Robinson Crusoe (Defoe), Pamela (Richardson), Tom Jones (Fielding)

With the 18th century, there was the beginning of the novel and its sub-genres: the picaresque novel, the epistolary novel, the sentimental novel, the adventure novel. 18th novel is characterized by a modern idea of realism. The story has the appearance of a true and everyday story. The time, the place and the physical descriptions of people and things are clearly indicated. The main causes of the beginning and success of the novel were: the extension of learned people, the proliferation of newspapers, the need of entertainment, the increases number of circulating libraries, the improvement in printing technology. Novels about travels were very common. Some of them derive from Utopian fiction that compare voyages to distant world to the modern actual imperfect world. The epistolary novel is characterized by intensely dramatic letters. The picaresque novel tells the adventures of a young man that manages to survive, with his intelligence and courage. His adventures most of the time takes place on the road and are comic...