HISTORY OF ENGLISH NOVEL
(series 02)

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY FICTION

The great beginning achieved during the sixteenth century did not develop on expected lines during the seventeenth century. The religious controversies, social dissensions and the Civil Wars have absorbed the attention of the writers who left a trail of pamphlets. However this century also contributed to the history of fiction. The most important element came from France in the elegant far fetched heroic romances of Mlle de Scudery whose Le Grand Cyrus was translated into English in 1653-55 and proved very popular. The primary appeal to these romances was to the aristocracy but others enjoyed them too.

In the later half of the seventeenth century though fiction made little progress the readers started experiencing the voice of the private citizens describing their own life. John Evelyn (1620-1706) and Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) recorded the type of material in their diaries which the novelists were to use someday. But perhaps the greatest fiction writer of the seventeenth century was John Bunyan (1628-88). He was a soldier in the Republican Army, a preacher, a prisoner and a mystic. After his release from army services in 1647 Bunyan began to study the Bible and it was on the Bible that his whole literary and religious life was founded. In 1660 he was imprisoned in Bedford gaol for the crime of preaching and remained there for twelve years. During the first six years he published nine books including GRACE ABOUNDING which has been recognized as one of the great books of religious experience. After his release in 1672 he was elected pastor of the congregation in Bedford. He was imprisoned again when the bill was revoked in 1675.The first part of THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS was written during this period and was published in 1678.

The central theme of THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS has nothing original in it and in his development of the story Bunyan followed the lines of earlier allegories. He recounts the vision of life allegorically as the narrative of a journey. Bunyan had a flair for detail and anecdote, for the description of scenery and the invention of conversation. He combined all this with allegory so that his narrative, despite all spiritual meanings, becomes a realistic story. Thus Bunyan had a natural gift, he knew how to tell tale and to link up incidents. His style is racy and has ease, lucidity, order and a sense of construction.