Chapter 4 / Literature / The Novel
1. Definition of a Novel
A prose narrative telling a story through characters and situations, aiming for
realism and reflecting human experience. Unlike epics or romances, it focuses
on ordinary life with plausible situations.
2. A prose narrative form distinct from epics and romances.
3. Like epics and romances, it contains a story and a storyteller.
4. Epics mix myth, history, and fiction with gods and extraordinary
characters.
5. Romances emphasize adventure and symbolic projection of human wishes
and fears.
6. The novel differs in its realistic treatment of life and manners.
7. It dramatizes life using characters and situations, portraying human
experiences and creating a sense of realism.
Aspects of the Novel
Theme: The central concern/idea; it's like a seed inspiring plot and characters.
Plot: The framework with beginning, middle, and end. Contains characters,
events, actions. Sub-plots exist but are connected to the main theme.
Characterization: Ethical and personal traits assigned to characters, revealed
through actions. Characters should evoke reader empathy and emotional
involvement.
Point of View: The narrator’s perspective (first-person or third-person)
determines how events and characters are presented.
Time and Place: Every story happens within a time and location, even if not
explicitly named. These elements create cultural, atmospheric, or symbolic
meaning.
Style: The author’s individual narrative technique, language, word choice, and
sentence structure that distinguishes them from others.
Types of Novel
Gothic Novel: Supernatural horror (ghosts, haunted houses). E.g. Castle of
Otranto , The Mysteries of Udolpho.
Picaresque Novel: Adventure of a rogue protagonist moving from place to
place. E.g. Robinson Crusoe, Tom Jones.
Epistolary Novel: Told through letters. E.g. Pamela , Clarissa .
Historical Novel: Based on real historical events and characters. E.g. Ivanhoe.
Psychological Novel: Focus on inner thoughts and motives, using techniques
like stream of consciousness. E.g. Mrs. Dalloway, Ulysses.
Regional Novel: Set in a specific place, reflecting its culture. E.g. Wessex
Novels, Malgudi Days.
Development of the English Novel
Origin from romances, novelle (Italian), picaresque tales.
Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1605-15) is the earliest modern novel prototype.
18th century: Rise of individual understanding (Descartes, Locke).
Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) marked the emergence of realistic
novels.
Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (1741): First psychological/character novel.
Jane Austen focused on women’s perspective and social issues (Pride and
Prejudice , 1813).
19th century: Romantic and Gothic novels, Realism in Dickens, Thackeray.
George Eliot (Middlemarch) advanced realism.
Hardy depicted the harsh realities of rural life (Jude the Obscure ).
H.G. Wells: Science fiction (The Time Machine).
Conrad: Symbolic narratives (Heart of Darkness ).
Henry James: Point of view technique → Stream of consciousness.
D.H. Lawrence explored primal urges.
Indian English Novel
Began with Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s Rajmohan’s Wife (1864).
Early themes: social issues (bad marriage, woman’s suffering).
Govinda Samanta by Lal Behari Dey (1874): Rural Bengali life.
Toru Dutt’s unfinished Bianca (1878): Romantic, autobiographical.
Krupabai Satthianandhan’s Kamala (1894) and Saguna (1895):
Autobiographical, social issues.
Shevantibai Nikambe’s Ratnabai (1895): Reform, women’s education.
Late 19th-early 20th century: Historical romances, freedom struggles (e.g.,
Shoshee Chunder Dutt’s Shunkur).
Gandhian era: Nationalistic novels (K.S. Venkatramani’s Murugan, the Tiller).
The Trinity: R.K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao led modern Indian
English fiction.
Unit 7
Drama as a form of literature
Drama: Its History
The word ‘drama’ originates from the Greek language, meaning ‘to do’.
In drama, conflicts, actions, and crises from life are represented objectively.
It is a mode of fiction represented in performance.
Drama is a performing art and one of the most powerful literary
expressions.
Action happens on stage, engaging both the visual and auditory senses of the
audience.
Drama has a long history of over 2500 years.
Introduction
Literature has always played a significant role in human life.
It acts as a mirror of society, reflecting the values and situations of the time it
was created.
It's a way for writers to express thoughts and ideas.
Among the most ancient forms of entertainment.
Initially, without a written language, literature was oral — mostly in poetry
form and transmitted orally.
Later, literature evolved into other forms: drama, novel, short story.
Stages in the Development of Drama:
Greek Drama
Originated in 6th century B.C. in Major types of plays:
ancient Greece.
Tragedy
Dramatic competitions were held to Comedy
celebrate the festival of God Dionysus. Satyr play
Dramatists had to present a tetralogy of Famous Greek dramatists:
plays:
Aeschylus
3 tragedies Sophocles
1 satyr play Euripides
Aristophanes
Menander
Roman Drama
Greek drama was introduced to the By the 2nd century B.C., drama became
Romans when the Roman Empire a major form of entertainment
expanded into Greek territories in the
3rd century B.C. Plautus and Terence were famous
Roman comedy writers, many of whose
Roman dramatists like Andronicus and works survived.
Naevius popularized drama throughout
Europe. Seneca, the Roman tragedian, made
tragedy popular; his influence led to the
term ‘Senecan tragedy’.
Medieval Drama
Drama in the Middle Ages focused To teach religious stories to common
on Bible stories and allegorical people, clergymen dramatized incidents
mysteries. from the Bible.
Written in the regional languages of
the time.
The plays from this period are known
as:
Mystery Plays (based on
biblical stories)
Miracle Plays (based on saints’
lives and miracles)
Elizabethan Drama
Major practitioners:
With the construction of the Globe Ben Jonson
Theatre in London, drama flourished in William Shakespeare
England. Christopher Marlowe
Most significant period for English Common themes:
drama: 16th and 17th centuries.
Ancient history
Greek and Roman mythology
Contemporary social and
political issues
Modern Drama
Key dramatists: Other important modern dramatists:
Henrik Ibsen (19th century) Anton Chekhov
Bertolt Brecht (20th century) Eugene O’Neill
Luigi Pirandello
Samuel Beckett
Harold Pinter
John Osborne
George Bernard Shaw
Indian Classical Drama
Originated from the Rig-Veda. The dramatist Bharata wrote Natya
Shastra , the ancient treatise on drama.
The plots were based on the
Ramayana, Mahabharata, and other Famous Sanskrit playwrights:
ancient Sanskrit works.
Bhasa
Kalidasa
Sudraka
Asvaghosa
Harsha
Drama: Its Elements
Based on Aristotle’s ‘Poetics’, where he defines the structure and essential
features of drama.
Emphasis mainly on tragedy, though the elements apply to all types of drama.
1 Plot 2 Character
Considered the most important Drama portrays human life conflicts;
element. characters drive the plot.
Compared to the soul in a human A dramatist selects characters carefully as
body. the canvas is limited.
Plot can be: Types of characters:
Simple: Straightforward and Flat character: Static, no growth.
continuous. Round character: Changes and grows.
Complex: Involving peripeteia Stock character: Stereotypical, appears
(unexpected reversal of fortune) often with fixed traits.
and anagnorisis (moment of
recognition). Characterization methods:
Divided into: 1. Through the character’s own speech.
2. Through what others say about them.
Beginning: Should not rely on 3. Through a combination of both.
previous incidents.
Middle: Arises logically from the
beginning and leads to the end.
End: Natural result of what
preceded it.
3 Diction 4 Subject or Theme
Language used by characters should The central idea unifying the events
match: of the plot.
Their social position A noble and dignified theme results
Their personality in a greater, lasting play.
The situation
Plays with weak themes, even if
Upper-class characters often speak in popular temporarily, are easily
verse, while lower-class characters use forgotten.
prose (as in Shakespeare’s plays).
A great play must have a theme
Language should be suitable, worth artistic representation.
decorative, and stylistic to suit the
dramatic situation.
Chapter 10 : Short Story as a Form of Literature
According to Encyclopedia Britannica :
A short story is a brief, fictional prose narrative.
Shorter than a novel.
Usually deals with a few characters.
A short story focuses on:
A single unified effect.
Delivered through a few significant episodes.
Requires:
Economy of setting (limited descriptions of place and environment).
A concise narrative (brief, precise storytelling).
A simple plot (focused conflict or incident).
Characters are typically revealed through:
Actions
Dramatic encounters
There is usually no detailed development of character backgrounds like in
novels.
Despite its brevity, a short story provides a complete reading experience.
Origin of the Short Story
Short stories have been a part of popular entertainment long before written
language.
In ancient societies:
o Every culture had favorite storytellers crafting classic oral tales.
o Stories included fairy tales, religious parables, romances, and
adventure thrillers.
Historically:
Short fiction was not recognized as a serious art form until the 19th century.
Writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Guy de Maupassant,
Anton Chekhov, and Mark Twain developed it into a legitimate literary
genre.
Ancient origins:
Stories came from religion, mythology, romance, heroism, and adventure.
Tribal elders and ancient people narrated them orally.
Early man used stories in verse or rhyme, passing them orally across
generations.
Examples:
Babylonians: The Adventures of Gilgamesh
Egyptians: Tales about gods, kings, queens, animal deities.
Indian and Middle Eastern stories: Focused on ancient wisdom.
Aesop: Famous for animal fables with moral lessons (6th century B.C.).
In the Middle Ages:
Folktales, romantic ballads, heroic myths, and humorous verses described
social customs, lifestyles, politics.
Popular collections: Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, A Thousand and
One Arabian Nights.
By the late 17th century, with the 19th century:
growth of periodicals in Germany and
Britain:
Editors sought short material to fill Writers experimented with themes,
magazine pages. characters, and storytelling styles.
Short stories naturally fitted this need. Edgar Allan Poe: Master of horror short
fiction (The Tell-Tale Heart, The Masque of the
Charles Dickens gained huge popularity Red Death).
with serialized short stories.
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Mark Twain:
Focused on realism.
O. Henry (William Sydney Porter):
Famous for coincidence and twist endings.
In Europe: 1920s–1950s:
Guy de Maupassant (French writer): Short stories covered diverse themes,
Realistic stories about the middle class and settings, and character types.
human behavior.
Popular figures:
Rudyard Kipling: Wrote about British
military life and children’s classics like The Edgar Rice Burroughs: Tarzan
Jungle Book. H.G. Wells: Science fiction stories.
Dashiell Hammett: Hard-boiled crime
Anton Chekhov: Russian writer focusing fiction.
on life during social change.
Other notable names:
Joseph Conrad: Character-driven tales
about naval life and human behavior. James Joyce, Gabriel Garcia
Marquez, George Orwell, Katherine
Mansfield, Saki, Herman Melville,
Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy
Parker.
By : Lamya Hussain
