Key points for discussion
What are the key tendencies in literature that emerged in the Age of Reason? How do the literary texts produced in this period differ from the earlier periods?
How did the Age of Reason influence the birth of the novel?
In what ways could the social and historical factors be related to the emergence of the novel?
What are the ideas put forward by Ian Watt in his Rise of the Novel regarding the novel as the product of the industrial period?