Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe (/dɪˈfoʊ/; born Daniel Foe; c. 1660 – 24 April 1731)[1] was an English writer, trader,
journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719,
which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translations.[2] He has been seen as one
of the earliest proponents of the English novel, and helped to popularise the form in Britain with others
such as Aphra Behn and Samuel Richardson.[3] Defoe wrote many political tracts, was often in trouble
with the authorities, and spent a period in prison. Intellectuals and political leaders paid attention to his
fresh ideas and sometimes consulted him.
Defoe was a prolific and versatile writer, producing more than three hundred works[4]—books,
pamphlets, and journals — on diverse topics, including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology,
and the supernatural. He was also a pioneer of business journalism[5] and economic journalism.[6]

Samuel Richardson (baptised 19 August 1689 – 4 July 1761[1]) was an English writer and printer known
for three epistolary novels: Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded (1740), Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady
(1748) and The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753). He printed almost 500 works, including journals
and magazines, working periodically with the London bookseller Andrew Millar.[2] Richardson had been
apprenticed to a printer, whose daughter he eventually married. He lost her along with five sons, but
remarried and had four daughters, who reached adulthood, but no male heirs to continue the print
shop. As it ran down, he wrote his first novel at the age of 51 and joined the admired writers of his day.
Leading acquaintances included Samuel Johnson and Sarah Fielding, the physician and Behmenist
George Cheyne, and the theologian and writer William Law, whose books he printed.[3] At Law's
request, Richardson printed some poems by John Byrom.[4] In literature he rivalled Henry Fielding; the
two responded to each other's literary styles

Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English novelist, irony writer, and dramatist
known for earthy humour and satire.[1] His comic novel Tom Jones is still widely appreciated. He and
Samuel Richardson are seen as founders of the traditional English novel. He also holds a place in the
history of law enforcement, having used his authority as a magistrate to found the Bow Street Runners,
London's first intermittently funded, full-time police force.

Jane Austen
Jane Austen (/ˈɒstɪn, ˈɔːs-/; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily
for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the
end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the
pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works critique the novels of sensibility
of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism.[2]
[b] Her use of biting irony, along with her realism and social commentary, have earned her acclaim
among critics and scholars.
With the publication of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814),
and Emma (1816), she achieved modest success but only little fame in her lifetime since the books were
published anonymously. She wrote two other novels—Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both
published posthumously in 1818—and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its
completion. She also left behind three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, the short epistolary
novel Lady Susan, and the unfinished novel The Watsons.

William Makepeace Thackeray

William Makepeace Thackeray (/ˈθækəri/; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was a British novelist,
author and illustrator. He is known for his satirical works, particularly his 1848 novel Vanity Fair, a
panoramic portrait of British society, and the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon, which was adapted
for a 1975 film by Stanley Kubrick.
Charlotte Bronte
Charlotte Brontë (/ˈʃɑːrlət ˈbrɒnti/, commonly /-teɪ/;[1] 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English
novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels
became classics of English literature.

She enlisted in school at Roe Head in January 1831, aged 14 years. She left the year after to teach her
sisters, Emily and Anne, at home, returning in 1835 as a governess. In 1839, she undertook the role of
governess for the Sidgwick family, but left after a few months to return to Haworth, where the sisters
opened a school but failed to attract pupils. Instead, they turned to writing and they each first published
in 1846 under the pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Although her first novel, The Professor,
was rejected by publishers, her second novel, Jane Eyre, was published in 1847. The sisters admitted to
their Bell pseudonyms in 1848, and by the following year were celebrated in London literary circles.

Charlotte Brontë was the last to die of all her siblings. She became pregnant shortly after her marriage in
June 1854 but died on 31 March 1855, almost certainly from hyperemesis gravidarum, a complication of
pregnancy which causes excessive nausea and vomiting.[a]

Emily Bronte
Emily Jane Brontë (/ˈbrɒnti/, commonly /-teɪ/;[2] 30 July 1818 – 19 December 1848)[3] was an English
novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of
English literature. She also published a book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte and Anne titled Poems
by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell with her own poems finding regard as poetic genius. Emily was the
second-youngest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother
Branwell. She published under the pen name Ellis Bell.

Anne Bronte
Anne Brontë (/ˈbrɒnti/, commonly /-teɪ/;[1] 17 January 1820 – 28 May 1849) was an English novelist and
poet, and the youngest member of the Brontë literary family.
Anne Brontë was the daughter of Maria (born Branwell) and Patrick Brontë, a poor Irish clergyman in
the Church of England. Anne lived most of her life with her family at the parish of Haworth on the
Yorkshire moors. Otherwise, she attended a boarding school in Mirfield between 1836 and 1837, and
between 1839 and 1845 lived elsewhere working as a governess. In 1846 she published a book of poems
with her sisters and later two novels, initially under the pen name Acton Bell. Her first novel, Agnes
Grey, was published in 1847 with Wuthering Heights. Her second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, was
published in 1848. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is thought to be one of the first feminist novels.[2]
Anne died at 29, probably of pulmonary tuberculosis. After Anne's death, her sister Charlotte edited
Agnes Grey to fix issues with its first edition, but prevented republication of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
This is one reason why Anne is not as well known as her sisters. Nonetheless, both of Anne's novels are
considered classics of English literature.

Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (/ˈdɪkɪnz/; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social
critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the
greatest novelist of the Victorian era.[1] His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime
and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and
short stories are widely read today.[2][3]
Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school at the age of 12 to work in a boot-blacking factory when his
father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. After three years he returned to school, before he began
his literary career as a journalist. Dickens edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five
novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed readings
extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, for
education, and for other social reforms.
Dickens's literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers, a publishing
phenomenon—thanks largely to the introduction of the character Sam Weller in the fourth episode—
that sparked Pickwick merchandise and spin-offs. Within a few years Dickens had become an
international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire and keen observation of character and
society. His novels, most of them published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the serial
publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication.[4][5]
Cliffhanger endings in his serial publications kept readers in suspense.[6] The instalment format allowed
Dickens to evaluate his audience's reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development
based on such feedback.[5] For example, when his wife's chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss
Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her own disabilities, Dickens improved the character
with positive features.[7] His plots were carefully constructed and he often wove elements from topical
events into his narratives.[8] Masses of the illiterate poor would individually pay a halfpenny to have
each new monthly episode read to them, opening up and inspiring a new class of readers.[9]
His 1843 novella A Christmas Carol remains especially popular and continues to inspire adaptations in
every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted and, like many of
his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities (set in London
and Paris) is his best-known work of historical fiction. The most famous celebrity of his era, he
undertook, in response to public demand, a series of public reading tours in the later part of his career.
[10] The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings,
such as poor social or working conditions, or comically repulsive characters.[11][12]

Elizabeth Gaskell
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (née Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to
as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed
portrait of the lives of many strata of Victorian society, including the very poor. Her work is of interest to
social historians as well as readers of literature. Her first novel, Mary Barton, was published in 1848.
Gaskell's The Life of Charlotte Brontë, published in 1857, was the first biography of Charlotte Brontë. In
this biography, she wrote only of the moral, sophisticated things in Brontë's life; the rest she omitted,
deciding certain, more salacious aspects were better kept hidden. Among Gaskell's best known novels
are Cranford (1851–53), North and South (1854–55), and Wives and Daughters (1865), each having been
adapted for television by the BBC.

George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian[1]),
known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the
leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrote seven novels: Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss
(1860), Silas Marner (1861), Romola (1862–63), Felix Holt, the Radical (1866), Middlemarch (1871–72)
and Daniel Deronda (1876). Like Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy, she emerged from provincial
England; most of her works are set there. Her works are known for their realism, psychological insight,
sense of place and detailed depiction of the countryside.
Middlemarch was described by the novelist Virginia Woolf as "one of the few English novels written for
grown-up people"[2] and by Martin Amis[3] and Julian Barnes[4] as the greatest novel in the English
language.

George Meredith
George Meredith OM (12 February 1828 – 18 May 1909) was an English novelist and poet of the
Victorian era. At first his focus was poetry, influenced by John Keats among others, but he gradually
established a reputation as a novelist. The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) briefly scandalized Victorian
literary circles. Of his later novels, the most enduring is The Egoist (1879), though in his lifetime his
greatest success was Diana of the Crossways (1885). His novels were innovative in their attention to
characters' psychology, and also took a close interest in social change. His style, in both poetry and
prose, was noted for its syntactic complexity; Oscar Wilde likened it to "chaos illumined by brilliant
flashes of lightning".[1] He was an encourager of other novelists, as well as an influence on them; among
those to benefit were Robert Louis Stevenson and George Gissing. He was nominated for the Nobel
Prize in Literature seven times.[2]

Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist
in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism,
including the poetry of William Wordsworth.[1] He was highly critical of much in Victorian society,
especially on the declining status of rural people in Britain, such as those from his native South West
England.

While Hardy wrote poetry throughout his life and regarded himself primarily as a poet, his first
collection was not published until 1898. Initially, he gained fame as the author of novels such as Far
from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), and
Jude the Obscure (1895). During his lifetime, Hardy's poetry was acclaimed by younger poets
(particularly the Georgians) who viewed him as a mentor. After his death his poems were lauded by Ezra
Pound, W. H. Auden and Philip Larkin.[2]
Many of his novels concern tragic characters struggling against their passions and social circumstances,
and they are often set in the semi-fictional region of Wessex; initially based on the medieval Anglo-
Saxon kingdom, Hardy's Wessex eventually came to include the counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset,
Devon, Hampshire and much of Berkshire, in southwest and south central England. Two of his novels,
Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd, were listed in the top 50 on the BBC's survey
The Big Read.[3]