Thematic Criticism of the Rise of the Novel (I): Family, Law, Sex, and Society

This chapter and the following discuss criticism of the rise of the novel since the mid-1990s. This work is predominantly historicist, and I have labelled it thematic, because typically a historical topic is analysed in relation to the novel. Some studies make more of an issue of generic development than others, and these will be accorded more space. Thematic contextual criticism often operates with a selective smattering of texts, which can appear arbitrary and on whose supposedly representative status large generalizations about the novel’s development and eighteenth-century culture are sometimes based. The guiding assumption of much of this criticism is that literature is both an agent and a reflection of social change, participating in extra-literary discursive formations. In this chapter, I will cover work on the emergent novel in relation to family, law, sex, and society.