Introduction to the Novel

UNIT 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE

NOVEL
Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Defining a Novel
1.3 Origins and Rise of the Novel
1.4 Types of the Novel
1.5 Literary Trends in 18th & 19th Century England
1.5.1 Prominent Novelists of the Age
1.5.2 Other Prominent Novelists of the Age
1.5.3 Literary Trends in 19th Century England
1.5.4 Prominent Novelists of the Age
1.6 Literary Trends in the 20th & 21st Centuries
1.6.1 The 1990s
1.6.2 The 21st Century
1.6.3 The Man Booker Prize in the 21st Century
1.7 Let Us Sum Up
1.8 Glossary
1.9 Hints to Check Your Progress

1.0 OBJECTIVES
The objective of this unit is to define a novel. We will also trace its origins and
look at its development through the last three centuries very briefly. Once you
finish going through this unit you should be in a position to define a novel, to
trace its origin, and development and to be able to distinguish the different types
of novels.

1.1 INTRODUCTION
The literary term ‘novel’ may be applicable to a great variety of prose writing
particularly in this day and age. The ‘novel’ as a genre is not easy to define, due
to its being an extremely open and flexible form. Not only this, the ‘novel’ also
evades definition just as other literary terms do. However, since we are going to
be talking about the novel and studying various types of novels in this course,
we would still need to define a novel.

The novel is largely a creation of the west though there have been critics who
have tried to locate it in the ancient writings of Egypt and the writings from the
middle ages in Japan. The truth however, is that the novel as we know it today
emerged in the 18th century in England. Let us now try and work at defining a
novel in the next section.

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The Novel: An Introduction
1.2 DEFINING A NOVEL
Edward Morgan Foster (1879 - 1970) in his critical work Aspects of the Novel
published in 1928 states that a novel should have a minimum length of about
50,000 words. Anything in prose that is shorter than 50,000 words would be a
novella or a short novel. A novel would therefore, need to be longer than a long
short story. We may also say that a novel should be longer than a folktale, a
fable, or a short story. This definition that we have worked out however, is
merely a comprehensive definition of the term ‘novel’ and would not be applicable
to each and every type of novel.

A novel has a story to tell but all stories do not usually develop into novels. The
origins of the novel may be traced to the ancient epic and the medieval romance
traditions.
Check Your Progress 1
Write in your own words, briefly, after reading the preceding section carefully.
Try not to refer to the earlier sections while writing these answers.

1) Why is it difficult to define a novel? Give three reasons.

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2) Having said that it is difficult to define a novel can you, still provide a
working definition of the term ‘novel’?
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3) Is your working definition of the novel applicable to each and every type of
novel? If not, then why do we still need such a definition?
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 Introduction to the Novel
1.3 ORIGINS AND RISE OF THE NOVEL
Of the two ancestors of the novel - the epic is the order form. An epic is a long
narrative poem about the deeds of brave warriors and heroes who are ‘larger
than life’. The epic poem has a heroic story to narrate and incorporates within it
the myth, the legend, folk tales as well as history. Epic poems deal with the
history of a country/a clan. In the western tradition there are two types of epics -
a) Primary
b) Secondary/Literary
Primary epics by and large belong to the oral tradition whereas secondary or
literary epics belong to the written form of literature. Homer’s Iliad and the
Odyssey, Beowulf and Gilgamesh are important examples of the primary epic,
while Virgil’s Aeneid and Milton’s Paradise Lost are fine illustrations of the
literary epic. In India we have the Ramayana and the Mahabharata as well as
Kalidasa’s Abhijnana Shakuntala and Meghdootam, which are counted among
the classics of world literatures. The epic tradition has come down to us in a very
unique manner. For instance, in the last hundred years or so, cinema has been the
favoured media for narratives on an epic scale. Novels such as, Herman
Melville’s Moby Dick (1851), Tolystoy’s War and Peace (1865 - 72), Anna
Karenina (1875 - 76) and James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake (1939) have all been
made into films.

Now, let us look at the second source of the modern novel - the romance. The
romance was a literary form that was popular in medieval times. In the 13th
Century a romance was an adventure story usually of love or chivalry, and it was
written in verse. It must be remembered that the romance is primarily a European
form, and about characters that live in a courtly world. The word romance itself
is suggestive of the elements of fantasy, improbability and extravaganza, as well
as love, adventure and the marvelous and it was written in verse. However, over
time it came to be written in prose. During medieval times there were three
cycles –

a) The matter of Britain that dealt with the stories of the Legend of King Arthur
and his Knights of the Round Table.

b) The matter of Greece and Rome that told the stories of Alexander the Great,
the Trojan wars and the House of Thebes.

c) The matter of France that narrated the tales of the bravery and chivalry of
King Charlemagne and his Knights.

We have tried to define both the Epic and Romances, as they are the forefathers
of the novel. Interestingly, the novel owes its name to the Italian word novella
meaning a tale or a piece of news. The novel is called roman and is derived from
the word romance. But before I conclude, let me also tell you that yet another
important predecessor of the novel was the picaresque narrative that originated
in Spain in the 16th Century.

Most of you may be aware of the novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
by Henry Fielding. This 18th century novel is written in the picaresque tradition
with a ‘picaro’ or rogue for a hero/protagonist and the novel deals with his
7
The Novel: An Introduction escapades. So essentially what I am trying to tell you is that the novel had three
predecessors:
a) The Epic
b) The Romance and
c) The Picaresque Narrative
A novel therefore, may be defined as a long story written and printed in book
form, and dealing with imaginary people and situations, while creating an illusion
of reality.
Check Your Progress 2
1) State whether the following statements are True or False:

a) Primary Epics belong to the written tradition. T F

b) Odyssey is an example of a Secondary Epic. T F

c) Milton wrote Paradise Lost. T F

d) A Romance is a literary form of ancient times. T F
e) A ‘picaro’ is a rogue hero. T F
The novel was born in the west, primarily in the 17th century but its development
took place largely in the 18th Century. Critics have tried to trace its origins to
ancient Egypt, or even medieval Japan but the novel as a genre, was a creation of
the west. Some critics like Walter Raleigh have even stated that:

With the works of Richardson and Fielding the career of the novel may be said to
have begun.
(The English Novel, Walter Raleigh, pp. 180)

This brings me to the next important point. Why did the novel flourish in 18th
Century England? There were several reasons for that and let me tell you about
them very quickly.

The industrial revolution had taken place in England and the rest of Europe. This
meant that people had more leisure that could be dedicated to reading and writing.
Moreover, industrialisation led to tremendous improvement in printing
technology, as a result of which more books/novels could be printed and that too
easily. Then book clubs and circulating libraries were gaining popularity as well.
The other important reasons for the rise and development of the novel in 18th
century England was the changing socio-political and socio-cultural milieu. The
old system of patronage was gradually corning to an end. And writers did not
need to look towards the feudal lords for patronage. They could now turn to the
readers/public for support. The 18th century was a century of relative peace and
prosperity in England and England emerged as an international power with the
strongest navy in the world. An economically powerful and dominant middle
class began to emerge along with a steady increase in population. Literacy too
saw a sharp rise.

8
Having given the various reasons behind the development of the novel in 18th Introduction to the Novel
century England let me now tell you about the different types of novels that were
and are still being written in the next section.
Check Your Progress 3
Answer the following questions in your own words.
1) When was the novel born in England? Did its development take place in the
same century or in the next?
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2) What in your opinion was the reason for the emergence of the novel in
England? Answer briefly in point form.
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1.4 TYPES OF THE NOVEL

In this section, we shall take a look at the different types of novels. Critics down
the ages have tried to classify novels into various types. If we are to enumerate
all types of novels it may not be a useful endeavour as no rigid classification is
possible as the same novel may belong to more than one type. However, we do
need typologies for the simple reason that they are convenient as they provide
us with easy labels that help us in knowing what to anticipate in a particular
novel. Thus, in this section we try and give some shape to a variety of novels by
classifying them on the basis of:

1) The extra-disciplinary field they are close to such as sociological novels,

psychological novels, political novels, historical novels, religious novels,
and science fiction.

2) Their subject matter such as utopian novels, crime novels, detective fiction,
and bildungsroman.

3) Their literary style/structure/technique such as epistolary novels, realistic

novels, naturalistic novels, stream-of-consciousness novels, psychological
novels or the novel of character.

4) The particular emotions that they evoke such as romantic novels, sentimental
novels, or the escape novels.
9
The Novel: An Introduction 5) The particulars class interests that they evoke such as bourgeois novels, or
the proletarian novels.

6) The geographical areas that they highlight such as Westerns, local colour
novels, or the novels of the soil.

7) The geographical areas from which the novelists hail such as Indo-Anglian
novels, Commonwealth novels, and African novels.

(The Novel: An Introduction, 1997, Dr A K Raina and Dr Rana Nayar,

IGNOU, Block 1, p. 9)

Apart from this there are other classifications as well. Let me begin by telling
you about the Novel of Incident - good illustrations of this type of novel are the
novels of Daniel Defoe, novels such as, Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Moll
Flanders (1722). Both these novels are of the picaresque narrative type as the
structure of these novels is episodic rather than organised plot form, and both
novels also have very convincing central protagonists. The next type under
discussion is the Novel of Character that may also be known as the Psychological
Novel. The focus in such a novel is the protagonist’s motives, on what s/he does
or how s/he will turn out as a person. A good example is Samuel Richardson’s
Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded (1740).

Pamela may also be considered as an Epistolary Novel in which the narrative is

communicated to us through letters. This type of novel is also to be found in
more recent times such as, in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. Then we have
the Realistic Novel that is characterised largely by its fictional effect of realism.
In such novels, the characters are often complex and they operate within developed
social structures while interacting with a large number of characters.

The exponents of such realistic novels were Defoe, Fielding, Jane Austen,
George Eliot and Henry James amongst others. From the writings of people
such as, Jane Austen emerges the Novel of Manners - or a novel that focuses on
the customs, conversation, and ways of thinking and valuing of a particular social
class. The Bildungsroman and Erziehungroman or the Novel of Formation or
Novel of Education (M H Abrahams, p. 193), is yet another type of novel. The
main theme of such types of novel is the development of the main character’s/
the protagonist’s mind and character through the narrative. Charlotte Bronte’s
Jane Eyre (1847) and George Eliot’s the Mill on the Floss (1860) or even J D
Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (1951) are examples of such types of novels.

Then there are other novels such as, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin,
or John Steinbecks’ the Grapes of Wrath; these are examples of the Social Novel.
If we have read either of these novels we will find that such novels are influenced
by the prevailing socio-economic conditions of the age in which these novels
were written.

Sir Walter Scott’s novel such as, Ivanhoe (1819) and Charles Dickens’s A Tale
of Two Cities are examples of the Historical Novel. As is obvious from the term
- historical novel, these novels deal with not only the characters but also the
socio-political settings of a real historical age.

There are many different types of novels - for instance Documentary Fiction,
10 Non Fiction Novel, Regional Novel, Involuted Novel, Anti Novel,
Nouveauroman (the new novel); Magic Realism; Metafiction and Fabulation Introduction to the Novel
to name just a few, but for our purpose, the types we have dealt with in some
detail are sufficient.

In the next section we shall look at the literary trends in Eighteenth century
England.
Check Your Progress 4
1) Do we need to classify novels at all? Give a well thought out answer.
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2) Match the following:
a) Daniel Defoe a) Uncle Tom’s Cabin
b) Psychological Novel b) Novel of Formation
c) Jane Austen c) Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded
d) Bildungsroman d) Sense and Sensibility
e) Social Novels e) Moll Flanders

1.5 LITERARY TRENDS IN 18th & 19th CENTURY

ENGLAND
Eighteenth Century England was the age of transition as Edward Albert puts it
in his History of English Literature. This was the age when two distinct strands
of influence were at work simultaneously. The first of these twin strands was the
adherence, the allegiance or even the denying of the old order of classicism. The
second strand was that of Romanticism. Romanticism meant a return to real
nature and a new look at the human’s position and role in the midst of the natural
world. It also meant a new way of looking at the poor and the oppressed and a
drastic change in diction. Writers were now aiming for simplicity and sincerity
in their words.

They were turning to the legends and the myths of old for their inspiration. With
such a trend in place, it became important for writers to revive ancient literary
forms such as the ballad and as yet, there was also a general sense of inquiry and
keen interest that began to create an entirely new spirit of thinking. Writers also
began turning to history for their stories and in general there was sympathy and
freshness in the writings of the period.

1.5.1 Prominent Novelists of the Age

Samuel Richardson (1689-1776) is one of the prominent novelists of this period.
He was over fifty, when Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded was published in 1740.
This novel is in the form of a series of letters/an epistolary novel. His next major
novel was Clarissa Harlowe (1747-48). 11
The Novel: An Introduction Henry Fielding's (1707-54) novel Joseph Andrews appeared in 1742. Fielding
does away with the epistolary novel and creates a new and powerful novel that
carries the reader away with “his broad and vivacious humour; the genial and
half contemptuous insight into human nature” (Edward Albert, p. 258). His
greatest novel however was Tom Jones (1749). Realism is the hallmark of
Fielding’s novels.

1.5.2 Other Prominent Novelists of the Age

a) Tobias Smollette (1721-71): The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748);
b) Laurence Sterne (1713-68): The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy,
Gent (1760);
c) Horace Walpole (1717-97): The Castle of Otranto (1764).

1.5.3 Literary Trends in 19th Century England

This period saw the actual flowering of Romanticism in all its abundance. As far
as the novel was concerned the historical and the domestic novels were established
very firmly by Sir Walter Scott and Jane Austen. It was however, a more fruitful
period for poetry and produced great poets such as, William Wordsworth,
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron.

1.5.4 Prominent Novelists of the Age

a) Sir Walter Scott (1771-32): Guy Mannering (1815); The Heart of
Midlothian (1818);
b) Jane Austen (1775-17): Pride and Prejudice (1798-97); Sense and
Sensibility (1997-98);
c) William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-63): Vanity Fair (1847-48); The
History of Henry Esmond (1852);
d) Charles Dickens (1812-70): Sketches by Boz (1836); A Tale of two Cities
(1859);
e) George Eliot (1819-80): Adam Bede (1859); Middlemarch, a Study of
Provincal Life (1871-72);
f) Thomas Hardy (1840-1928): Desperate Remedies (1871); Far from the
Madding Crowd (1874);
Check Your Progress 5
1) Fill in the Blanks:
a) Samuel Richardson wrote .............................................. in 1740.
b) ................................................. wrote Tom Jones.
c) The Nineteenth Century saw the establishment of the
........................................ Novel and the Domestic Novel.
d) ....................................., Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
....................................., Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron were
prominent nineteenth century poets.
e) Jane Austen wrote ............................................and Prejudice and Sense
and ....................................................
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 Introduction to the Novel
1.6 LITERARY TRENDS IN THE 20th & 21st
CENTURIES
In the 20th century the American or the European tradition of the novel form was
largely divided by two major literary movements/ trends – Modernism and
Postmodernism or the period of the Modernist literature (1900 - 40) and the
Postmodern literature period (1960 – 90), more or less clearly divided by the
World War II years (1939- 45). The other literary trend that was in between the
two larger movements of this century was the contemporary period/ contemporary
literature which was largely literature written after 1960. The point to remember
here is that these literary movements also affected, influenced and included
literature from Africa, Australia and Asia as well. The advance in technology in
this century also meant that the production of books became cheaper which in
turn lead to a prominent rise in the production of what is called popular literature
and trivial literature. We have talked about popular literature at length in the BA
English Honours Course BEGC 106, so if any of you wish to read more on
popular literature do read through the material uploaded on egyankosh. We also
know that there came to a divide between what was known as “high literature”
and “popular literature” in the last century. We are aware that the distinctions are
not really absolute, and that there are interesting genres in popular literature that
could fit in both categories – such as, crime and detective and science fiction.
For instance, there are several awards instituted and given these days for these
two genres – crime and detective fiction and science fiction - the Nebula Award
(1965 onwards), the British Fantasy Award (since 1971) and the Mythopoeic
Awards (1971).

1.6.1 The 1990s

The 1990s saw the rise of multiculturalism and new media/ alternate media, and
these trends were to continue till well into the 2000 – 2010s. As a result of these
trends, in the music scene, we saw movements like “grunge”, “rave” and “hip
hop” gather momentum globally. The opening of capitalist markets, liberalisation,
the breaking down of the Berlin wall and the end of the Cold War, the introduction
of new media, the dissolution of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR), the dot-com bubble (1997–2000), all these factors combined and ushered
in a new era in literary production. A large number of former colonies gained
their independence - countries such as, Namibia (from South Africa 1990), Walvis
Bay, (retained by South Africa, joined Namibia in 1994), Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, and Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia, the
Slovak Republic became independent from the Czech and Slovak Federative
Republic (Czechoslovakia), Eritrea from Ethiopia (1993), Palau from the United
Nations Trusteeship Council, the United Kingdom handed over sovereignty of
Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China (1 July 1997), East Timor from
Indonesia (1999), Portugal handed over the sovereignty of Macau to the People’s
Republic of China (1999), the republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia,
Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan broke away from the USSR. While all
this was happening politically, around the globe, in literature, J K Rowling’s the
Harry Potter series (that debuted in 1997), was hugely popular, John Grisham
was by far the bestselling author in the United States, with over 60 million copies
sold of novels such as The Pelican Brief, The Client, and The Firm. Stephen
13
The Novel: An Introduction King, Danielle Steel, Michael Crichton, and Tom Clancy, as well as R L Stine
with the Goosebumps series were extremely popular.

Some of the well known literary writers and books of this decade were John
McGahern (Amongst Women); W G Sebald (Vertigo); Raphael Patai (The
Hebrew Goddess); Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (Good Omens); and Robert
Jordan (The Eye of the World); to name just a few.

1.6.2 The 21st Century

The 21st Century is the current century that will end on December 31st, 2099. It is
the first century of the 3rd Millennium. The first two decades of this century have
been marked by the rise of globalisation, Third World consumerism, global
concern over terrorism, an increase in private enterprise, negative effects of global
warming, the rising sea levels, Arab Spring (2010), civil wars, the overthrowing
of various governments, the United States of America as the only global
superpower, and with the People’s Republic of China contending for the post of
‘emerging superpower’. This century has also seen almost 49.3% (2017), of the
global population living in various forms of democratic countries; the expansion
of the European Union (EU), with a common currency called the Euro; the
withdrawing from the EU by the United Kingdom and most recently, the COVID-
19 pandemic (2020).

1.6.3 The Man Booker Prize in the 21st Century

2000: Margaret Atwood (The Blind Assassin); 2001: Peter Carey (The True History
of the Kelly Gang); 2002: Yann Martel (Life of Pi); 2003: D B C Pierre (Vernon
God Little); 2004: Alan Hollinghurst (The Line of Beauty); 2005: John Banville
(The Sea); 2006: Kiran Desai (The Inheritance of Loss); 2007: Anne Enright
(The Gathering); 2008: Aravind Adiga (The White Tiger); 2009: Hilary Mantel
(The Wolf Hall); 2010: Howard Jacobson (The Finkler Question); 2011: Julian
Barnes (The Sense of An Ending); 2012: Hilary Mantel (Bring Up the Bodies);
2013: Eleanor Catton: (The Luminaries); 2014: Richard Flanagan: (The Narrow
Road to the Deep North); 2015: Marlon James (A Brief History of Seven Killings);
2016: Paul Beatty (The Sellout); 2017: George Saunders (Lincoln in the Bardo);
2018: Anna Burns (Milkman); 2019: Margaret Atwood (The Testament); and
Bernadine Evaristo (Girl, Woman, Other). The award of literary prizes such as
the Man Booker, one of the highest awards for Literature indicates how importance
is accorded to novel writing globally.

1.7 LET US SUM UP

In this unit, we have defined the novel as a genre, looked at the origins of the
novel and its rise as a literary genre in eighteenth century England. We have also
examined the different types of novels and summarised the chief literary trends
of the eighteenth, and nineteenth century England; as well as novel writing in
the twentieth and the first two decades of the twenty- first century. Apart from
that we have mentioned the prominent novelists of the ages. Having read this
unit carefully we expect you to be able to define a novel, to be able to recognise
the novel as a genre and to be able to identify various types of novel.

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 Introduction to the Novel
1.8 GLOSSARY
Alexander the Great : (336-323 BC) was an ancient Greek King of
Macedonia. He was one of the most successful
military commanders in history, and was undefeated
in battle. By the time of his death, he had conquered
most of the world known to the ancient Greeks and
had travelled as far as India, particularly the Indus
area. His exploits are the stuff of legends and folklore
and the subject of many romances.

Charlemagne : or Charles the Great; or Charles I of France and of

the Holy Roman Empire (742/747 - 28 January 814)
was King of the Franks from 768 to his death. His
rule is also associated with the Carolingian
Renaissance, a revival of art, religion, and culture
through the medium of the Catholic Church. His
foreign conquests and internal reforms, helped define
both Western Europe and the middle ages. Today he
is not only regarded as the founding father of both
French and German monarchies, but as the father of
Europe: his empire united most of Western Europe
for the first time since the Romans, and the
Carolingian renaissance encouraged the formation of
a common European identity (Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia).

Fable : a fictitious story meant to teach a moral lesson; the

characters in fables are usually talking animals.

Folk tale : the large body of oral literature belonging to a tribe,

or nation, or ethnic group.

House of Thebes : Thebes was a city in Greece, situated to the north of

the Cithaeron range, which divided Boeotia from
Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain.
It played an important role in the fabric of Greek myth,
as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus,
Dionysus and others. In ancient times, Thebes was
the largest city of the region of Boeotia and was the
leader of the Boeotian confederacy. It was a major
rival of ancient Athens, and sided with the Persians
during the 480 BC invasion of Xerxes. Thebes was a
major force in Greek history, and was the most
dominant city- state at the time of the Macedonian
conquest of Greece. During the Byzantine period, the
city was famous for its silks. (Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia).

King Arthur : King Arthur is believed to be a prominent English

leader in Britain’s legendary history, and the hero of
many medieval tales and chronicles. He is said to have
15
The Novel: An Introduction taken the mantle of a ruler over Britain and defended
his land against Saxon invaders following the
withdrawal of Rome. The stories of King Arthur
include numerous elements of both the legend as well
as folklore tradition, while some historians doubt his
very existence. The legend that was to become King
Arthur was largely developed as a result of the
writings of Geoffrey of Monmouth, but it needs to be
remembered that there were already a large number
of Welsh as well as Breton stories and poems about
King Arthur, way before Geoffrey of Monmouth ever
wrote his Historia Regum Britanniae/History of the
Kings of Britain (from Wikipaedia the free
encyclopadeia).

Legend : a story handed down for generations among a people

and popularly believed to have a historical basis,
although not verifiable, all such stories belonging to
a particular group of people are also known as
legends.

Memoir : a biography or biographical sketch, usually one

written by someone who knew the subject well, an
autobiography, especially one that is objective and
anecdotal in emphasis rather than inward and
subjective.

Medieval : characteristic of or congestive of the middle Ages.

Myth : a traditional story of unknown authorship, ostensibly

with a historical basis, but securing usually to explain
some phenomenon of nature, the origin of man or the
customer, institutions, religious sites, etc., of a people.

Narrative(s) : of having the nature of, narration, in story form; a

story; account.

Patronage : the function or status of a patron; support,

encouragement, sponsorship, etc given by a patron,
goodwill, famous, courtesy etc., shown to people
considered inferior; condescension

Travelogue : a lecture on travels, usually accompanied by the

showing of pictures both still and moving or on slides.

1.9 HINTS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Check Your Progress 1
1) i) Literary genres are difficult to define.

ii) The Novel is a very flexible form.

iii) The novel has a very open form.

16
2) A novel may be defined as a prose piece with a minimum length of about Introduction to the Novel
50,000 words. It should be longer than a long short story.

3) No, even the working definition of a novel is not applicable to each and
every novel.

We still need to define a novel as our main aim is to arrive at a working

definition / a comprehensive definition of the term.
Check Your Progress 2
1) a) F d) T
b) F e) T
c) T
Check Your Progress 3
1) Read section 1.3 and then answer in your own words.
2) i) increase in population
ii) emergence and economic ascendance of the middle class
iii) availability of leisure time
iv) an increase in literacy
v) popularity of book clubs and circulating libraries
vi) improvement in printing technology
Check Your Progress 4
1) Yes, we need to classify novels as these classifications help us in knowing
what to expect in particular novel.
2) a) Daniel Defoe - Moll Flanders
b) Psychological Novel - Pamela or Virtue Rewarded
c) Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility
d) Bildungsreman - Novel of Formation
e) Social Novels - Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Check Your Progress 5
1) a) Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded
b) Henry Fielding
c) Historical
d) William Wordsworth; John Keats
e) Pride, Sensibility

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