The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare

Jean Jules Jusserand

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• Publié par: metheng
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 37
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare, by J. J. Jusserand This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare Author: J. J. Jusserand Translator: Elizabeth Lee Release Date: February 1, 2010 [EBook #31151] Language: English *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ENGLISH NOVEL *** Produced by Jonathan Ingram and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's Note Obvious typographical errors have been corrected in this text. For a complete list, please see the bottom of this document. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. SHAKESPEARE IN FRANCE. Illustrated. Demy 8vo, cloth, 21s. Also 20 Copies on Japan paper, signed, £2 2s. ENGLISH WAYFARING LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES (XIVth CENTURY). Fourth and Revised Edition. Illustrated. Large crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. "A handsome volume, which may be warmly recommended to all who wish to obtain a picture of one aspect of English life in the fourteenth century."—Academy. "An extremely fascinating book."—Times. A FRENCH AMBASSADOR AT THE COURT OF CHARLES II. (LE COMTE DE COMINGES). From his Unpublished Correspondence. Ten Portraits. Large Crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. "Is sure to interest any one who takes it up."—Speaker. "The whole book is delightful reading."—Spectator. ENGLISH ESSAYS FROM A FRENCH PEN. Photogravure Frontispiece and 4 other Full-page Illustrations. Large Crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. PIERS PLOWMAN, 1362-1398: A Contribution to the History of English Mysticism. With a Heliogravure Frontispiece and Twenty-three other Engravings. Demy 8vo, cloth, gilt top, 12s. "M. Jusserand has once more made English literature his debtor by his admirable monograph on Piers Plowman.... It is a masterly contribution to the history of our literature, inspired by rare delicacy of critical appreciation."—Times. "The work is marked by the felicitous insight and vivid suggestiveness that charm us in previous writings by the same author."—Saturday Review. A LITERARY HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE: From the Origins to the Renaissance. Demy 8vo, cloth, 12s. 6d. nett.London: T. FISHER UNWIN queen elizabeth. queen elizabeth.THE ENGLISH NOVEL IN THETIME OF SHAKESPEARE BY J. J. JUSSERAND TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY ELIZABETH LEE REVISED AND ENLARGED BY THE AUTHOR NEW IMPRESSION London T. FISHER UNWIN PATERNOSTER SQUARE MDCCCXCIX First Edition, May, 1890. Reprinted November, 1895. Reprinted March, 1899. [All rights reserved.] The work here presented to English readers was published in French three years ago in an abbreviated form. Worthy of attention as are the older novelists of Great Britain, it was not to be expected that details about Chettle, Munday, Ford, or Crowne, would prove very acceptable south of the Channel, especially when it is remembered that the history of French fiction, not an insignificant one, from "Aucassin" to "Jehan de Saintré," to "Gargantua," and to "Astrée," still remains to be written. A compressed account of the subject, amounting to scarcely more than a hundred pages of the present volume, was therefore deemed sufficient to satisfy such craving as there was for information concerning Nash, Greene, Lodge, and the more important among their peers. According to the publishers of the book this estimate was not fallacious, and there were no complaints of omission. When the honour of a translation was proposed for the small volume, it appeared that a more thoroughaccount of the distant forefathers of the novelists of to-day would perhaps be acceptable in England; for here the question was of countrymen and ancestors. The work was for this reason entirely remodelled and rewritten in order to furnish fuller particulars on our authors' lives and works, and to extract from their darksome place of retirement such forgotten heroes as Zelauto, Sorares, Parismus, who had, some of them, once upon a time, been known to fame, and had played their part in the toilsome task of bringing the modern English novel to shape. In writing of Shakespeare's contemporaries, care has been taken to enable the reader to judge them on their own merits. With this view an effort has been made to illustrate their spirit by what was best in their books, and not necessarily what would recall the master-dramatist's works, and would expose them to the extreme danger of being dwarfed by him beyond desert, and of fading away in his light as moths in the sunshine. Considered from this standpoint, they will not, however, cease to offer some degree of interest to the Shakespearean student, for this process makes us aware not merely of what materials Shakespeare happened to use, but from what stores he chose them. On this account such works as Greene's tales of real life have been studied at some length, and a chapter has been devoted to Nash, who, high as he stands among the older novelists, has been allowed to pass unnoticed as a tale writer by all historians of fiction. If, therefore, a large use has been made of the publications of learned societies devoted to the study of Shakespeare, liberal recourse also has been had to the depositories of oldoriginal pamphlets, to the Bodleian library especially, where, surprising as it may be in this age of reprints, single copies of early novels, not to be met anywhere else, are even now to be found. Some other writings of the same kind, even less known, such as "Zelinda," a very witty parody of a romantic tale by Voiture, the "Adventures of Covent Garden," illustrative of the novel and the drama in the seventeenth century, were found in the primitive and only issue nearer at hand, in that matchless granary of knowledge, whose name no student can pronounce without a feeling of awe, because it is so noble, and of gratitude, because it is so generously administered, the British Museum. Engravings have been added, for it seemed that scattered as the rare originals of our tales remain, it would be of assistance to gather together those curious characteristics. They give an idea of the kind of illustrations then in fashion, of the sort of appearance some of our authors wore; they show how in the course of centuries, Guy of Warwick was transformed from an armour-clad knight into a plain squire with a cane and a cocked hat; and they exemplify the way in which foreign artists were in several cases imitated with the burin, in the same books in which foreign literary models were imitated with the pen. Objection having been taken, in the very kindly criticisms passed upon this work, to the absence of the only known representation of Greene, this defect has been supplied in the present edition. I need not say that the translator of the portions written originally in French took the trouble to overlook my additions, and to revise my revisions. I need saythat my heartiest thanks are due also to the well-known Elizabethan scholar, Mr. A. H. Bullen, who, putting aside for a while much more important work, has shown me thegreat kindness of reading the proofs of this volume. J. Saint Haon-le-Chatel, Nov., 1890.CONTENTS. page TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 EXPLANATORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 11 INTRODUCTION 23 CHAPTER I. BEFORE SHAKESPEARE 31 I. Remote origin of the novel—Old historical romances or epics—Beowulf. The French conquest of England in the eleventh century—The mind and literature of the new-comers —Their romances, their short tales 31 II. Effects of the conquest on the minds of the English inhabitants—Slow awakening of the native writers—Awakening of the clerks, of the translators and imitators—The English inhabitants connected through a literary imposture with Troy and the classical nations of antiquity—Consequences of this imposture. Chaucer—His lack of influence on later prose novelists—The short prose tales of the French never acclimatized in England before the Renaissance—More's Latin "Utopia" 37 III. Printing—Caxton's rôle—Part allotted to fiction in the list of his books—Morte Darthur. Development of printing—Mediæval romances set in type in the sixteenth century 52 CHAPTER II. TUDOR TIMES—THE FASHIONS AND THE NOVEL 69 I. The Renaissance and the awakening of a wider curiosity—Travelling in Italy—Ascham's censures 69 II. Italian invasion of England—Italian books translated, Boccaccio, Ariosto, Tasso, &c. English collections of short stories imitated from the French or Italian—Separate short stories— Lucrece of Sienna—A "travelling literature" 74 III. Learning—Erasmus' judgment and prophecies—The part played by women—They want books written for themselves—Queen Elizabeth, her talk, her tastes, her dress, her portraits—The "paper work" architecture of the time 87 CHAPTER III. LYLY AND HIS "EUPHUES" 103 I. "Euphues," a book for women 103 II. "Euphuism," its foreign origin—How embellished and perfected by Lyly—Fanciful natural history of the time—The mediæval bestiaries—Topsell's scientific works 106 III. The plot of the novel—Moral tendencies of "Euphues"—Lyly's precepts concerning men, women and children 123 IV. Lyly's popularity—Courtly talk of the time—Translations and abbreviations of "Euphues" in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 135 CHAPTER IV. LYLY'S LEGATEES 145 I. Lyly's influence—His principal heirs and successors, Riche, Dickenson, Melbancke, Munday, Warner, Greene, Lodge, &c. 145 II. Robert Greene's biography—His autobiographical tales—His life and repentance, characteristic of the times 150 III. His love stories and romantic tales—His extraordinary success—His tales of real life—His fame at home and abroad 167 IV. N. Breton, an imitator of Greene—Thomas Lodge, a legatee of Lyly—His life—His "Rosalynd" and other works—His relation to Shakespeare 192 CHAPTER V. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY AND PASTORAL ROMANCE 217 Of shepherds. I. Sidney's life—His travels