A novel (from French nouvelle Italian "novella", "new") is an extended fictional narrative in prose. Until the eighteenth century, the word referred specifically to short fictions of love and intrigue as opposed to romances, which were epic-length works about love and adventure. During the 18th century the novel adopted features of the old romance and became one of the major literary genres. It is today defined mostly by its ability to become the object of literary criticism demanding artistic merit, a specific 'literary' style and a deeper meaning than a true story of the same content could claim to have.

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Novel and romance: unstable words

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One meaning of the English word novel has remained stable: "novel" can still signify what is new owing to its "novelty". When it comes to fiction, however, the meaning of the term has changed over time:

• The period 1200-1750 saw a rise of the novel (originally a short piece of fiction) rivaling the romance (the epic-length performance). This development, which one could describe as the first rise of the novel, occurred across Europe, though only the Spanish and the English went one step further and allowed the word novel (Spanish: novela) to become their regular term for fictional narratives.
• The period 1700-1800 saw the rise of a "new romance" in reaction to the production of potentially scandalous novels. The movement encountered a complex situation in the English market, where the term "new romance" could hardly be ventured, after the novel had done so much to transform taste. The new genre also adopted the name novel: this new novel was a work of new epic proportions, with the effect that the English (and Spanish) eventually needed a new word for the original short "novel": The term novella was created to fill the gap in English; "short story" brought a further refinement.

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Finished The Lost Symbol just in time for NYE.. not a bad read, but I like his first two Langdon novels better.
brettermichael (Brett Salsbury) Thu, 31 Dec 2009 23:39:50 -0000
Finished The Lost Symbol just in time for NYE.. not a bad read, but I like his first two Langdon novels better.
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