances" (1762) R. Hurd draws attention to the aesthetic categories
("terrible", "original", "picturesque"), destroying the classicist concept of beauty,
based on symmetry and harmony. Spencer, Shakespeare, Milton, as imaginative
poets, pushed the classicists into the background with their reliance on reason. At
this time, interest in the national past is actively reviving. B 1765 г. the well-known
folklorist T. Percy published the collection “Monuments of Old English Poetry”,
which included folk ballads (historical, from the Robin Hood cycle, etc.), drawing
them from old manuscripts and his notes, as well as the lyrics of the Elizabethans.
Ideas of the Great French Revolution 1789 - 1794. had a huge impact on
English philosophical and social thought. Correspondent societies were created in
the country, which published mass literature in the form of leaflets and brochures.
However, they were soon dispersed, many of their members were arrested. William
Godwin (1756 - 1836), who believed in reason and philanthropy, in his treatise
"Discourse on Political Justice" (1793) called for the destruction of private property
and at the same time separated a person from society. In Things as They Are, or The
Adventures of Caleb Williams (1794), Godwin to a certain extent departed from his
idea of human asociality, showing the tragic loneliness of his hero. The farmer's son
Caleb, who served with a Falkland aristocrat, seeks his conviction for the murder of
the landowner Tyrrel and for sending two innocent people to the gallows, attributing
his crime to them. However, Falkland's death shook Caleb's conviction of the
legitimacy of his decisive actions. The plot intrigue developed according to the laws
of the "Gothic" novel, but the sharp denunciation of class inequality, feudal remnants
saturated it with social content and made it one of the forerunners of the realistic
novel of the 19th century.
Chapter II "English Writers of the Enlightenment"
2.1 Jonathan Swift
Swift began his creative activity at the turn of the two centuries, when the
extremely diverse experience of English literature of the 17th century. began to be
rethought in the light of emerging enlightenment ideas. Swift was a contemporary
and partly belonged to the great social movement called the Enlightenment.
Under the influence of the writer-essayist Temple, the foundations of Swift's
worldview were formed. In philosophical and religious questions, he shared
Montaigne's skepticism in the Anglican interpretation, emphasizing the weakness,
limitations and deceptiveness of the human mind; his ethical teaching was reduced
to Anglican rationalism with the requirement of strict ordering of feelings, their
subordination to common sense. At the heart of his historical ideas was the idea of
historical variability.
Swift's journalistic activity in defense of Ireland was accompanied by a
creative upsurge, which resulted in the creation of Gulliver's Travels (1721-1725).
This work is the highest achievement of the author, prepared by all his previous
activities. Gulliver's Travels is one of the most complex, cruel and torturous books
of mankind. One might even say one of the most controversial books. In the fourth
part of Gulliver's Travels, Swift seems to express his hatred of humanity. To agree
that this is the only conclusion from his book is to put him in the camp of the enemies
of humanism and progress.
Swift's book is connected by many threads with his modernity. It is teeming
with allusions to the topic of the day. In each of the parts of Gulliver's Travels, no
matter how far the action takes place, England is directly or indirectly reflected in
front of us, English affairs are resolved by analogy or contrast. But the power of
Swift's satire lies in the fact that specific facts, characters and situations acquire a
universal meaning, turn out to be valid for all times and peoples.
To understand this, we must consider Swift's book in the atmosphere of the
time that gave birth to it. 17th century writers could not show humanity the path it
was to follow. They did not know such a path and did not believe in its existence,
therefore they are only capable of fantastic constructions. This direction and the
pessimistic spirit of Swift's satire were a direct legacy of the 17th century.
The main theme of "Gulliver's Travels" is the variability of the external
appearance of the world of nature and man, represented by the fantastic and fabulous
environment that Gulliver finds himself in during his wanderings. The changing face
of fantastic countries emphasizes, in accordance with Swift's intention, the
immutability of the inner essence of mores and customs, which is expressed by the
same circle of ridiculed vices. Introducing fairy tale motifs in their own artistic
function, Swift does not limit himself to it, but expands its significance through
parody, on the basis of which the satirical grotesque is built. Parody always
presupposes the moment of imitation of a previously known model and thereby
draws its source into the sphere of action. The dual artistic function of fantasy entertaining and grotesque parody - is developed by Swift in line with the ancient
and humanistic tradition through plot parallels, which constitute a special layer of
sources in Gulliver's Travels. In accordance with this tradition, the plot is grouped
around the scheme of a fictional journey. As for Gulliver, his image is based on the
English prose of the 17th century, in which the narratives of travelers of the era of
great geographical discoveries are widely represented. From the descriptions of sea
voyages, Swift borrowed an adventure flavor that gave the work the illusion of
visible reality. This illusion is also increased because in appearance between the
midgets and giants, on the one hand, and Gulliver himself and his world, on the other
hand, there is an exact ratio of greatness. Quantitative relationships are supported by
the qualitative differences that Swift establishes between the mental and moral level
of Gulliver, his consciousness and, accordingly, the consciousness of Lilliputians,
Brobdingnezhians, Yahoo and Houyhnhnms. The angle of view from which Gulliver
sees the next country of his wanderings is precisely established in advance: it is
determined by how much its inhabitants are higher or lower than Gulliver in mental
or moral terms. The illusion of credibility serves as a camouflage for the irony of the
author, who imperceptibly puts masks on Gulliver, depending on the tasks of satire.
The fairy-tale plot, combined with the believable adventure flavor of the sea voyage,
form the constructive basis of Gulliver's Travels. This includes an autobiographical
moment - family stories and Swift's own impressions of an unusual adventure in his
early childhood (at the age of one, he was secretly taken away by his nanny from
Ireland to England and lived there for almost three years). This is the superficial
layer of the narrative that allowed Gulliver's Travels to become a reference book for
children's reading. However, the storylines of the plot, being an allegory of
generalized satire, combine many semantic elements designed exclusively for an
adult reader - allusions, puns, parodies - into a single composition representing
Swift's laughter in the widest range - from a joke to "severe indignation".
The disclosure of the most important social contradictions in the novel is
carried out in a generalized image of the state, penetrating all four parts of the work.
England and - wider Europe appears before us in several dimensions, in different
plans. So, the tiny inhabitants of Lilliputia, the ugly inhabitants of Laputa and the
disgusting Yahoos from the country of the Houyhnhnms are fantastically and
satirically transformed Europeans, the embodiment of the incurable vices of society.
Comparing and playing with creatures of different sizes gives the author the
opportunity to show a person from an unusual point of view and reveal new aspects
of his nature. If you look at a person through the eyes of midgets, he will seem huge,
if through the eyes of giants, he will seem small. Everything depends on the point of
view. Everything that claims to be absolute is compared with the insignificant and
small. However, despite the small size of the Lilliputians, they have their own cities,
customs, state, emperor, court, ministers. And, what is especially important, they
had ancient wise regulations, which are gradually superseded by modern mores.
Swift uses a materialized metaphor to show the servility and dexterity required to
make a career in the Lilliputian court. It is necessary to train from childhood to dance
on a tightrope. You must also show your dexterity in jumping over the stick held by
the emperor, or crawling under it. The statement of power and greatness sounds
comically from the lips of the Lilliputians and suggests the relativity of any power.
The struggle of the two parties that exist at court - the party of high and low heels serves to divert people's attention from the pressing issues of life. The party struggle
is complemented by the depiction of religious strife. They are shown in the form of
a struggle between blunt-pointed and pointed-pointed. Because of which end to
break the egg, fanatics go to their deaths. Swift speaks here against religious bigotry
and religious prejudice.
The intrigue that began against Gulliver is the first digression into the field of
human nature, as it manifests itself in the field of politics. Gulliver not only protected
the state from enemy invasion, but also saved the palace from fire, which the
Lilliputians could not understand and appreciate. For inexplicable reasons, hatred
for Gulliver is growing and something terrible is brewing behind his back. But if
Gulliver's enemies offer to kill him, then a friend offers a humane measure - gouge
out his eyes. He believes that this will satisfy justice and delight the whole world
with his gentleness.
Swift's irony here reveals the squalor of good deeds that a friend is capable of,
who does not break with the vile logic of the ruling order. The troublesome vanity
of intrigue acquires the character of an empty and insignificant game among the
Lilliputians. Lilliputians are vile, but their small stature symbolizes the pettiness and
insignificance of their deeds - human deeds in general.
In the second part of the novel - the journey to Brobdingnag - everything turns
upside down. The inhabitants of the country are giants. Swift continues to play with
the size difference. Gulliver falls into the position of a midget. He himself looks like
an insignificant creature, an animal, an insect. On the other hand, Gulliver's small
stature and, accordingly, a different sight of his eyes give him the opportunity to see
what big people do not see, for example, the unattractive sides of the human body
up close.
The giants are shown in two ways. These are creatures of mighty dimensions,
gross material beings, not ennobled by spirituality. Their great growth is combined
with mental limitations, unpretentiousness and rudeness. But this does not exhaust
the characteristics of the giants. The king and queen are big people, big not only
physically, but also morally and intellectually.
The theme of England is introduced here differently than in the first part. The
central place is occupied by Gulliver's conversations with the king. Gulliver acts like
an average Englishman, with all his prejudices and unconscious cruelty. He wants
to elevate his fatherland, portrays the political system as ideal, highlights everything
that, in his opinion, can decorate this state. In response to this, the king - a man
endowed with natural common sense, remarked how insignificant human greatness
is if such tiny insects can aspire to it. Swift expressed this idea by comparing the
Lilliputians with Gulliver, and he repeats it by comparing Gulliver with the giants.
The sober, sensible character of the king of giants seems very attractive to Swift.
Swift positively assesses the social system of giants. Politics is not raised to the level
of science. The king of giants is an opponent of state secrets, intrigues and
sophistication. He believes that a man who has grown one grain is worth more than
all politicians.
The third part of the book philosophically interprets the question of the
relationship between science and life. Swift's art lies in the fact that he is able to
express the most abstract and abstract things concretely and visually. Laputa Island
soars in the sky. It is inhabited by noble people, representatives of the aristocracy.
These people are deep in thought. Everything here is subordinated to science,
abstract and speculative. The island is not just inhabited by scientists. He is a miracle
of science, which is cut off from the people. Science is the property of the upper
classes. The capital of the state itself and most of the villages are located on the land
where the subjects live. When the inhabitants of one city rebelled, the flying island
crushed the rebellion. The miracle of science is used against the people. All this is
not just Swift's invention. He expressed in a witty and visual form the real
contradiction of the old society - the separation of the people from culture and
science. The inhabitants of the island of Laputa went into abstract spheres and were
indifferent to real life, where ignorance and poverty flourished. On the ground, the
Academy of searchlights was created, which is a society of half-knowers who are
trying to make humanity happy with their naive discoveries. They demonstrate an
inexhaustible supply of stupidity. Searchlights want to change everything just to
change. None of their projects have been completed. They destroyed the old but did
not create the new. Therefore, the country is in desolation and ruins. Swift develops
a very deep thought here. He ridicules people who are obsessed with the mania for
changing everything, with a blind commitment to the new and the desire to destroy
the old at any cost, people who stop halfway and do not complete their undertakings,
who are busy with meaningless projects that do not follow from the requirements of
life and to that is absolutely unfeasible. It is necessary to remake what is really bad,
what life requires, and remake based on real grounds and real possibilities. Among
the projectors there are people striving to improve society and correct its vices, for
example, to find smart ministers, to stop the dissension of parties. Swift speaks of
this with undisguised irony, viewing these attempts as equally hopeless and
unfeasible projects.
The third part also deals with the question of the development of mankind its historical and biological development, the movement of history, life and death.
Getting to the island of Globdobdrib - the island of sorcerers and wizards, the whole
history of mankind passes before Gulliver. This is where Swift's historical concept
comes into play. He has a deep respect for antiquity and its heroes. This respect
develops into a kind of classicism. Comparison of ancient and modern history is
necessary for Swift in order to show the degradation and decline of mankind.
Oppression, bribery, perfidy, betrayal - that's what accompanied the birth of a new
civilized society. The concept of human development, which Swift expounds,
emphasizes, first of all, the contradictions of this development, the final decline of
the human race. It opposes the optimistic concept of the Enlightenment, which
portrays the historical process as the victory of light over darkness.
The third part of the novel ends with a visit to the eastern countries. The
absurdity and cruelty of court life appears in it in especially frank forms. A special
group of people in this country are the struldbrugs, or immortals. The description of
these people, as it were, echoes the resurrection of the dead, which took place on the
island of sorcerers and wizards. Longevity is the dream of every person. Gulliver
was delighted with this idea. He believes that eternal life can give a person
experience and wisdom, that the wealth of life experience that the immortal
accumulates will prevent the decline and degeneration of mankind. But everything
happens the other way around.
Man cannot hope for eternal youth. And the strulbrugs turn out to be eternal
old men. They are deprived of natural feelings and hardly understand the language
of the new generation. Greedy and greedy, they want to seize power, and since they
are not capable of governing, they can only lead the state to death. This chapter tells
about the biological and social degradation of man and the impotence of science to
find recipes for his salvation.
"Gulliver's Travels" captured the period when bourgeois relations were
thoroughly strengthened in all spheres of public life, and Swift's novel, by its
construction, conveys their relative immobility. The circumstances in this satirical
work have only one direction of development, which is expressed in the expansion
and deepening of the sphere of evil. Life, all living things seem to be devoid of
movement: under the deep cover of this inviolability, the tragedy of the lonely
Gulliver is growing. But the social relations themselves, the structure of society,
have frozen dead. It is no coincidence that Gulliver did not notice any changes for
the better in his native country over the years of his wanderings. Time stopped. Or,
to be more precise: time moves in a direction hostile to man. A tragic time that did
not portend genuine and tangible progress. Therefore, Swift's satire is tragic in its
vital basis and in its artistic essence.
Swift's novel "Gulliver's Travels" is on the main highway of literary
development. Its outstanding significance is determined primarily by the
formulation and solution of the most complex and important socio-philosophical
problems that worried European society in the 18th century, as well as in later times.
The role of Swift's satire is so great that not only Swift's contemporaries W. Gay, J.
Arbuthnot, but also the largest English writers of other generations somehow took
the lessons of the author of Gulliver's Travels and were under his influence.
2.2 Daniel Defoe
The harsh school of life that Defoe went through, his vigorous versatile
activity, and the richest journalistic experience prepared the birth of Defoe the
novelist. The writer was 59 years old when he published his first and most
remarkable novel, which glorified his name for centuries. It was The Life and
Strange, Wonderful Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Sailor of York, as Described
by Himself (1719).
Defoe's book appeared on the crest of a powerful wave of travel literature that
swept England at that time - authentic and fictional reports of circumnavigations,
memoirs, diaries, travel notes of successful merchants and famous sailors. However,
no matter how diverse and numerous the sources of "Robinson Crusoe" were, both
in form and in content, the novel was a deeply innovative phenomenon. Having
creatively assimilated the experience of his predecessors, relying on his own
journalistic experience, Defoe created an original work of art that organically
combined an adventurous beginning with an imaginary documentary, the traditions
of the memoir genre with the features of a philosophical parable.
The idea of "Robinson Crusoe" was prompted by Defoe by a real incident: c
1704 г. Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, having quarreled with the captain of the
ship, landed on an unfamiliar shore with a small supply of provisions and weapons
and led a hermit life on the island of Juan Fernandez in the Pacific Ocean for more
than four years, until he was picked up by a passing ship under the command of
Woodes Rogers. Defoe could get acquainted with the history of Selkirk from the
book by Rogers "Sailing around the world" (1712) and from Steele's essay in the
magazine "The Englishman" (1713).
This story served the writer as a starting point for a detailed artistic narrative,
imbued with the poetry of travel and adventure, and at the same time containing a
deep socio-philosophical meaning. Having forced his hero to live twenty-eight years
away from civilization, Defoe carried out an enlightening experiment on "human
nature", subjected it to a kind of test, sought to clarify for himself and his readers the
decisive factors for human survival in this emergency.
In the island episode of the novel, this heroic chronicle of Robinson's "works
and days", the author poeticized the history of man's centuries-old struggle for
existence, glorified the invincible power of his thought, knowing and conquering
nature, glorified the element of free creative labor. Labor and hard work of thought
help the hero not only to survive, but also not to run wild, not to fall into madness,
to preserve his human appearance. It is the work and creative activity of the mind
that, according to the writer, form the basis for the transformation of the world and
the spiritual elevation of man.
Defoe embodied in the novel a typical enlightenment concept of the history
of human society. The life of his hero on the island in a generalized, schematic form
repeats the path of mankind from barbarism to civilization: first, Robinson was a
hunter and fisherman, then a cattle breeder, farmer, artisan, slave owner. Later, with
the advent of other people on the island, he becomes the founder of a colony arranged
in the spirit of Locke's "social contract".
At the same time, it is important to emphasize that Defoe's hero, from the very
beginning of his stay on the island, is not a "natural", but a civilized person, not the
starting point of history, but the product of a long historical development, an
individual, only temporarily placed in a "natural state": he is armed labor skills and
experience of his people and successfully uses the equipment, tools and other
material values found on the wrecked ship. Cut off from society by the will of
circumstances, does Robinson never for a moment cease to feel like a particle of it,
remains a social being and considers his loneliness as the gravest? from the trials
that fell to his lot. Unlike Rousseau and the Rousseauists (who built their ideal of
"natural man" not without looking at the "island robinsonade") Defoe never doubted
the advantages of civilization over the primitive state and was a staunch supporter
of material and technical progress.
Robinson is a hard worker, but at the same time he is "an exemplary English
merchant". His entire mindset is characteristic of the British bourgeois of the early
18th century. He does not disdain either planting or the slave trade and is ready to
go to the ends of the world, driven not so much by the restless spirit of quest as by
the thirst for enrichment. He is thrifty and practical, diligently accumulating material
values. The possessive streak is also manifested in the hero's attitude to nature: he
describes the exotically beautiful corner of the earth, into which fate has thrown him,
as a zealous owner, compiling a register of his property.
Robinson even builds his relationship with God on the principle of a business
contract, in which "good" and "evil", like profit and loss items, balance each other
with accounting accuracy. As befits a bourgeois puritan, Defoe's hero willingly turns
to the Bible, and in difficult times appeals to God. However, in general, his
religiosity is very moderate. The sensualist-practitioner of the Locke school,
accustomed to relying in everything on experience and common sense, constantly
triumphs in him over the puritan-mystic, who hopes for the goodness of providence.
Interesting in the novel are Robinson's conversations with Friday about
religion: the "natural man" Friday, anticipating Voltaire's "Innocent", with his naive
questions, easily confounds Robinson, who intended to convert him to Christianity.
Revealing in detail in the novel the relationship between Robinson and Friday
saved by him from cannibals, Defoe seeks to emphasize the noble civilizing mission
of the English bourgeoisie. In his depiction, Robinson, although he turns the young
savage into a humble servant, treats him gently and humanely, introduces him to the
blessings of spiritual and material culture and finds in him a grateful and capable
student. Clearly idealizing the image of Robinson, the author, as it were, teaches a
lesson to the European colonizers and slave traders, teaches them humane treatment
of the natives, condemns the barbaric methods of conquering wild tribes.
Defoe's hero unexpectedly turns out to be a student of the enlightening
philosophy of the 18th century: he is a cosmopolitan and grants the Spaniards equal
rights with the British in his colony, he professes religious tolerance, respects human
dignity even among the "savages" and is himself filled with a proud consciousness
of personal superiority over all the autocrats of the earth. "Robinson Crusoe" is
connected by many threads with the philosophical ideas of John Locke: in essence,
the entire "island robinsonade" and the history of the robinson colony in the novel
sound like a fictional transcription of Locke's treatises on government. The very
theme of the island, which is out of contact with society, was already used by Locke
in his philosophical writings two decades before Defoe.
Defoe is also close to Locke's educational ideas about the role of labor in the
history of the human race and the formation of an individual. It was not for nothing
that Rousseau called Defoe's novel "the most successful treatise on natural
education" and gave him the most honorable place in the library of his young hero
("Emile, or On Education", 1762). The ingenuous story of how Robinson built his
hut, how he burned the first jug, how he grew bread and tamed goats, how he built
and launched a boat, for almost three centuries continues to excite the imagination
of readers of all ages. It has not lost its enormous educational value for children and
youth to this day.
The exclusivity of the situation in which Defoe put his hero, removing him
from the world of money and placing him in the world of work, allowed the author
to most clearly highlight in the character of Robinson those qualities that are
manifested in free from commercial calculations, universal in its essence, creative,
creative activities. The pathos of knowledge and conquest of nature, the triumph of
free human labor, reason, energy and the will to live give Defoe's book an
extraordinary freshness, poetry and persuasiveness, constitute the secret of its charm
and the guarantee of its immortality.
The extraordinary success of the novel prompted the author to immediately
take up its continuation. Thus appeared The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
(1719), and then Serious Reflections of Robinson Crusoe, with his Vision of the
Angelic World (1720). Both in terms of ideological content and artistic performance,
both parts are noticeably inferior to the first. The second book describes the hero's
journey to India, China and Siberia. He visits his island, where he completes the
establishment of an "ideal" colony. Robinson appears in this part as "an exemplary
English merchant". Didactic "Serious Reflections" - typical for the literature of the
XVII - XVIII centuries. an attempt to explain the deep, allegorical content of the
previous parts. Robinson sets out in detail here his ethical, religious-philosophical
and literary views.
The works of Defoe that followed "Robinson Crusoe" are exceptionally
diverse in their genre nature: here are adventure novels that continue the traditions
of the picaresque genre - "Moll Flanders" (1722), "Colonel Jack" (1722), "Roxanne"
(1724), and maritime adventure novel "Captain Singleton" (1720), and the diary
novel "Diary of a Plague Year" (1722), and, finally, memoir novels, which are a
distant prototype of a historical novel - "Memoirs of a Cavalier" (1720), "Memoirs
of an English officer, Captain George Carlton" (1728).
All Defoe's novels are written in the form of memoirs, diaries or
autobiographies. The unusual gift of reincarnation allows the writer to act on behalf
of a thief, a prostitute, a pirate. Almost all of his heroes are criminals, almost all of
them are orphans and foundlings who do not remember their relationship. Captain
Singleton, the head of a pirate gang, was stolen as a child, Moll Flanders was born
in Newgate Prison and roams all the dens and slums of England, "Colonel" Jack
spends the night in glass-blowing ovens as a homeless boy, begins to steal for a piece
of bread, and at the end of the novel becomes a planter -slave owner. Heroes lead a
desperate struggle for existence, not shunning any means. Defoe traces their life path
from infancy to old age, shows them in collisions with a cruel world, reveals the
influence of the environment on their characters and destinies, and comes to the
conclusion that society is the true culprit of their crimes.
Of particular interest among Defoe's crime stories is the novel The Joys and
Sorrows of the famous Moll Flenders, who was born in Newgate Prison and during
the six decades of her diverse life (not counting childhood) was a kept woman for
twelve years, married five times (of which once for his brother), twelve years as a
thief, eight years as an exile in Virginia; but in the end she got rich, began to live
honestly and died in repentance. Written from her own notes. Before the reader
passes a life full of ups and downs, successes and failures. The daughter of a thief,
who grew up among criminals, brought up at the expense of the parish, Moll suffered
many sorrows and humiliations from an early age. Beautiful, smart, energetic, she
stubbornly strives to "break out into the people." The poverty and heartlessness of
those around her become the main reason for her moral decline and in the end turn
her into a predator, who enthusiastically enters into the struggle of all against all.
Gorky gave a remarkable description of the realistic image of Moll in his lectures on
the history of Russian literature: “Moll Flanders is depicted as a drunken, angry,
rude person who does not believe in anything, deceitful, cunning, but at the same
time you clearly see in her all the feelings of a citizen free country ... you see that
before you is a person who knows his own worth, a person who perfectly
understands the degree of his personal guilt and the guilt of society, which forced
her to live by selling her body - in a word, the author never forgets for a moment
that before he is a victim of an ugly social order, he condemns her because Moll did
not resist stubbornly enough, but he condemns society even more sharply for this
victory over a woman.
The fate of a lonely woman, making her way upstairs, is also dedicated to
Defoe's novel "Roxanne". The heroine of Defoe is an adventurer and courtesan,
rotates in various social circles, wanders around Europe, shines in Paris under Louis
XIV and in London salons during the Restoration. At a time when Roxana, having
destroyed, as it seems to her, all traces of her dark past, is preparing to retire and live
the rest of her days in contentment, she unexpectedly meets her own daughter, once
abandoned by her. An enmity flares up between them, and for the sake of profit, the
mother becomes an unspoken accomplice in the murder of her daughter. In terms of
drama and psychological persuasiveness, "Roxanne" significantly surpasses the
previous works of the writer.
Defoe entered the history of literature as the creator of the first remarkable
examples of the epic of private life, as the initiator of the educational realistic novel.
He was the first to be able to see the hero of his time in the merchant and vagabond,
the glorious "sailor from York", to reveal within the framework of a separate destiny
the richness and diversity of real life, to give a deeply faithful and impressive portrait
of an age possessed by the spirit of entrepreneurship and practical life. Defoe wrote
for the widest audience and was truly a folk writer, not only in content, but also in
the form of his works. The lively and direct manner of narration, the simple and
artless language of Defoe's novels were close and understandable to millions of
readers. By the end of the 18th century, Defoe's masterpiece "Robinson Crusoe"
went through about 700 editions in England alone and was translated into almost all
European languages. Defoe's name has become an integral part of the history of
world democratic culture.
Conclusion
The main artistic language of the Enlightenment was classicism, inherited
from the 17th century. This style corresponded to the rationalistic nature of
enlightenment thinking and its high moral principles. Defending the democratic
direction of art, the enlighteners introduced a new hero, the commoner, into literature
as a positive image, they sang and glorified his work, his morality, they depicted his
suffering sympathetically and penetratingly. They glorified the power of the human
mind, called to the judgment of reason the ideology and state institutions of
feudalism. Everything that did not meet the principle of rationality, that did not
contribute to the well-being of the people, was condemned by them for destruction.
In the course of the study, the goal set at the beginning of the work was achieved.
The biographies of the authors, their creative path and features of their most famous
novels - "Gulliver's Travels" and "Robinson Crusoe" were studied. As it turned out,
Robinson's success exceeded Defoe's expectations. He turned out to be the creator
of the English realistic novel, the creator of a new literary genre that flourished so
magnificently during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Gulliver's Travels" is a satirical philosophical and political novel at an early
stage in the development of educational literature in England, when the genre of the
novel is in the process of becoming.
Swift had a huge influence on the later English Enlightenment realists.
Swiftian motifs run through all the work of Fielding, Smollett. Subsequently, Swift's
genre of generalizing satire, based on the realistic use of science fiction, found
brilliant successors in the person Saltykov-Shchedrin and Anatoly France.
Bibliography
1.
Alenko E.M., Vasilyeva T.N. History of foreign literature of the XVIII
century , M., "Higher School, Academy", 2001.
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Artamanov S.D. History of foreign literature of the 17th - 18th centuries ,
M., Enlightenment, 1978.
3.
Swift J. Gulliver's Travels. M., 1972.
4.
Urnov D.M. Robinson and Gulliver. The fate of two literary heroes. M.,
1973.
5.
http://www.peoples.ru/
6.
http://studentguide.ru/
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