Six Elements of Novel and its Origin |History|

  

The emergence of the novel is one of the debatable and controversial topics among critics. Critics seem divided into tracing the origin of the Novel, where some of the critics believe that John Bunyan’s famous Protestant religious allegory "Pilgrim’s Progress" is a true manifestation of the novels of the 18th century. In the view of some critics, 'Don Quixote de la Mancha' by Miguel de Cervantes, published in 1605 was the first modern novel. We cannot deny the works of these critics because they are true in tracing the history of the novel, and history is always mystery difficult to say with a hundred percent accurately. Anyhow, 'Robinson Crusoe' published in 1719 by Daniel Defoe was the first novel of English history or at least considered as the first traditional novel of England. In particular, within English literary history, the 18th century is often seen as giving birth to the novel as a modern form. One of the most influential accounts of the development of the novel over the course of The 18th century in England came from Ian Watt’s The Rise of the Novel, first published in 1957.

It was a short glimpse of controversial cults of critics and we will trace it later in this article.

 

 Now let’s come to the first and foremost query, what is a novel? Why it gain so much popularity in the 18th century and later? How is it differs from other kinds of genres? What are the elements of a novel?

The novel is often defined as a long prose narration. According to Wikipedia, "A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, normally written in prose form, and which is typically published as a book with some degree of realism."

 Most commentators agree that the novel has its roots in the literary form we know as romance. Indeed, these are roots that it has never entirely cut.  Above all, Watt emphasized what he called the novel’s formal realism, “the premise, or primary convention, that the novel is a full and authentic report of human experience and is therefore under an obligation to satisfy its reader with such details of the story as the individuality of the actors concerned, the particulars of the times and places of their actions, details which are presented through a more largely referential use of language than is common in other literary forms” (Watt1957).

'Anna Karenina' by Leo Tolstoy, 'To Kill Mockingbird' by Harper Lee, 'The Old Man and the Sea' by Ernest Hemingway, 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and 'A Passage to India ‘by E.M. Forster are the most popular and truest examples of the modern novel.

The elements of a novel are not very different, that make a sharp difference with the other forms of literature but it is the same as a short story.

Plot

The plot is an arrangement and series of events, which make up a story. The plot is usually considered as the soul of the novel and the structure of a novel depends on the organization of the events.

Character

In fiction, a character is a person or other being in a narrative. The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, in which case the distinction of a "fictional" versus "real" character may be made.

Setting

The setting has been referred to as the story world or milieu to include a context beyond the immediate surroundings of the story and usually introduced during the exposition (beginning) of the story, along with the characters.

Theme

The theme in a story is its underlying message or 'big idea. ' In other words, what critical belief about life is the author trying to convey in the writing of a novel, play, short story or poem? This belief, or idea, transcends cultural barriers. It is usually universal in nature.

Thought

With reference to a particular character's thinking process. This literary device is usually used in order to provide a narrative in the form of the character's thoughts instead of using dialogue or description.

Some novelist believes that melody is also an important part of the novel.
There are different manifestations of the novel but before going into details of each it would be better to draw a short difference between novel and novella.

A novel is a long narrative in prose that describes fictional characters and events. It is the longest genre of narrative prose fiction in modern literature. A novel generally contains more than 200 pages on the other hands; a novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and longer than a short story. The word ‘novella’ is also derived from The Italian word ‘novella’ meaning new. Novellas were introduced to literature in the early Renaissance, but they began to be established as a literary genre in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Psychological, The novel of manners, Epistolary and Pastoral novels are common types of novels.

Novels also gave to the people the joy of reading in private. Later, they discussed the plots, sub-plots, and characters of the novels with friends, colleagues, and relatives. The combination of a desire for the realistic depiction of life and the rise of the middle class are two of the most important components of the novel's popularity in the 18thC.