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Even worse, Charles Dickens mostly wrote serialized novels that were published weekly in a newspaper. The closest modern equivalent is a weekly comic book (or
by lubujackson 2y ago
Even worse, Charles Dickens mostly wrote serialized novels that were published weekly in a newspaper.
The closest modern equivalent is a weekly comic book (or manga) that gets turned into a graphic novel after its run.
- nine_k 2y agoSpeaking of modern terms, I suppose the Iliad's "books" would be named "episodes", and the Odyssey would be "the next season".
- vundercind 2y agoIt was even a whole literary universe, full of intertwining storylines and crossing-over characters! We’ve lost most of it, but there were tons of works connected to the Iliad. It’s just the last year of a ten year war. The instigation of the war, events in gathering the allies on both sides, the voyage of the Greeks to Ilium, and other battles and skirmishes are alluded to, but not directly covered in Homer’s story. Then there’s the return of the heroes other than Odysseus! We have some of this in surviving tragedies, but know only titles and maybe topics for a whole bunch more. Then you’ve got all the national myths that connect to it. The Aeneid, the Round Table and broader “Matter of Britain”, et c.
- zozbot234 2y ago> It was even a whole literary universe, full of intertwining storylines and crossing-over characters! This is of course true of mythology more generally, not just the Trojan War literary cycle. Mythology was the "fictional universe(s)" of its day, that most cultured people would've been familiar with.
- dsclough 2y agoWasn’t crime and punishment published periodically in a magazine or something like it? What does this have to do with the quality?
- TeaBrain 2y agoThe suggestion that serialized/installment novels are similar to your analogy, or a reflection of their quality, is a misconception. Serialized novels were often completed before being released in installments, unlike a so-called comic run. It was often simply an alternative method of publishing. Other examples of serialized novels include The Count of Monte Cristo, Madame Bovary, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, Joyce's Ulysses, Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, and Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night. A Farewell to Arms, for example, was completed entirely before it was serialized in Scribner's. In the heyday of the Atlantic and Scribner's magazines, many of the best American writers would first publish their novels in installments prior to releasing as a single volume. It was considered a mark of success to publish in installments in one of the vaunted literary magazines.
- kbelder 2y agoWhy did you interpret being compared to a comic or manga as an insult to their quality?
- TeaBrain 2y agoIn short, that wasn't my meaning. My line about the quality was in response to the first line of the comment I replied to, where it was said "Even worse, Charles Dickens mostly wrote serialized novels", which makes it seem as if that commenter thought serialized novels were considered of poorer quality than the alternative of publishing in a single volume. My remark about not being similar to a comic run is separate, and is due to how installment novels were not necessarily continual works in progress like a comic.
- dmonitor 2y agoWe should bring back this format. Just like Netflix's "dump all at once" strategy stifles the pop impact of their series, I think you could get more interest in literature by adopting a chapter-by-chapter release cycle. You would need to jumpstart it with some big name authors to draw interest, but I could see it taking off as a format once the ball starts rolling.