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Romance versus Realism: The Origins of the Novel
- pmoriarty 6y agoThe first novel that I'm aware of is Apuleius' "The Golden Ass"[1], which was written in the 2nd Century AD. It's highly entertaining, and sounded very modern to my ear. When I read of the novel form being invented more than a thousand years later I'm at a loss as to whether the people who claim that are simply ignorant of Apuleius' work or if I'm missing something. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Ass https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Ass
- bodhiandpysics1 6y agoYou're missing something... sort of. Yes, these authors are aware of Apuleus. They might even be aware of day the Tale of Genji, or Dream of the Red Chamber, or Njall's Saga, or even say the book of Samuel in the Bible, all of which are earlier examples of novel like things! If you define the novel as a long prose story then obviously there are many examples before Don Quijote or Robinson Crusoe! The question that the article asks is the history of the modern western novel, in all its particularity.
- jessaustin 6y agoOne suspects that if these particulars were ever stated plainly (as didn't happen in TFA, for instance), many modern published "novels" would be found to lack them? It may be that the line was drawn here, and no further, merely because Elizabethan English is difficult for modern readers. Otherwise we'd realize that any written language has novels as a matter of course.