Literary Genres: Novel

1.

Literary Genres: Novel

2.

Definition of the novel
from Italian novella = “tale, piece of news”; term
applied to a variety of writings whose only
common attribute is that they are extended
pieces of prose fiction.
typical criteria of novel:
• artistic merit
• fictionality
• representation of the epic totality of life
• focus on an individual within historical context

3.

Fictionality and novel
stems from the tradition of historical narrative
Novels present counterfactual characters and
episodes, but possibly on historical background.
roman à clef
“roman”
X nouvelle historique
X “novel”
→

4.

“roman” – le conte roman = a tale composed in
vernacular, as opposed to Latin
“novel” – a new genre, defined as opposite to
heroic epic
→

5.

Novel versus heroic epic
changes in the categories of:
• time
• setting
• characters
realism and the novel form
studies in human memory, causality

6.

Media context of the novel
spread of literacy
silent reading
paper and print
new readership –
new intimacy

7.

Early antecedents
Murasaki Shikibu: Tales of Genji
Francois Rabelais: Gargantua et
Pantagruel
Marie de Lafayette: La Princesse de
Clèves

8.

The first modern novels
Miguel de Cervantes: Don Quijote
Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe

9.

novel and national literature

10.

Novel and experiment in form