History of English Novel

Introduction:

‘The Periodical Essay’ and ‘NOVEL’ these two new genres are emerged in the 18^th century. Both of these forms, especially ‘Novel’, caught the spirit of the eighteenth century as the age of intellectual, sentimental and realistic plane and tried to instruct the readers. Today novel is the most dominant literary genre.

What is a Novel?

A Novel is a relatively long narrative fiction which describes intimate human experiences normally in a prose form.

The present English word ‘novel’ is derived from the Italian word ‘novella’, meaning ‘new’.

Novel as a literary genre has a history of about two thousand years.

The Early Precursors of Novel:

A collection of tales known as Greek Romances dating from the second to sixth century may top the list. Though novel in the modern era usually 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’.

• The world’s first novel Lady Murasaki Shikibu’s ‘Tale of Genji’ (1010).
• The first European novel -‘Don Quixote’ by Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes which was published in two parts between 1605 and 1615.
• The First Indian Novel- ‘Rajmohan’s Wife’, by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya.

In the 18  century, the appearance of newspaper and magazines attracted a large number of readers from the middle class.After 1740, Novel originated as the literary form in England.

Due to the incensement in trade and commerce, along with the Industrial Revolution, middle class was emerged in the society which was elite or educated. The realistic picture of everyday life and problems of common people explored in the novels caught the attention of the newly educated class. This class made this form popular. The advent of machines in the industries, the middle class got sufficient time for reading and discussion on it. Now, the dominance of Drama and poetry were fading away.

With the new features added in it, Novel was the combination of some features of drama and poetry. It became the prominent form in the eighteenth century by encompassing the social, political and cultural happenings and scientific progress.

 Major Novelists of 18th Century:

‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ by John Bunyan (1678) and ‘Oroonoku’ by Aphra Behn (1688), Daniel Defoe ( Robinson Crusoe, Mall Flanders), Samuel Richardson, (‘Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded’ and ‘Clarissa,’ both epistolary novels), Henry Fielding, Lawrence Sterne and Tobias Smollett. Charles Dickens, Walter Scott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Horace Walpole, Thomas Hardy, Willkie Collins and H.G. Wells.

 Major Novelists of 20th Century:

E.M. Forster, James Joyce, Joseph Conrad, Henry James, George Orwell, Graham Greene, D.H. Lawrence, William Golding and Anthony Burgess.

The Contribution of Women Novelists:

‘Evelina’ by Frances Burney, Gothic novels by Ann Radcliffe, a novel based on Science of the age ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley are landmark novels. Bronte sisters Emily and Charlotte have created their own place by their incomparable works ‘The Wuthering Heights’ and ‘Jane Eyre’,  Mary Ann Evans alias George Eliot.

Virginia Woolf is the pioneer of the Stream of Consciousness technique in English novel. Agatha Christie secured her own place by writing many novels based on crime. Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple are the evergreen detectives created by her. Harper Lee, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker have elevated the tradition further to prosperity.

Indian Scenario:

The first Indian novel is ‘Rajmohan’s Wife’, by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya serialized.Mulkraj Anand, R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao, these were major writers in Indian novel. They contributed a lot. After this trio this form of writing was uplifted and revolutionized by Desai, Nayantara Sahgal and Arun Joshi and Manohar Malgaonkar

Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Seth and Upamanyu Chatterjee upgraded the Indian novel in English by adding new features to it. Salman Rushdie, Arvind Adiga, Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai and Kiran Nagarkar.contributed in this form of writing.

Novella:

What is a Novella?

Novella, the word originated from the Italian word ‘novelle’, is a type of narrative prose fiction which is shorter than a full length novel and longer than a short story.

It is a short narrative, often satiric or realistic in tone. It usually focuses on one incident or issue with one or two main characters and takes place at a single tradition.

Some of the famous novellas in English are –

• ‘The Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad
• ‘The Turn of the Screw’ by Henry James
• ‘Billy Budd’ by Hermann Melville
• ‘Death in Venice’ by Thomas Mann
• ‘Seize The Day’ by Saul Bellow
• ‘Pearl’ by John Steinbeck

Elements of Novel/ Novella:

There are six elements of ‘Novel’ or “Novella’.

1.Theme: It is one of the elements of the novel. Theme does mean the central idea of the story.

2. Plot: It is very important element of the novel. Plot is the chain of events. There will be a proper beginning, middle and end to it. It is the core part of the novel. There is difference between plot and a story.  There are two types of plot- 1. Simple  2.Complex. Mostly complex plot is preferred by writer for his work of art.

3. Character:It is related to the plot as the course of action takes place. There will be major an minor characters which are painted in detail as per the need of story and plot.

4. Setting:It is the background where the story takes palace. There are several aspects of the setting such as place, period, time, climate or weather and lifestyle.

5. Conflict:The struggle between opposite forces is called conflict. There are two types of conflict- Internal and external.

6. Language / Style: The language and the techniques are used by the author for the narration of the events.

Types of Novel:

1.Realistic Novel: It presents the effect of realism.

2. Picaresque Novel: The word ‘picaresque’ is originated from the Spanish word ‘picaro,’ which means a rogue. It explores the adventures of the protagonist, who is an eccentric person, in an episodic form.

3. Historical Novel:Set in a period earlier than that of the writing.

4. Epistolary Novel: The word ‘epistolary’ derives from the Latin word ‘epistola,’ which means a letter. The epistolary novel is that in which the writer presents the narrative through a series of correspondence or other documents.

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

6. Autobiographical Novel: It is based on the life of the author.

7. Allegorical Novel: An allegory is a story. The surface meaning of such novel is different from the symbolic meaning. Real characters are not used in the story. The symbolic meaning of an allegory may be political, religious, historical or philosophical.

8. Utopian/ Dystopian Novel: Utopia is an imaginary community or society possessing the ideal qualities. Dystopian- opposite to Utopian.

9. Psychological Novel: Internal life of the protagonist or even the other characters as much as the external factors are explored in the novel.

10. Stream of Consciousness Novel: Stream of consciousness is a phrase coined by William James in his treatise ‘Principles of Psychology.’ (1890).

11. ‘Bildungsroman’ Novel: The German word ‘bildungsroman’ indicates growth of protagonist’s mind, spirit and characters from their childhood to adulthood.

In the first half of the 20th century a cult of ‘pulp magazines’ became popular in which fantastic fiction for the general entertainment of the masses was printed on the cheap pulp paper. It laid the foundation 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 and technology, space travel, time travel, parallel universes and extraterrestrial life. ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelly (1823) is considered the first novel based on science and technology. The genre flourished in the second half of the 19th century. Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction.