A history of the novel previous to the seventeenth century

Preface

The idea of writing a general treatise on the early novel was suggested to me by Korting's History of the French Novel in the Seventeenth Century. It is hoped that the following chapters may serve as an introduction to that work, and also prove to be, in some measure, an end in themselves. My method in studying into the beginnings of the various kinds of novels was derived from Rohde's History of the Greek Novel. This book also furnished the material for the two chapters on Alexandrian fiction, though the theories regarding the development of the Greek romance are not those advanced by Rohde. In the place of a full bibliography of the subject, a few references to leading authorities are appended to the text in the form of notes, under the chapters to which they belong. Occasional citations of more special articles supplement these references, to assist those who may desire to work up the matter from their own standpoint.

F. M. Warren.

Cleveland, November 22, 1894.

Introduction

History of the terms story, romance, novel. Meaning of romance in the Middle Ages. The Arthurian romances. The romans d'aventure. Formation of the novel. Amadis of Gaul. Its plan and sentiment. Definition of the word novel. Its essentials. Romances of chivalry. The Greek novel of the Alexandrian era. The Spanish novel of the Renaissance. Italian, French, and English novels in the sixteenth century. Chinese novels. The French novel in the seventeenth century. The English of the eighteenth. Romantic and realistic novels in the nineteenth century 1-20

Chapter II

The Greek Novel. Its Origin and Development.

The Homeric epic. Hellenistic literature. The Nimrod fragment. Aristocratic in tone. Its likeness to Amadis of Gaul. Its author a Sophist. The Alexandrian rhetoricians. Political, intellectual, and social changes. The later Greek novel, plebeian in sentiment. Narrative of Antonius Diogenes. Is it a parody ? It contains novelistic elements. Its construction. Mixture of love and adventure. The erotic element in Greek literature. The national delight in adventures. Influence of woman on the novelists. Lack of inherent springs of action for the story 21-46

Vlll CONTENTS.

Chapter III

The Greek Novel. Authors and Works.

Novels of erotic adventure. Jamblichus' Babylonica. Xenophon's Ephesiaca. Apollonitis of Tyre. Its influence in the Middle Ages. Heliodorus' Theageties and Chariclea. Its reasonable plot and skillful handling. Achilles Tatius' Clitophon and Leucippe. Traces in it of euphuism. Its influence at the Renaissance. Chariton's Chcereas and Callirrhoe. Half-historical in incidents. The pastoral novel the outgrowth of love for nature combined with social and mental discontent. Daphnis and Chloe. Its idea of nature. Sophist authorship. Decline of the Sophists and the Greek novel. Pious transformation of fiction. The Byzantine renaissance and its novels. Eustathius' Hysmenias and Hysmene. Influence of the Greek novel on the mediaeval literature of France. Boccaccio's indebtedness to it. Amyot's translations in the sixteenth century. « . . . . 47-8 1

CHAPTER IV. Origins of the Romances of Chivalry

Indigenous growth of the modern novel. Its first manifestation the romances of chivalry. Their tone aristocratic. Lack of originality in mediaeval literature. The erotic element in early French literature gave the romances of chivalry their plot. The romance or chanson d'/iisfoire. The lai, Guigemar, by Marie de France. Expansions of erotic themes and additions to them after the analogy of the heroic epic poetry. Gautier of Arras' romans d'aventure. Guillaume de Palerme. Gtiillaume deDole. La Chdtelaine de Vergi. The Arthurian legends. Chretien of Troyes. His /wain. Novelistic elements common to Twain and Amadis of Gaul. Spanish and Portuguese liking for the Round Table. Contributions to the early novel from the Carolingian epic. Effect on fiction of the contact with the East. Meeting of the various traditions in Htion de Bordeaux. Poems whose events were placed in Spain. The Entre'e de Spagne. Fierabras. Situations common to the heroic French epic and the romances of chivalry. The element of magic and the supernatural. Renaud de Montauban. Maugis d 'Aigremont. A possible French romance of chivalry in Perce forest. . 82-121

CONTENTS. IX

Chapter V

Spirit of the Romances of Chivalry. Amadis of Gaul.

Repetition the characteristic of medigeval literature. French influence in Spain and Portugal. Spanish ballad poetry. Didactic bent of the romances of chivalry. Amadis the model knight. His foils. Fidelity in love in the stories of the Middle Ages. Aristocratic tone and religious zeal of the romances of chivalry. Survival of feudal usages and the crusading spirit in the Spanish peninsula. Beginnings of Amadis in Portugal. Joao Lobeira. Court of King Diniz. A romance its probable embryo. . Mingling of traditions. Amadis in the fourteenth century. Its final revision by Montalvo. Analysis of the first book of Amadis. Description of a combat. Courtly conversations. Spirit and content of Amadis. Its loans from antecedent literature. Its moralizings and realism. Analysis and characteristics of the second book. Novelties of the third book. The fourth book. Its speeches. Probable first form of the plot of Amadis. Influence of the Renaissance on its style and construction. 122-162

Chapter VI

Sequels to Amadis of Gaul. The Palmerins, Etc.

Montalvo's Esplandian, the fifth book. Unreal incidents. Further ^_ sequels. Don Florisando. Lisuarte de Grecia. Amadis de Grecia. Florisel de Niquea. Significance of a pastoral episode in Florisel. Des Essarts' rendering of the Spanish Amadis. Original sequels in French. Amadis in Italy, England, and Germany. Tirante the White, a parody of Amadis anticipating Don Quixote. Its realism. National spirit of Spain favorable to the romances. Amadis imitated in the Palmerin dynasty. Palmerin de Oliva. No traditional background for the new series. Primaleon. Platir. Flotir. Moraes and his Palmerin of England. Its plan and composition. Its animus. Its haughty heroines the future type. Description of combat. Courtly conversations. Its tendency toward the historical novel. Its defects. Sequels to Palmerin of England and translations of it. Decline of the romance of chivalry. The reasons for it. Many independent romances. Don Belianis de Grecia. At-

CONTENTS.

tempt of the Church to appropriate the romances. The pious Lepolemo. Its worldly sequel Leandro el Bel. The allegorical Caballeria Celestial 163-199

CHAPTER VII. The Italian Pastoral, Narrative and Dramatic

Sentiment of pastoral composition in antiquity and at the Renaissance. Development of the pastoral in mediaeval Italy. Pastourelles in France. Virgil the source of the narrative pastoral. Disguised characters its principal feature. The dramatic pastoral resembles Greek elegiac poetry. Its appearance at the Renaissance. The discouragement and satire of its tone. History of the narrative pastoral. Theocritus. Virgil. Its allegorical form under the influence of the mediaeval Churchmen. Dante reverts to the Virgilian tradition. Is followed by Petrarch. Boccaccio's Ameto. Comparison of it with the Vita Nuova and the Decameron. Influence of the JEneid. The theory of art for art. The Age of Gold under the Medici. Sannazaro's Arcadia. Its tone and style. Novelistic elements in it. Its influence. The dramatic pastoral. Boccaccio's Ninfale Fiesolano. Its origin and idea. Poliziano's Orfeo. Musical dramas at Ferrara. Tasso's Aminta. Its material and construction. Frigidity of its heroine. Guarini's Pastor Fido. Its sentiment aud composition. The Italian pastoral in France. Nicolas de Montreux 200-236

CHAPTER VIII. Origin of the Spanish Pastoral Novel

Indigenous or foreign ? The sources of the material of the Spanish pastoral. The pastourelle in mediaeval Portugal. Liturgical drama in Spain. The auto. Secular pastorals. Mingo Revulgo. Juan de la Encina. Virgil's influence. Garcilaso de la Vega. Spanish coloring in his poems. Their characteristics and influence on poetry and the drama. Sa de Miranda's Story of the Mondego. Its love of nature. Ribeiro. Source of his inspiration. His eclogues. Menina e Moca. Disguised char-

CONTENTS. XI acters. Its sequel a romance of chivalry. Traits of the Spanish pastoral. Its supporters 237-258

CHAPTER IX. Montemayor's Diana, Its Sequels and Successors

Surroundings of the Diana. Analysis of the novel. Story of Jarifa and Abindarraez. Style and tone of the Diana. Its sentimentality. Its courtly conversations. Influence in Spain. Sequels by Perez and Polo. Successors mentioned in Don Quixote. Cervantes' Galatea. Lope de Vega's Arcadia. Revival of the pastoral toward 1600. Lobo's Primavera. Artificiality of the pastoral made its career a short one. Influence of the Diana on French thought and literature. Comparison of the modern pastoral with Daphnis and Chloe. The sentimentality of the Diana revived, through the Astre'e, by Rousseau. . 259-283

Chapter X

The Picaresco Novel in Spain. Its Origin and Early Career.

Reasons for realism in fiction. Nature of the Spanish picaresco novel. Its supporters. Satire its origin. Parody of the romances of chivalry. Spain at the middle of the sixteenth century. Decay of feudalism. Class distinctions obscured by foreign conquests. Decline of agriculture hastened by increase in taxes. Security of person impaired by the Inquisition. Picaresco novels a symptom of social unrest. The matter of Lazarillo de Tormes. The French faice. Le Garcon et TAveugle. Other traces of a boy and beggar cycle of plays, Analysis of Lazarillo de Tormes. How it differs from the modern realistic novel. Fantastic sequel to Lazarillo. Influence of the novel in Spain. No other appeared for nearly fifty years. Mateo Aleman. Analysis of his Guzman de Alfarache. How it differs from Lazarillo de Tormes. Marti's sequel to the first part of Guzman. Aleman's genuine sequel. Popularity of both parts at home and abroad. Influence of the picaresco novel in France and on Le Sage. ...... 284-322

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Chapter XI

Other Kinds of Spanish Novels. English Novels. Chinese Novels.

Further attempts at novel-writing in Spain. The Question de Amor, a society novel. Contreras' novel of travel. Hita's historical romance. The Civil Wars of Granada. Analysis of its first part. Imitated in France by Mile, de Scudery and Mme. de La Fayette. Its second part mainly a chronicle. Poverty of fiction elsewhere in the sixteenth century. Italy. France. The Germanic nations. f^Some activity in England. Lyly. Sydney's Arcadia. Lodge. Picaresco tales. Chettle. Nash's Jack Walton. How his rascal differs from the Spanish picaro. The Confucian novel of China, historical and romantic. Characteristics. The Fortunate Union. The Two Educated Girls. Their constituent elements. Their ultimate origin perhaps in the drama. ........ 323-348

A HISTORY OF THE NOVEL PREVIOUS TO THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

Chapter I. Introduction

The difficulty in gaining a hearing for a treatise on the novel is apparent at the very start. It is a branch of literature which has become the most popular in depth and breadth, including all classes of writers and readers. Consequently any endeavor to put its history on a scientific basis would excite more general criticism than could befall any other kind of composition. Drama, poetry, letters, essays have been long considered legitimate objects of research, and more recently folk-lore and fiction have received serious' attention. But the novel, or the story, or the romance, or whatever other results an analysis of the mass of fiction might give, would either be too trivial to be studied apart from one another, or too closely intertwined to render such a study profitable.

Yet at the present day the novel is fully recognized as an independent species of fiction and has finally received the name by which it is to be known. No one any longer, though a conservative lexicographer, fails to distinguish the novel from the story — possibly also from the romance, though doubts exist on this latter head. Such distinction, however, is not old. Our grandfathers had not formulated it apparently, or if they had their ancestors of the second generation surely had not. Novels they wrote, and they read what we call novels, but they used varied and uncertain terms for our precise and single one. Hence confusion in following out the species, and an unwillingness on the part of writers to discuss it by itself. For should we go back but a century in the history of literature and seek to classify the lighter reading of our forefathers, we find that the names now accepted are no longer guides, that story and romance are interchangeable terms, while the word novel rarely appears.

This statement applies more fittingly to English literature than it does to the fiction of any other people, because novels came into it later than they did elsewhere, and even then rather as imitations or exotics. The same thing is true also of Germany. But the writers of the Renaissance in southern Europe were perfectly well aware of the difference between the romances, the stories, and the novels of their age, though, as all such compositions were unworthy of the consideration of educated men, they did not bother themselves about establishing formally the boundaries between them. These were merely the pastimes of their leisure hours, and were treated as such. And yet the pedigree of even the English novel of the nineteenth century can be traced without any fear of serious mistakes back to its progenitors of the fifteenth and sixteenth. During these dozen generations or more the characteristics and outlines of this particular kind of writing have remained practically the same, and can therefore be plainly recognized at any moment of its intermediate career ; while the inherited resemblance points unmistakably back to the first of the race, the offspring of mediaeval fancy.

Since this assertion, if not new, is at least unusual, it behooves its supporter to advance a few proofs that it rests, both in theory and in practice, on a solid foundation, and that the history of literature vouches for its correctness.

To reach this state of assurance, or more properly to lead others to it, a few definitions are necessary.

In the first place the term fiction is obvious in its application. It means what is not true, what is feigned. Romances, tales, novels, are fiction. So are poetry and drama, and every kind of writing which is not the statement or elucidation of a mental or material fact. But we distinguish poetry from drama, even when the latter is in verse, and mankind has always done so. In the same way these departments of literature have always been held separate from the less aspiring kinds of fiction, and have never been confused with romances or stories. And so to-day, when we say story, we do not mean romance, any more than when we speak of romances we allude entirely to novels. Therefore there must be some difference between these words, else they would not be employed in different senses in intelligent social circles.

Consequently for one who undertakes to study the novel it is imperative to determine at the outset what a novel is, and how it differs from the other kinds of fiction. Having first satisfied himself on this essential point, he must then be able to present a reasonable exposition of his views and demonstrate their soundness. But there is always this caution to be borne in mind, there where the forces of nature are at work, either in the evolution of an organism or in the expression of thought: in the process of evolution there is always a point where the separate forms are blended — however far apart may be their general contour — and the line of demarcation cannot be traced with rigid scientific accuracy between the one and the other. French and Provencal are two distinct idioms, yet no student of the Latin dialects can say, without many reservations, where on the soil of France Provencal ceases and French begins. No more can we put our finger on the exact spot where the romance, the story, and the novel diverge.

If we leave aside for the moment the fiction of antiquity, and consider the fiction which belongs to modern times, we can trace it in a very clear and continuous line of descent back to the stories of the Middle Ages. Now, in the Middle Ages the word romance was coined as well as the term novel. The former of these two expressions was the earlier, and may boast indeed of remote lineage. It was, in a certain sense, a general term, and was used to indicate a division in literature which is not particularly flattering to our national pride. For as all the serious works of mediaeval times were written in the only respectable language of those times, in Latin, so the mass of the frivolous, popular, and national literature was expressed in the vernacular of the particular race which produced it. But the Latin races, and especially the Provencal and French, were the first to write extensively in the new tongues, and with a due acknowledgment of their linguistic inheritance from Rome, they called the ballads of the Troubadours and the epic songs of the Northern minstrels productions of the Roman tongue — of the lingua romana, to speak more learnedly. And afterward they gave to the poem itself — for prose came much later — the name of romansy a term which we have borrowed in our English romance.

Thus the first literary utterings of the modern speech were romances, and were known to their authors and hearers by that title. For some generations they continued to be in verse, so far as the manuscripts show in which they are preserved. But toward the end of the twelfth century the trade of the singers, who alone knew them, and who recited them to the people and the nobles, began to decline in dignity, while together with this passing away of a profession the art of reading became fashionable among the wealthier classes of society. In order to meet this change in taste there arose a new race of literary hacks — though it must be said in their praise that some of them were by no means ignorant of the elements of style — who turned the exploits of Charlemagne and his paladins, of Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, from poetical form into long narratives in prose. Once released from the restraints of rhyme, these story-tellers expanded and modified their traditional material according to the endowments of their own individual talents. To their prose versions of the mediaeval epics descended the name romance, as a matter of course. Under that title they were made known to the admiring peoples of western Europe, and supplanted in popular favor their plainer poetical forerunners. In this way the term romatice became fixed in general parlance, and down to the present day we speak of the " Arthurian romances " as a definite section of prose literature, while employing the epithet " metrical " to designate the stories of the cycle which remained in verse.

Still the prose romances were not novels, nor does the past history of the word novel aid us in discerning its present meaning ; for its first appearance as a designator of prose fiction was in Italy in the last quarter of the thirteenth century, when it meant what it does now in Italy, Spain, France, or Germany (fiove/a, nouvelle, novelle). In England alone has its signification been extended in these six centuries from the title of a tale or story to the name of a much longer prose narrative. But this in comparatively recent years; for though Richardson is often called the " Father of the English Novel," neither he nor Fielding ever speak of their productions under any other title than that of " Histories," while the dictionaries for several decades into the nineteenth century still defined the word according to its original meaning of tale or story. Thus all past historical aid. fails us, and we are obliged to define the subject of our study after the conceptions which exist to-day, and to distinguish the novel from its fellows of fiction by the standards which custom at present authorizes,

To return to our mediaeval romance which knew itself, and took its father's name. It was very similar 'to our views of a novel. It was in prose, was a narrative, and fictitious in subject ; though, in order to interest its readers, it laid claim to the realities of life, and offered to support its claim by documentary evidence in quantity sufficient to satisfy the most ardent naturalist of the latest school. An analysis of one of the kind, as Lancelot or The Holy Grail, reveals a series of episodes and adventures which are either ascribed to one man, and therefore form a kind of biography, or else cluster around some central idea. A narrative made up of such material may be said to have a certain degree of connectedness, and perhaps something which approaches unity of action. Yet if we look more closely into the separate deeds, and their setting, we see that they are not at all peculiar to the hero they laud for the moment, but by a mere substitution of names they can be applied to almost any knight of the Round Table. On the other hand, the loss of many of the episodes would in no way affect the action of the narrative in which they appear.

So true to fact are both of these remarks that, with the exception of Lancelot's love for Guinevere, and Tristan's for Iseult, you can find hardly a distinguishing essential characteristic in the whole range of the Breton adventures. All is indefinite, conventional, and in no way calculated to satisfy our notion of a novel. For this reason we have abandoned to them their chosen name, romance, and confess to ourselves that between them and the modern novel there is a difference which touches the quality of the work, its plan and its development.

As is well understood to-day, the Arthurian prose romances are the fountain head of the modern novel. They supplied its substance, as well as set it a model of prose composition. They did not, however, furnish it with the vital spirit, without which it would never have been created. This shaping force came from another kind of mediaeval literature, and is more directly due to the honest minstrels of France and to their powers of invention than has been generally acknowledged. For from them and their s^ongs the novel received its idea of construction and plot. The particular kind of poetry in which their talents were exercised was very much in favor during the Middle Ages, with both French and Provencal writers, and but for the one shortcoming of being in verse instead of prose it would easily satisfy all of our modern requirements for a novel. This kind flourished particularly in the last half of the twelfth century, and during the thirteenth, and received from students of mediaeval literature the name of roman d'aventure. The title reveals the content. It is almost superfluous to add that the plot of these romans, often cleverly constructed, was the mutual affection of knight and lady. Their heroes and heroines comported themselves like lovers of the present day, and set a worthy, if useless, example of fidelity to the forgetful swains of Arthur's household. The surroundings in which their themes were developed were those of both court and private life, and the glimpses which they afford of contemporary manners and sentiments add not a little to their lasting success. Of all the kinds of mediaeval romancing, the romans d'aventure remain the most attractive to readers of all epochs in history, for they are natural and describe human emotions.

From the prose stories of the Round Table, then, and from these poetical accounts in the romans d'aventure of refined life in the Middle Ages, came the first novel of modern times. The one furnished form and incidents, the other subject and inspiration. When the gifts were made, how the two styles were fused, and by whom, we have no means of knowing. For it was accomplished among the people, in that stratum of folk legends and traditions which ever underlies the more assuming growth of literary works. And it was undoubtedly a very slow process, a gradual expansion of a simple story of love in castle walls through the addition of details and the insertion of adventures chosen from the favorite chapbooks of the Middle Ages. Two centuries at least must have been consumed by the evolution ; two centuries of humble tales by the fireside, cheering the hard toil of husbandman and shepherd with the pictures of chivalry and royal splendor.

The people gladly eulogized the nobility, for it had no thought of aspiring to the noble's seat. And when the romancers of the crowd had elaborated the praises of the aristocracy to the satisfaction of their clients, authors of higher lineage and better literary training continued their works, refined the crudities of their narratives, diluted the adventures they contained, added others foreign to tradition, and adapted the whole to the taste of a more exacting public. And so the Romance of Chivalry was born into literature.

The name of this universal legatee to the popular fiction of the Middle Ages was Amadis of Gaul, and the date of its appearance as a literary product the last half of the fifteenth century. By that time the formative process was completed and the kind had been fixed. As is the fate with all beginners, the rude ancestors of this courtly knight were entirely eclipsed by his greatness. They survived only in rare allusions in the lighter poetry and chronicles of the centuries preceding. Of their career and origins, the families out of which they sprung, and the manner in which they grew, we can learn only from the faint traces which still remain of them in the purified features of their descendant. So, roughly speaking, in the printed Amadis of Gaul there is an evident amalgamation, or fusion, of the Arthurian legends with a romari oTaventure. From a series of such episodes as composed the epic prose romances, joined together at random and rarely connected intrinsically with the hero or the enterprise they professed to celebrate, the mediaeval tradition reappears in Amadis of Gaul as one story fairly well put together, consonant in its several parts, and arriving at a definite conclusion. Adventures-at-arms still occupy by far the greater amount of the space of the book, but the adventures had now some motive, some end to serve, and it is this motive which brings in the individual adventure, fashions it, decides its nature, and conducts it to some logical conclusion.

The motive, thus powerful in its action, is love. Out of love for his mistress the knight goes from her presence to win fame for her whose servant he is. And by the fame which thus redounds to her, he hopes to attract to himself her gratitude and her affection. For her sake he takes part in tournaments, fights giants, rescues maidens, befriends the oppressed, destroys the arts of magic, and captures the strongholds of the wicked. And should his lady receive his homage unwillingly, or manifest displeasure at his victories, the conquering hero dares not affront her glance. No solace has he remaining. Deeds of valor are but vanity, and the applause of all Christendom empty noise. He abandons to the admiring world his name and glory, and far away on desert shores he mortifies the flesh in melancholy gloom, until there reaches his ears the tidings of his pardon, and he may take again his sword from the willow and his armor from the altar and return to her feet, once more her invincible champion.

In other words, the presence of this motive for all the the deeds recounted, the motive which guides the entire story and crowns its end, makes a plot. And a plot makes of a prose narrative, such as the epic romances are, a novel. A?nadis of Gaul, the first epic romance which contains \ a plot, is therefore our first modern novel. It is this plot which constitutes the essential difference between the io INTRODUCTION.

romances of chivalry and their ancestors, the Arthurian romances. To their union with the Breton tales the romans d'aventure had brought the plot, as their dowry.

It is not to be supposed, however, from the emphasis with which this definition of a novel has been given, that the boundary line between the romance of the Middle Ages and the novel of the Renaissance is so distinct as to be clear at each and every point. Literature, as the expression of thought, must obey the laws which regulate all living organisms. When subject only to natural processes of development, and unobstructed by absolute, arbitrary] rules, its various kinds proceed from one another and pass away into one another. So the romance which preceded the novel developed by slow stages into the novel, and at a certain period of this evolution you cannot say whether the story under your eyes is a romance or a novel. Abstract definitions, which under certain conditions should perform for us the same office that his stakes do to a surveyor, and should have no other object than to give us our bearings, apply to completed processes alone.

Having this truism in mind, there is no occasion for surprise at the discovery that we have defined not only the word novel, but the term story as well. To be sure, it is possible that a story may also be in verse, though the present technical application of the word would seem to exclude poetical narrative. But there is, in fact, no difference in quality between the prose story and the novel. It is merely a difference in size, the novel being the larger. Other languages have differentiated between the story and the novel very much as the English has done. In the Latin countries the word for both novel and romance is still the same (roman, etc.), while the word for story has its own title (nove/a, etc.), to which English-speaking peoples have now given a wider signification. Consequently the assertion that the difference between novel and story is one of quantity seems to be borne out both by current use elsewhere and by their etymology, with this concession, that the size requisite to a novel is evidently not to be determined by the number of pages it contains. The possibilities of its plot, and the degree to which its episodes might be reasonably expanded, appear to have some weight in the decision. For instance, the first realistic novel of modern times, the Spanish Lazarillo de Tonnes, is much shorter than many of the selfconfessed stories of its own century. And yet it has held its place in the category of novels, possibly on account of its significance in the history of fiction, but also perhaps because it is so greatly condensed. Still, in general, we are quite safe in assuming that a novel is a story of a larger growth.