Ian Watt

The Rise of the Novel is Ian Watt's classic description of the interworkings of social conditions, changing attitudes, and literary practices during the period when the novel emerged as the dominant literary form of the individualist era.In a new foreword, W. B. Carnochan accounts for the increasing interest in the English novel, including the contributions that Ian Watt's study made to literary studies: his introduction of sociology and philosophy to traditional criticism.

En sus versiones originales, Fausto, Don Quijote y Don Juan reflejan el anti-individualismo de su tiempo. Fausto y Don Juan son castigados con el infierno y Don Quijote es objeto de mofa. Un siglo despues, el Robinson Crusoe de Defoe nos ofrece una consideracion mas favorable del individualismo. Ian Watt examina estos cuatro mitos del mundo moderno, creados entre los siglos XVI y XVIII, como productos distintos de una misma sociedad.