The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy

Following the years of revolution, the eighteenth century was relatively stable and peaceful age. General improvement of life and urbanisation led to increase in the amount of spare time and money. The commercialisation of the leisure also made recreational activity more affordable, especially for the new middle class constituted by professionals. Their new vulnerable status in the society led them to seek their own culture, such as participation to society activities and enrolment to the subscription

Bildungsroman From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search In literary criticism, a Bildungsroman (German pronunciation: [ˈbɪldʊŋs.ʁoˌmaːn]; German: "novel of formation, education, culture"),[a] novel of formation, novel of education,[2] or coming-of-age story (though it may also be known as a subset of the coming-of-age story) is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood (coming of age),[3] in which

Fielding himself called the novel. Fielding also worked out the theory of the novel. In the introductory chapters to the eighteen parts of The History of Tom Jones he put forward the main requirements that the novel should meet: to imitate life, to show the variety of human nature, to expose the roots and causes of man's shortcomings and to indicate the ways of overcoming them. 3. Late Enlightenment (Sentimentalism) (1750-1780). The writers of this period, like the Enlighteners