Creating An Imaginary Castle

The English romantic novel has been an embarrassing subject. The criticismconcept that has been familiar to the most is that: British romanticism was a poetryrevolution which led by Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats. As thesecondary focus of romantic literature research, romantic novel hasn't been paid muchattention by academics. Aiming to review the thoughts and aesthetic value of Britishromantic novel, develop more paths of the criticism and review its suitable positionacross literature history, this paper is based on the research results of M.H.Abram,Rene Wellek, Northrop Fry, Irving Babbitt, Harold Bloom, Robert Kiely, Gary Kelly,Marilyn Butler, Ian Watt, Wayne Booth, etcRomantic novel, this paper believes, is the same as romantic poem and drama,which are all part of the romantic literature. Between 1789 and 1830, they share thesame literature concept, beliefs in imagination, view of nature, and opinions onconsciousness issue. Meanwhile, the discussion of romantic novels couldn't beseparated from writer analysis, since the creative attitude of the writer himself/herselfis closely related to his/her literature. Consequently, this essay researched into boththe content of four English romantic novels and the authors. Total seven partsincludes introduction, conclusions, and five chapters.The introduction part starts with the analysis of "English Romantic novel"meaning and scope, followed by research status from home and abroad, with theirbasic research methodologies and key findings.The 1stchapter is regarding the background and major character of romanticnovel. During the romantic period, a noticeable phenomenon is that, rather than poetry,fiction was the most published and influential literature format. The prosperity ofnovel and rise of professional writer was a pair of symbiotic phenomenon, which is also related to concepts as romantic"talent", inventive imagination. Romanticnovelists are seriously about writing matters; they concern about the "creativeness"issue itself, and also praise to shape the imagination world beyond reality. Therefore,the core feature of romantic literature is the pursuit of inventive imagination and, italso has been the goal of romantic novelists strived to achieve.The 2nd chapter on The Mysteries of Udolpho. Ann Ward Radcliffe regards thenovel writing as a career; an adventure to the spiritual world; a discovery journey andshaping progress towards woman herself; and a child she deeply loved. Ann Radcliffemight be the first to empower the natural world with lofty sense in novel , theaesthetic value of their combination is reflected via her narrative style works. Due tothe concerns about inner spiritual world, the author built an imaginary castle, in whichlet her protagonist completed the writer's own spiritual adventure.The 3rd chapter on The Monk. Away from UK, in a church in Madrid Spain,Matthew Lewis was trying to express the diversity of humanity and life via his"dramatic" trial on novel writing.The novel also demonstrates the washback towards the traditional Christianmorality, which is not only about the recognition of multiple self, but also amanifestation of structural changes on literary metaphor.The 4th chapter on Northanger Abbey. Majority of the literature history regardJane Austen as a novelist with realistic tendency, whereas this paper believes theopposite. Her resistance to the society of "fame & fortune" and pursuit towards thepure emotions were reflected through the emotional "utopia" ideal marriage model ,which created in Northanger Abbey.The 5th Chapter on Frankenstein. Creativeness is the main focus of MaryShelley, and her anxiety about which is from writing itself and female fertility. Ascientist dedicated to creativeness is witnessed in the novel. Her consistent reinforceon creativeness, perseverance and explore to the wonderland are the reasons forFrankenstein becoming a novel with the most romantic features. The conclusion section summarized the understanding of romantic thoughts fromdifferent perspective and quotations for the romantic novels, which are components ofBritish romantic literature. Meanwhile, this essay broke the conventional theme ofmodern novel to mainly focus on realistic life topic; trying to explore the inner worldof human being, then to buildup a wonderland that full of fantasies.