1720–1800

The Enlightenment

Reason, satire, and the individual take center stage. The novel becomes an instrument for testing society: picaresque journeys, epistolary confessions, and philosophical tales.

Reading path

The Enlightenment

The novel puts society on trial, and then, right at the end, catches a feeling it can't cross-examine.

7 steps

Movements of this era

The Enlightenment Novel

Swift, Fielding, Voltaire: reason tests society through satire, journey, and epistolary confession.

Authors of this era

1667–1745Jonathan SwiftIreland 1689–1761Samuel RichardsonEngland 1694–1778VoltaireFrance 1697–1763Abbé PrévostFrance 1707–1754Henry FieldingEngland 1713–1784Denis DiderotFrance 1741–1803Pierre Choderlos de LaclosFrance