Z wybranych teorii powieści pierwszych dekad romantyzmu .......... 169

ON SELECTED THEORIES OF THE NOVEL IN THE FIRST DECADES OF ROMANTICISM

In the following article, we present an attempt to reflect theoretically on the novel genre, which was created during the reign of the new aesthetics, known as expressive aesthetics, typical for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and later. The novel is a form created among the circle of English romanticists and we focus our analysis mostly on that circle. Despite narrowing of the subject of our research (it is an area far beyond the possibility of closure within one brief article) we try to present to the reader the genealogy of the novel genre, its differences with previous genres such as the novella, tale, philosophical treatise, as well as poetry. We also present a thorough analysis of the means of expression of the authors of the first half of the XIX century, artistic and aesthetic values as well as aesthetic experience. Selected theories of the novel will lead the readers to further reflection and independent research.