Retracing the Novel: Amatory Fiction and the Novel's Rise

Arguing against. Ian Watt's The Rise of the Novel and other academically accepted accounts of the history of the novel, this thesis positions amatory fiction at the forefront of novel's traditional genealogy by comparing amatory fiction with the Gothic novel in order to link the two genres outside of realistic fiction such as Pamela. Using Love in Excess by Eliza Haywood and The Monk by Matthew Lewis as representative examples of amatory fiction and Gothicism, respectively, this thesis ultimately establishes a connection between the three genres. It examines the similarities in amatory fiction and Gothicism through their use of similar plot conventions, their use of narrative pace, their use of point of view as a means of psychological exploration, and their reliance on their reader's voyeuristic desires and the voyeuristic principles of reading. Following these connections, this thesis argues for a relationship between amatory fiction and realism based on realism's explicit use or co-optation of the techniques in amatory fiction.