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In the following section, we’ll examine the historical development of the novel.
A novel is a fictional prose narrative of extensive length. The word derives from the Italian word novella, which means “little new thing.” Longer and more complex than short stories, a novel is not restricted by structure and form as poetry and drama are. The length of a novel allows for a variety of characters, a complicated plot, and character development, unlike the short story.
Literary input from a variety of sources led to the creation of the first modern novel.
One of the biggest influences on the development of the novel came from Spain in 1604—Cervantes’ Don Quixote. Cervantes’ romantic parody offers the reader a view of seventeenth-century Spanish society through the presentation of a wide assortment of characters.
The plot follows the adventures of Alonso Quijano, who has spent far too much time reading stories about chivalry. Alonso, who is considered crazy by friends and family, takes the name Don Quixote and transforms himself into a knight-errant on a mission to redress the wrongs of the world.
English authors in the eighteenth century used Don Quixote as a springboard for the novel as we know it. In 1719, Daniel Defoe published Robinson Crusoe, considered the first modern novel. Robinson Crusoe tells the tale of a traveler shipwrecked on an uninhabited tropical island, as indicated by its full title, which follows.
Defoe’s dramatic realism combined with a convincing central character, pirates, and cannibals, virtually guaranteed the novel’s popularity.
Following in Defoe’s footsteps were Jonathan Swift with Gulliver’s Travels, Henry Fielding with Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones, and Oliver Goldsmith with Vicar of Wakefield. The modern novel began taking shape during the eighteenth century, and during the next century, it continued to evolve into the most popular literary form.
Romanticism of the nineteenth century influenced the direction novelists took the new literary genre. Americans joined in on the act during this time, as did writers from other parts of Europe.
During the first half of the nineteenth century, writers from both sides of the ocean published novels of all varieties, as indicated by the following table.
Early Nineteenth Century Novels |
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| Author | Origin | Novel | Year |
| Jane Austen | England | Pride and Prejudice | 1813 |
| Charlotte Brontë | England | Jane Eyre | 1847 |
| Emily Brontë | England | Wuthering Heights | 1847 |
| James Fenimore Cooper | United States | The Last of the Mohicans | 1826 |
| Nathaniel Hawthorne | United States | The Scarlet Letter | 1850 |
| Sir Walter Scott | England | Ivanhoe | 1819 |
| Mary Shelley | England | Frankenstein | 1818 |
During the romantic age, gothic novels, such as Frankenstein, were particularly popular. In gothic novels, supernatural elements and a foreboding setting, such as an abandoned house or a dark, spooky castle, take center stage. In the case of Shelley’s novel, the gothic elements revolve around a monster created by Dr. Frankenstein, its quest for sympathy, and, finally, its eventual death.
A sustained interest in romanticism led Sir Walter Scott to set his novels in historic England. For example, Ivanhoe takes place in the period following the Norman Conquest, with characters such as Robin Hood, Richard the Lionheart, and numerous knights and fair ladies.
Unlike her colleagues, Jane Austen disdained romanticism. In fact, her novel Northanger Abbey parodies popular gothic novels. The plots of Austen’s novels, such as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, focus on domestic situations, such as betrothals, where manners and fashion are of utmost importance. Her novels exhibit satirical wit, insightful views of human nature, and stylish dialogue, which moves the story along much like a play.
The first two sentences of Pride and Prejudice indicate the story’s direction.
American writers were greatly influenced by their European counterparts. Romantic ideals, like individualism and love of nature, inspired them to add their own ideals and create a truly American literary voice.
Leading the way was James Fenimore Cooper whose novel The Last of the Mohicans contrasts the Native American way of life with the settlers’ desire to build farms and towns. Cooper’s adventure novel sets a fast pace with thrilling attacks, captures, escapes, and heroic rescues.
Rounding out the first half of the century was Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, which delves into the hearts and minds of characters to reveal their moral dilemmas. Hawthorne’s psychological romance laced with gothic elements proved to be a sensation when it was published, and it remains a classic example of great American literature.
During the second half of the nineteenth century, events on both sides of the Atlantic influenced writers. In England, Queen Victoria reigned over a time of progress and prosperity. Railroads became the chosen method of travel, education was expanded, sanitation was improved, and middle-class values, such as hard work, solid morals, and practicality, became the standards of the time.
In the United States, the Civil War broke out in 1861 and did not end until 1865, the same year President Lincoln was assassinated. American ingenuity was in full swing at this time with the inventions of the typewriter, the telephone, and the light bulb.
Novels published during the latter half of the nineteenth century are indicated in the following table.
Late Nineteenth-Century Novels |
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|
Author |
Origin |
Novel |
Year |
| Louisa May Alcott | United States | Little Women | 1868–69 |
| Lewis Carroll | England | Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland | 1865 |
| Stephen Crane | United States | The Red Badge of Courage | 1895 |
| Charles Dickens | England | Great Expectations | 1860 |
| Fyodor Dostoyevsky | Russia | Crime and Punishment | 1866 |
| Gustave Flaubert | France | Madame Bovary | 1856 |
| Thomas Hardy | England | Tess of the D’Ubervilles | 1891 |
| Henry James | United States | Washington Square | 1881 |
| Leo Tolstoy | Russia | Anna Karenina | 1873–77 |
| Mark Twain | United States | The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | 1885 |
| H.G. Wells | England | The Island of Dr. Moreau | 1896 |
The most popular Victorian novelist was Charles Dickens. His work combines social criticism with humor in a world of characters that range from the malicious to the suffering. Characters such as Miss Havisham, Pip, Ebenezer Scrooge, and Tiny Tim remain ingrained in the memories of readers. In his novels, Dickens often criticized British prisons and schools, which led to reforms that were badly needed.
Just as Dickens’s novels rely heavily on memorable characters, so do the novels of Mark Twain. Huckleberry Finn first appeared as a character in Twain’s popular book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer before Twain wrote a novel solely about the runaway orphan and his travels. The story fluctuates between funny, satirical episodes and touching descriptions of the relationship between Huck and Jim.
One of Twain’s most important contributions to the continuing evolution of the novel is the introduction of slang-laden, colloquial dialect, which proved influential to future writers, such as Ernest Hemingway.
In contrast to Dickens’s Victorian novels are the realistic novels by writers such as Flaubert, Dostoyevsky, and Tolstoy. A realistic novel attempts to give the effect of realism through a work of fiction. Characters in realistic novels have normal daily experiences and interact with other characters within a structured social system.
For example, in Madame Bovary, Flaubert describes the dismal everyday life of an ordinary woman using precise details and realism, as in the following passage from the novel.
Flaubert describes every unpleasant detail of Emma Bovary’s existence, which provides the reader an understanding of her life and her frustrations.
Toward the end of the century, science-fiction novels evolved as a distinct category from the gothic novels of the earlier part of the century. Futuristic scientific developments serve to move the plots of these science-fiction novels.
French writer Jules Verne wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days in the 1870s; H. G. Wells followed with Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The Island of Dr. Moreau.
The nineteenth century produced a wide variety of novels from all parts of the world, with each one making an important contribution to the development of the modern novel.
Which of the following authors contributed to realism in novels?
The years immediately following the turn of the century brought many changes. World War I began and Queen Victoria, who symbolized the strict moral code and prosperity of nineteenth-century England, died.
Novelists around the world sought to shake off the old ways of writing and to usher in the new century with new styles, new subject matters, and new narrative techniques. Thus, Modernism was born.
The following table provides a list of some Modernist authors and their novels.
Modernist Novels |
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|
Author |
Novel |
Year |
| Albert Camus | The Stranger | 1942 |
| William Faulkner | The Sound and the Fury | 1929 |
| E. M. Forster | A Passage to India | 1924 |
| Ernest Hemingway | The Sun Also Rises | 1926 |
| Aldous Huxley | Brave New World | 1932 |
| James Joyce | A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | 1916 |
| D. H. Lawrence | Sons and Lovers | 1913 |
| Virginia Woolf | To the Lighthouse | 1927 |
James Joyce is renowned for his literary innovations, including stream of consciousness. Stream of consciousness is a revolutionary narrative technique used to imitate the inner workings of the human mind by providing a continuous stream of thoughts, feelings, and memories.
Joyce’s literature broke new ground and established him as one of the greatest talents of the twentieth century. Joyce used stream of consciousness in his largely autobiographical novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Using the technique for which he is famous, Joyce delves into the mind of Stephen Dedalus to illustrate the development of Stephen as an artist.
Like James Joyce, Virginia Woolf often used stream of consciousness in her novels. Woolf emphasized the psychological workings of her characters, rather than the story’s plot. In To the Lighthouse, for example, plot, dialogue, and action are secondary to the descriptions of character’s impressions and thoughts.
The novels of D. H. Lawrence explore issues related to psychological health, sexuality, and human relationships. One of the most controversial writers of the twentieth century, Lawrence saw his books banned as obscene, and during World War I he was persecuted for his alleged pro-German sympathies.
Lawrence’s novel Sons and Lovers tells the story of a young, flourishing artist who is the son of an English coal miner. Attacked upon publication for its frank treatment of sex, the novel has since earned praise and recognition as an example of modern literature.
Although modernist literature varies from author to author, the notion of breaking with tradition links them together.