The sentimental novel or the novel of sensibility is an 18th century literary genre which celebrates the emotional and intellectual concepts of sentiment, sentimentalism, and sensibility. Sentimentalism, which is to be distinguished from sensibility, was a fashion in both poetry and prose fiction beginning in the eighteenth century in reaction to the rationalism of the Augustan Age. Literature of the 18th century refers to world literature produced during the 18th century. ... Sentiment can refer to: feelings and emotions the literary device sentimentality, which is used to induce an emotional response disproportionate to the situation, and thus to substitute heightened and generally unthinking feeling for normal ethical and intellectual judgment an eighteenth century literary genre called the sentimental novel This is a... Sentimentalism (literally, appealing to the sentiments), as a literary and political discourse, has occurred much in the literary traditions of all regions in the world, and is central to the traditions of Indian literature, Chinese literature, and Vietnamese literature (such as Ho Xuan Huong). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Sentimentalism (literally, appealing to the sentiments), as a literary and political discourse, has occurred much in the literary traditions of all regions in the world, and is central to the traditions of Indian literature, Chinese literature, and Vietnamese literature (such as Ho Xuan Huong). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong (Song Dynasty) Poetry (from the Greek , poiesis, a making or creating) is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Augustan literature is a style of English literature whose origins correspond roughly with the reigns of Queen Anne, King George I, and George II. In contemporary critical parlance, it refers to the literature of 1700 up to approximately 1760 (or, for some, 1789). ...

An early example is Manon Lescaut by Antoine-François Prévost in 1731, the story of a courtesan for whom a young seminary student of noble birth forsakes his career, family, and religion and ends as a card shark and confidence man. His downward progress, if not actually excused, is portrayed as a sacrifice to love. Cover of a recent translation of Manon Lescaut. ... Antoine François Prévost (Antoine Francois Prevost dExiles) (April 1, 1697 - December 23, 1763), usually known simply as the Abbé Prévost, was a French author and novelist. ... Events 10 Downing Street becomes the official residence of the United Kingdoms Prime Minister when Robert Walpole moves in. ... A card shark is an expert card game player who feasts on weaker fish players. ... Confidence is trust or faith that a person or thing is capable. ...

The prototype of the English sentimental novel is Samuel Richardson's novel Pamela (1740). The term and the literary style originate in medieval French (and later English) romances, in which the hero is usually preoccupied with his or her love and love sufferings. The second important novel was The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. The sentimental novel was satirized by Henry Fielding in Joseph Andrews a year later. Samuel Richardson (August 19, 1689 – July 4, 1761) was a major 18th century writer best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded (1740), Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady (1748) and Sir Charles Grandison (1753). ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded is an epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson, first published in 1740. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is God Save the Queen. See also Proposed English National Anthems. ... As a literary genre, romance or chivalric romance refers to a style of heroic prose and verse narrative current in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. ... “Heroine” redirects here. ... The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (often known simply as Tom Jones) is a comic novel by Henry Fielding. ... 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... Henry Fielding (April 22, 1707 – October 8, 1754) was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humor and satirical prowess and as the author of the novel Tom Jones. ... Joseph Andrews is a novel by Henry Fielding, first published in 1742. ...

Sentimental novels are related to the domestic fiction of the early eighteenth century. Among the most famous sentimental novels are Laurence Sterne's Sentimental Journey (1768) and Henry Mackenzie's The Man of Feeling (1771). Laurence Sterne Laurence Sterne (November 24, 1713 – March 18, 1768) was an Anglo-Irish novelist and clergyman. ... The Monk of Calais (1780) by Angelica Kauffman, depicting Pastor Yorick exchanging snuffboxes with Father Lorenzo ..having a horn snuff box in his hand, he presented it open to me. ... Henry Mackenzie (August, 1745 - January 14, 1831), Scottish novelist and miscellaneous writer, was born in Edinburgh. ... The Man of Feeling is a 1771 picaresque novel by Scottish author Henry Mackenzie. ...

Along with a new vision of love, sentimentalism presented a new view of human nature which prized feeling over thinking, passion over reason, and personal instincts of "pity, tenderness, and benevolence" over social duties.

Possibly the most prominent example of sentimental fiction in America is Susan Warner's The Wide, Wide World. Susan Bogert Warner (July 11, 1819 – March 17, 1885), was an American writer of religious fiction for young people. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

The novel of sensibility

After the 1760s, Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy spawned the novel of sensibility; it is also a peak in the development of sentimentalism. In it, the protagonist, most often a young woman, naively encounters the world and learns to refine her natural goodness. Sensibility was a character trait important in the mid- to late-eighteenth century. A person with sensibility was attuned with nature and was easily, and rightly, affected by the feelings of others; the "sensible" person noticed the hurt of others and was a barometer of social morality. Tobias Smollett tried to imply the "cult of sensibility" in his Humphry Clinker 1771. An excellent example of this type of novel is Frances Burney's Evelina (1778), wherein the heroine, while naturally good, in part for being country-raised, hones her politeness when visiting London she is educated into propriety. This novel also is the beginning of "romantic comedy". Events and Trends King George III ascends the British throne in 1760. ... Laurence Sterne Laurence Sterne (November 24, 1713 – March 18, 1768) was an Anglo-Irish novelist and clergyman. ... The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (or, more briefly, Tristram Shandy) is a novel by Laurence Sterne. ... Tobias Smollett Tobias George Smollett (March 19, 1721 - September 17, 1771) was a Scottish author, best known for his picaresque novels, such as Roderick Random and Peregrine Pickle. ... The expedition of Humphry Clinker was the last of the picaresque novels of Tobias Smollett, and is considered by many to be his best and funniest work. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... Evelina: Or the History of a Young Ladys Entrance into the World is a novel written by English author Fanny Burney in 1778. ... A romantic comedy may be a film or novel, presenting a story about romance in a comedic style. ...

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1774 The Sorrows of Young Werther was highly sentimental and immediately extremely popular throughout Europe, and even inspired young people who could relate to Werther's sorrows to commit suicide.  , IPA: , (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath. ... The Sorrows of Young Werther (Die Leiden des jungen Werther, originally published as Die Leiden des jungen Werthers) is an epistolary and loosely autobiographical novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, first published in 1774. ...

Gothic novel

At the end of the eighteenth century, sensibility's value was questioned, as it made its bearers, particularly women, too overwrought and too prone to imagining worlds beyond their appointed ones. These anxieties are in the rise of the Gothic novel, at century's end. The Gothic novel's story occurs in a distant time and place, often Renaissance Italy, and involved the fantastic exploits of an imperiled heroine. The classic Gothic novel is Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764). As in other Gothic novels, the notion of the sublime is central. Eighteenth-century aesthetic theory held that the sublime and the beautiful were juxtaposed. The sublime was awful (awe-inspiring) and terrifying while the beautiful was calm and reassuring. The characters and landscapes of the Gothic rest almost entirely within the sublime, with the heroine the great exception. The “beautiful” heroine’s susceptibility to supernatural elements, integral to these novels, both celebrates and problematizes what came to be seen as hyper-sensibility. Strawberry Hill, an English villa in the Gothic revival style, built by seminal Gothic writer Horace Walpole The gothic novel was a literary genre that belonged to Romanticism and began in the United Kingdom with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. ... The Castle of Otranto is a 1764 novel by Horace Walpole. ... In aesthetics, the sublime (from the Latin sublimis (exalted)) is the quality of transcendent greatness, whether physical, moral, intellectual or artistic. ...

Finally, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the overwrought emotions of sensibility, as expressed through the Gothic sublime, had run their course. Jane Austen wrote a Gothic novel parody titled Northanger Abbey (1803), reflecting the death of the Gothic novel. Moreover, while sensibility did not disappear, it was less valued. Austen introduced a different style of writing-the comedy of manners, but her novels often are not funny, but rather are scathing critiques of the restrictive, rural culture of the early nineteenth century. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1813), has been a blueprint for much subsequent romantic fiction. Her Sense and Sensibility is a "witty satire of the sentimental novel",^[1] by using the popular motives of the genre and the Age of Enlightenment (sense=reason and sensibility=sentimentalism) in contrast with reality (marriage and inheritance). 1873 engraving of Jane Austen, based on a portrait drawn by her sister Cassandra. ... For films named Northanger Abbey, see Northanger Abbey (1986 film). ... Pride and Prejudice, see Pride and Prejudice (film). ... This article refers to the wide variety of writing called romantic. For literature from the European Romantic movement of the 18th and 19th centuries, see Romanticism: Art and Literature. ... For other uses, see Sense and Sensibility (disambiguation). ... 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... The Age of Enlightenment (French: ; German: ) was an eighteenth century movement in European and American philosophy, or the longer period including the Age of Reason. ... “Spouse” redirects here. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

External links

• Dictionary of the History of Ideas: "Victorian Sensibility and Sentiment"
• Domestic or Sentimental Fiction in America
• Dictionary of Sensibility http://www.engl.virginia.edu/enec981/dictionary/
• Rousseau, George S. (2004). Nervous Acts: Essays on Literature, Culture and Sensibility. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-3454-1 (Paperback) ISBN 1-4039-3453-3 (Hardcover)
• Sources:

1. ^ http://www.broadviewpress.com/bvbooks.asp?BookID=235