There are many candidates for the first English novel starting from Le Morte d’Arthur from 15th century to Gulliver’s Travels from the 18th century, however, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is widely accepted as the first English novel and thusly, in- 18th century occurred the rise of the novel in English. Among these candidates appears a common theme of travel and this theme has been kept using for a long while later than the first novels. Actually, travel accounts and writings were already common in other genres so it is not a surprise that it was applied to this newly emerging genre. There are countless reasons behind its usage back then such as the advancements in science which led to the geographical discoveries and the discovery of the New World along with the renaissance movement throughout Europe which not only led scientific and literary innovations but also led politic and philosophic breakthroughs, through which people relocated heavens on earth and started to value themselves as individu- als who are able to think for themselves. All those changes led the common theme of travel writing because people constantly wanted to discover more and go beyond what has already been gone. Their enthusiasm led countless voyages towards the unknown and they always kept track on what they saw in the forms of travel reports. The first novels heavily relied on travel writing and even the first valid English novel “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe was completely about a travel theme where the English colo- nialism was satirized and where the believability of the novel, which was back then an expected feature of a novel, could easily be implemented on the travel theme.
The early novels featured such a lengthy titles in their cover page explaining what the book is about, giving some interesting information to attract the reader’s at- tention to this new genre, and to convince the reader the events in the book are real. As an example, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe was published with this title “The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: who lived eight and twenty years, all alone in an un-inhabited island on the coast of America, near the mouth of the great river of Oroonoque; having been cast on shore by shipwreck, where-on all the men perished but himself. With an account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by pyrates. Written by himself.”
Another contributing factor for the use of travel theme in early English novel is the Levant Company. It was a company doing trades between Mediterranean and Britain. For example, in J. Theodore Bent’s “Early Voyages and Travels in the Levant.”, there are many clues as to why travel theme became such a prevalent theme in the ear- ly English novel. There were heavy trades between Levant and British Isles and these trades were mostly carried on through sea. These voyages always included a captain’s report which later started to be counted as travelogues. “The Diary of Master Thomas Dallam” is written in a vernacular and incorrect English that shows travel theme was prevalent even among commoners. So, it was was to produce travel writings for the sake of the audience who were already wondering beyond their borders.
“As far back as the ninth and tenth centuries of our era, the emperors of the East granted to the Warings or Varangians from Scandinavia capitulations or rights of exterri- toriality, which gave them permission to own wharves, carry on trade, and govern themselves in the Eastern capital: these rights established numerous “imperia in impe- rio” during the succeeding centuries in Constantinople.”(Bent, 13)
The quote says there were numerous “states within states” and from a sociocul- tural respect, people were exposed to different cultures and states which made them wonder what it is like to be in the other parts of the world, through trade, vacations, ex- peditions or war. For trade, they went on numerous voyages, for vacations, they packed up and went to see what there was beyond their borders through “Grand Tours”. Thus, people started to talk about the happenings of those who had the change to go on a voyage. The story of “Robinson Crusoe” was greatly affected by a real life event of a shipwrecked man.
Conclusively, early English novel heavily relied on travel theme because that was what people were interested back then, both the authors and the readers. The geo- graphical discoveries, crusades, and pilgrimages all contributed to this interest. Before the arise of the novel, the theme was already common in other genres as well. Chaucer’s frame story “Canterbury Tales” is a story of pilgrim travel. The newly- emerged genre of Novel easily adapted this already accepted and proven theme as re- alistic as possible. Verisimilitude was also an important factor for early novels because it made the reader believe the story was real. For travel theme cannot easily be questioned as for its authenticity, it was perfect for novels. So, almost all of the early English novels implemented the theme as a core basis into themselves, that again shows how heavily the early English novel was dependent on travel writing and travel theme.
References
Adams, Percy G. Travel Literature and the Evolution of the Novel. University Press of Kentucky, 2014.
Bent, J. Theodore, et al. Early Voyages and Travels in the Levant. Ashgate, 2010.
Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. Oxford World’s Classics ed., Oxford University Press,
Epstein, Mortimer. The early history of the Levant Company. Routledge, 2015. Korte, Barbara. “Western Travel Writing, 1750–1950.” The Routledge Companion to
Travel Writing. Routledge, 2015. 193-204.