and
SIR WALTER SCOTT
JANE AUSTEN
thanks to

ROMANTIC FICTION

The novel
18th century

The most popular form of fiction

interest in individual

THE NOVEL OF MANNERS

rise of middle class
everyday situations
manners and social behaviour
• country life
main themes: love, marriage, friendship
• third person narrator
• irony

THE HISTORICAL NOVEL

• Napoleonic Wars
interest in the past, especially Middle Ages
history seen as a product of human decisions

based on the lives of ordinary people

interest in important historical crisis

for example in Scotland

"Waverley"

"Ivanhoe"

Features:

deeper insight
description of social classes
self-realization
dialogue as a way to knowledge of life

influenced

ALESSANDRO MANZONI

SIMILITUDES:
• they pointed out conflicts
• they mingled truths and fiction

DIFFERENCES:
• different linguistic means
(Scott celebrates Scottish dialect,
while Manzoni avoids any regional
inflections)

SANTINA CHIARA BRANCA