Timothy Assel

The Role of the Novel in Individualism and Modernity

The novel has developed into the defining genre of modernity by combining narrative elements of traditional story-telling and poetry, which can be found in all primitive societies, with elements of dialogue, which are more common to cultured societies in forms such as plays and rhetoric. The novel contains the artistic expressions from oral and theatrical traditions in a leisurely individualistic activity. Reading a novel is individualistic because it is a self-contained form of entertainment, which requires not story-teller or actor. This is a necessary element of modernity, as individualism is one of the fundamental precepts of modern thought. 

Watt’s essay¹ describes how colonial literature depicts the colonizers sense of individualism. Crusoe sets out on his quest because he is restless and cannot find contentment in a life of middle class society; he feels he must find his success as an individual. Leaving the comfort and safety of his home in England, Crusoe seeks adventure and heroism. Crusoe’s ambitious pursuit of individualism propels him into a life of solitude and self-evaluation. Self-evaluation and self-reflection are Protestant ideals Watt claimed was a historical cause for the rise of individualism and modernism.¹

Another historical cause Watt claimed to be a historical cause for the rise of individualism and modernism was industrial capitalism. Crusoe illustrates capitalist ideals as he abandons home, comfort, and family and is not satisfied with pleasure or sex but only with adventure, industry, and the accumulation of wealth. Crusoe pursues money methodically and keeps records of profit and loss, which is a “distinctive technical feature of modern capitalism.”¹

The novel also played an important role in modernizing post-colonial society. As former colonies began to realize independence and self-reliance, post-colonial authors, such as Jamaica Kincaid, sought individualism in opposition to their former occupiers and began to reflect on the individual histories of their ancestors. Individualism and self-reflection are elements of modernity which can be found in Kincaid’s novel, Lucy. Just as Defoe’s novel represented the age of modernity in a colonial world, Kincaid’s novel represents the modernity of former colonies in a post-colonial world.