During the enlightenment period, writers influenced many people. They influenced people by writing about creative fiction work. The writers wrote books to expand their intelligence. These writers all contributed to this time by entertaining there readers. Several were imprisoned for their writings, and most were hampered by government censorship and attacks by the church. In the 1770s, writers broadened their field of criticism to include political and economic issues. Three authors of the famous novels in the enlightenment period were Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, and Daniel Defoe.
Samuel Richardson was born in 1689 at Derbyshire, England. He set up a printing business for himself in London. He wrote his first novel Pamela volume II in 1740, it is a series of familiar letters, and this was the aim of all his works. He also wrote Clarissa in 1748, published in seven volumes. His third book was Sir Charles Grandson written in 1753-1754. Most of his books were about lust, love, shame, family ties, and obligation. His point for writing these books were to teach the hardships of life in society. Samuel Richardson was a much appreciated printer and writer and is therefore an enlightened individual ("Richardson Samuel" 462).
Henry Fielding was a play writer and was born at Sharpham Park, England. He studied at Leyden, and began to write theater comedies. He became author and manager of the Little Theatre in the Haymarket in 1736. The success of his writings led to the Licensing Act in 1737, because he was mocking certain people, which closed his theatre. He started searching for a different career, and started drinking in 1740. As an enlightened person, his interests were in journalism and fiction books. When Richardson's wrote Pamela in 1740, he wrote Joseph Andrews, in 1742. A number of contributive works followed, particularly The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling in 1749, which gave him a reputation as a creator of the English novel.
