The sentimental novel, also called the novel of sensibility, is an eighteenth and nineteenth century literary genre that presents and celebrates the concepts of sentiment, sentimentalism and sensibility. It emerged in the poetry and prose of the period as a cultural response standing in contrast to the rational, restrained philosophies that dominated the preceding Augustan era.
Facts
Place of OriginEngland, as an eighteenth-century reaction to the rationalism of the Augustan Age. 1 Notable ExampleSamuel Richardson's Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740), among the most famous sentimental novels in English. 1 Defining TraitSentimental novels relied on emotional response from readers and characters, with scenes of distress and tenderness arranged to advance both emotion and action. 1 Defining Trait Connections
Sources
1. Sentimental Novel (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHistory section, first paragraph
Sentimental novels relied on emotional response, both from their readers and characters. They feature scenes of distress and tenderness, and the plot is arranged to advance both emotions and actions.
History section, first sentence
Among the most famous sentimental novels in English are Samuel Richardson's Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740), Oliver Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey (1768), Henry Brooke's The Fool of Quality (1765-1770), Henry Mackenzie's The Man of Feeling (1771) and Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent (1800).
Lead section, first paragraph
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.
Lead paragraph
an 18th- and 19th-century literary genre
Lead paragraph, defining sentence
The sentimental novel or the novel of sensibility is an 18th- and 19th-century literary genre that presents and celebrates the concepts of sentiment, sentimentalism, and sensibility.
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