History of Novel

• History of Novel

The 18th century has gifted two new forms to English literature.

The novel caught the spirit of 18th century as it was the age of intellectual, sentimental and realistic plane. Today, it is recognized as the most dominant literary genre.

A novel is a long narrative fiction which describes human experience in a prose form. English word ‘Novel’ is derived from the Italian ‘novella’ which means new. A novel narrates a story describing it with more details of time, place, nature, people and their minds, their gestures and activities. Novel makes life easier to understand than in drama and poetry.

The novel has a history of about two thousand years. Among the early precursors of novel may top the list . Though novel in the modern era makes use of a literary prose, the earlier threads of the genre can be found in virgil’s

Ecologues or Malory’s Morte De Arthur or

Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘The Canterbury Tales.’

Murasaki Shikibu’s ‘Tale of Genji’ has been the world’s first novel. The European novel is often said to begin with ‘Don Quixote’ by Spanish

writer Miguel de Cervantes.

*In the 18th century, the appearance of news paper and magazines attracted a large number of readers from the middle class. They had less interest in romances and tragedies which were admired by the upper class.

*The 18th century new literature was characterized by the spirit of realism and denial of romantic features like enthusiasm, passion and imagination. Thus an ideal foreground was prepared by all these factors.

• Novel originated as a literary form in England after 1740.

• Increase in trade and commerce along with the Industrial Revolution had given rise to the middle class.

*The realistic picture of everyday life and problems of common people depicted in the novels appealed to the newly educated class and was regarded by them as respectable reading material.

*Thus novel as a form was designed for both to voice the aspirations of middle class and lower classes and meet their longings.

*The spread of machines could provide a time to the educated middle class for reading and discussion about books.

*The novel started encompassing the social, political and cultural happenings and scientific progress.

i)Daniel Defoe:- Robinson Crusoe, Mall Flanders

ii)Jonathan Swift:- Gulliver’s Travels(a satire)

iii)Samuel Richardson:-Pamela, Clarissa (Epistolary)

This tradition was enriched by many stalwart(strong) novelists, like Charles Dickens, Walter Scott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Horace Walpole, Thomas Hardy, H.G. Wells.

20th century novelists like E. M. Foster, James Joyce, George Orwell, D.H.Lawerence, William Golding, Anthony Burgess etc. widened the circumference of the genre by writing political, social, psychological novels.

Immigrant Novelists(from other countries) :-

1. Salman Rushdie (India),

2. V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad) ,

3. Kazuo Ishigura (Japan)

Contribution of Women novelists:-

1. The novel of manners ’Evelina’ by Frances Burney,

2. Gothic novels by Ann Radcliffe,

3. A science based novel ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley are the landmark novels.

4. Others are Jane Austen, Bronte Sisters - Emily and Charlotte wrote

‘The Wuthering Heights’ and ‘Jane Eyre’

5. Mary Ann Evans(George Eliot) wrote Psychological novels.

6. Virginia Woolf is the pioneer of the Stream of Consciousness technique in English novel.

7. Agatha Christie wrote novels based on crime.- Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple are the detectives created by her.

Other women novelists are Harper Lee, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker.

The first novel in English literature written is Rajmohan’s Wife written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhayaya.

Later it was serialized in the Indian field.

*After that Mulkraj Anand, R. K. Narayan, Raja Rao were the major trio wrote novels based on nationalistic virtues or social issues.

*The following novelists changed the current of Indian English novel through their work…..

Anita Desai, Nayantara Sahgal, Arun Joshi and Manohar Malgaonkar

*Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Seth and Upamanyu Chatterjee ameliorated (improve) the Indian novel in English by adding new features to it.

*In recent years the dazzling performance by Salman Rshdie, Arvind Adiga, Arundhati Royt, Kiran Desai and Kiran Nagarkar.

The word novella originated from the Italian word

‘Novelle.’ It is a type of prose fiction and it is shorter

than full length novel and longer than short stories. It is

a well-structured by short narrative, it is satiristic or

realistic in tone. It usually focuses one incident with

one or two main characters. Some novellas are-----

1)The Heart of Darkness :-Joseph Conrad

2)The Turn of the Screw

3)Death in Venice

:- Henry James

:- Thomas Mann

4)Seize the Day

:- Saul Bellow

5)Pearl

:-John Steinbeck

There are six elements of novel.

1. Theme:- Theme is the central idea in the novel. It can be expressed in a nutshell(summary). It is a philosophical statement or truth which the writer has put forth through narration of the series of events in the story and characters acting in a particular setting.

2. Plot:-Plot is the story or the course of events that make up the theme. It is created by the conflict which is internal or external. Plot may be simple(one plot) or complex(many subplots)

3. Character:- Characterization is related to the plot because of the certain behaviour of the characters. Depiction of character can range from a thumbnail sketch to deep wordy, highly detailed verbal sketch. The important character may have been described in its every aspect and minor characters are not given much more importance. The main character is referred as ‘Protagonist.’

Protagonist is in conflict with a character or a force(internal or external) which is known as antagonist.

4. Setting:-Setting is the background in which the story takes place. Setting includes place, period, time, climate/weather and lifestyle. Plot and character are affected by setting.

5. Conflict:-The struggle between the opposite forces in the story is called conflict. It provides interest and curiosity about the plot.

6. Language/Style:-The language and the techniques used by the author for the narration of the course of events is known as style. An author can use extensive vocabulary and high phrases or he would write only to the point or he may mix both according to the requirement. He may use linguistic devices to make the narrative effective.

1)Re.alistic Novel:- It is a fiction that gives the effect of realism. It is also called a novel of Manner. It can be characterized by complex characters with mixed motives. The characters interact with other characters.

2)Picaresque Novel:-The word picaresque is originated from the Spanish word ‘Picaro’ which means rogue. Such novel narrate the adventures of the protagonist, who is a disreputable person in a episodic form.

3)Historical Novel:- Such novel is set in a period earlier than that of the writing.

4. Epistolary Novel:- The epistolary derives from the Latin word ‘Epistola’ which means letter. The writer presents the narrative through a series of correspondence or other documents. Letters are the most common basis for epistolary novel but diary entries are also popular forms.

5. Gothic Novel:-The novels that include terror, mystery, horror, thriller, supernatural, doom, death or haunted buildings are called Gothic novels.

6)Autobiographical Novel:- Such novel is based on the life of the author. Sometimes. The author changes the places and names of characters or even may change certain details of his life. It is written in the first person narration.

7)Allegorical Novel: - An allegory is a story that bears more than one level of meaning. The surface meaning of such novel is different from the symbolic meaning of it. The symbolic meaning may be political, religious, historical or philosophical.

8)Utopian/Dystopian Novel:-Utopia is an imaginary

community or society possessing the ideal qualities. It is a common theme in science fiction or speculative fiction.

9. Stream of Consciousness Novel:- The phrase ‘Stream of Consciousness’ is coined by William James in his treatise ’Principles of Psychology.’ It means the flow of thoughts. The novelist narrates the incidents as they enter in the mind of character.

10)Bildungsroman Novel:- The German word

‘bildungsroman’ indicates growth. The fictional biography or autobiography is concerned with the growth of the

protagonist’s mind spirit and characters from his childhood to adulthood.

In the first half of 20th century a cult of ‘Pulp Magazines’ became popular. In it, general entertainment of the masses was printed. The pulp0 fiction era provide a building ground for the detective novels and science fiction.

Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction dealing with imaginative concepts such as futuristic setting , futuristic science, futuristic technology, space travel, time travel, parallel universes and extraterrestrial life.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is considered the first novel based on science and technology.

Science fiction flourished in the second half of 19th century.

Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction. In it, an investigator or a detective either professional or amateur investigates a crime specially murder.