Portal:Novels
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The Novels Portal
A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The English word to describe such a work derives from the Italian: novella for "new", "news", or "short story (of something new)", itself from the Latin: novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of novellus, diminutive of novus, meaning "new". According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, Medieval Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian Renaissance novella. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, in the historical romances of Walter Scott and the Gothic novel. Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, and John Cowper Powys, preferred the term "romance". M. H. Abrams and Walter Scott have argued that a novel is a fiction narrative that displays a realistic depiction of the state of a society, while the romance encompasses any fictitious narrative that emphasizes marvellous or uncommon incidents. Works of fiction that include marvellous or uncommon incidents are also novels, including Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Such "romances" should not be confused with the genre fiction romance novel, which focuses on romantic love.
Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji, an early 11th-century Japanese text, has sometimes been described as the world's first novel, because of its early use of the experience of intimacy in a narrative form. There is considerable debate over this, however, as there were certainly long fictional prose works that preceded it. The spread of printed books in China led to the appearance of classical Chinese novels during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), and Qing dynasty (1616–1911). An early example from Europe was Hayy ibn Yaqdhan by the Sufi writer Ibn Tufayl in Muslim Spain. Later developments occurred after the invention of the printing press. Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote (the first part of which was published in 1605), is frequently cited as the first significant European novelist of the modern era. Literary historian Ian Watt, in The Rise of the Novel (1957), argued that the modern novel was born in the early 18th century.
Recent technological developments have led to many novels also being published in non-print media: this includes audio books, web novels, and ebooks. Another non-traditional fiction format can be found in graphic novels. While these comic book versions of works of fiction have their origins in the 19th century, they have only become popular recently. (Full article...)
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A Wizard of Earthsea is a fantasy novel written by American author Ursula K. Le Guin and first published by the small press Parnassus in 1968. It is regarded as a classic of children's literature and of fantasy, within which it is widely influential. The story is set in the fictional archipelago of Earthsea and centers on a young mage named Ged, born in a village on the island of Gont. He displays great power while still a boy and joins a school of wizardry, where his prickly nature drives him into conflict with a fellow student. During a magical duel, Ged's spell goes awry and releases a shadow creature that attacks him. The novel follows Ged's journey as he seeks to be free of the creature.
The book has often been described as a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story, as it explores Ged's process of learning to cope with power and come to terms with death. The novel also carries Taoist themes about a fundamental balance in the universe of Earthsea, which wizards are supposed to maintain, closely tied to the idea that language and names have power to affect the material world and alter this balance. The structure of the story is similar to that of a traditional epic, although critics have also described it as subverting this genre in many ways, such as by making the protagonist dark-skinned in contrast to more typical white-skinned heroes. (Full article...)
Selected novel quote
- Is it that by its indefiniteness it shadows forth the heartless voids and immensities of the universe, and thus stabs us from behind with the thought of annihilation, when beholding the white depths of the milky way? Or is it, that as in essence whiteness is not so much a color as the visible absence of color; and at the same time the concrete of all colors; is it for these reasons that there is such a dumb blankness, full of meaning, in a wide landscape of snows- a colorless, all-color of atheism from which we shrink? And when we consider that other theory of the natural philosophers, that all other earthly hues — every stately or lovely emblazoning — the sweet tinges of sunset skies and woods; yea, and the gilded velvets of butterflies, and the butterfly cheeks of young girls; all these are but subtile deceits, not actually inherent in substances, but only laid on from without; so that all deified Nature absolutely paints like the harlot, whose allurements cover nothing but the charnel-house within; and when we proceed further, and consider that the mystical cosmetic which produces every one of her hues, the great principle of light, for ever remains white or colorless in itself, and if operating without medium upon matter, would touch all objects, even tulips and roses, with its own blank tinge — pondering all this, the palsied universe lies before us a leper; and like wilful travellers in Lapland, who refuse to wear colored and coloring glasses upon their eyes, so the wretched infidel gazes himself blind at the monumental white shroud that wraps all the prospect around him. And of all these things the Albino whale was the symbol. Wonder ye then at the fiery hunt?
Did you know...
- ...that The Vampyre (pictured) was a short novel first published on April 1, 1819 in parts in the New Monthly Magazine with the false attribution "A Tale by Lord Byron"?
- ...that Prathapa Mudaliar Charithram was the first novel in Tamil?
- ...that Sara Gruen’s historical novel Water for Elephants recounts that circus workers were sometimes thrown off the circus train in the middle of the night, a practice known as "redlighting"?
General images
- Image 1Harlequin novels (from Romance novel)
- Image 3Adventure novels and short stories were popular subjects for American pulp magazines. (from Adventure fiction)
- Image 6King Kong (1932) novelization of King Kong (1933) (from Novelization)
- Image 7One of the most influential novels on the picaresque genre was The Golden Ass by Apuleius, which he published sometime in the 2nd century AD. (ms. Vat. Lat. 2194, Vatican Library) (1345 illustration). (from Picaresque novel)
- Image 11Paper as the essential carrier: Murasaki Shikibu writing her The Tale of Genji in the early 11th century, 17th-century depiction (from Novel)
- Image 121719 newspaper reprint of Robinson Crusoe (from Novel)
- Image 14A modern-day chapbook (from Chapbook)
- Image 18Intimate short stories: The Court and City Vagaries (1711). (from Novel)
- Image 19"Oh Edward! How can you?", a late-19th-century illustration from Sense and Sensibility (1811) by Jane Austen, a pioneer of the genre (from Romance novel)
- Image 22Madame de Pompadour spending her afternoon with a book (François Boucher, 1756) (from Novel)
- Image 23Chaucer reciting Troilus and Criseyde: early-15th-century manuscript of the work at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (from Novel)
- Image 25Chapbook frontispiece of Voltaire's The Extraordinary Tragical Fate of Calas, showing Jean Calas being tortured on a breaking wheel, late 18th century (from Chapbook)
- Image 26A nineteenth-century painting by the Swiss-French painter Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre depicting a scene from Longus's Daphnis and Chloe (from Romance novel)
- Image 29The picaresque genre began with the Spanish novel Lazarillo de Tormes (1554) (Pictured: Its title page) (from Picaresque novel)
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This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{WikiProject Novels}}) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options. |
Featured articles
- Ace Books
- All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
- A Beautiful Crime
- Big Two-Hearted River
- Boenga Roos dari Tjikembang (novel)
- The Bread-Winners
- Brother Jonathan (novel)
- Burger's Daughter
- Candide
- Casino Royale (novel)
- A Christmas Carol
- The Coral Island
- Cousin Bette
- The Day Before the Revolution
- Len Deighton
- Diamonds Are Forever (novel)
- The Diary of a Nobody
- Doc Savage (magazine)
- Dr. No (novel)
- Drama dari Krakatau
- Dreamsnake
- Farseer trilogy
- The Fountainhead
- The Fox and the Hound (novel)
- From Russia, with Love (novel)
- The General in His Labyrinth
- Gods' Man
- Goldfinger (novel)
- The Good Terrorist
- The Great Gatsby
- The Green Child
- Halo: Contact Harvest
- A Handful of Dust
- The Hardy Boys
- The Historian
- Hogwarts Express (Universal Orlando Resort)
- The Hunger Games (novel)
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
- In Our Time (short story collection)
- Indian Camp
- Irish Thoroughbred
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
- Lad, A Dog
- The Left Hand of Darkness
- Live and Let Die (novel)
- Logan (novel)
- Louis Lambert (novel)
- The Man in the Moone
- Mom & Me & Mom
- The Monster (novella)
- Moonraker (novel)
- Naruto
- Night (memoir)
- The Open Boat
- The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold
- Paradises Lost
- Pattern Recognition (novel)
- La Peau de chagrin
- The Penelopiad
- Père Goriot
- The Phantom Tollbooth
- The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H.
- Rachel Dyer
- Raptor Red
- Reception history of Jane Austen
- The Red Badge of Courage
- J. K. Rowling
- El Señor Presidente
- Seventy-Six (novel)
- A Song Flung Up to Heaven
- Southern Cross (wordless novel)
- The Spy Who Loved Me (novel)
- Starship Troopers
- The Sun Also Rises
- Tom Swift
- The Temple at Thatch
- The Time Traveler's Wife
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- True at First Light
- Uncle Tom's Cabin
- Vision in White
- Emma Watson
- A Wizard of Earthsea
- Wordless novel
- Z. Marcas
Featured lists
- Aurealis Award for Best Horror Novel
- Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
- Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel
- Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel
- List of works by John Buchan
- List of Charmed novels and short stories
- List of works by Leslie Charteris
- Winston Churchill as writer
- Roald Dahl bibliography
- Len Deighton bibliography
- Arthur Conan Doyle bibliography
- The Flashman Papers
- List of works by H. Rider Haggard
- List of Harry Potter cast members
- List of works by Georgette Heyer
- List of works by E. W. Hornung
- Hugo Award for Best Novel
- Hugo Award for Best Novelette
- Hugo Award for Best Novella
- Hugo Award for Best Short Story
- List of James Bond novels and short stories
- John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
- List of works by W. E. Johns
- List of works by Kwee Tek Hoay
- Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror
- List of awards and nominations received by J. K. Rowling
- List of works by W. Somerset Maugham
- List of works by H. C. McNeile
- Nebula Award for Best Novella
- Nebula Award for Best Novel
- Newbery Medal
- List of Nobel laureates in Literature
- List of Women's Prize for Fiction winners
- George Orwell bibliography
- List of works by Sax Rohmer
- List of works by Dorothy L. Sayers
- Theodore Sturgeon Award
- P. G. Wodehouse bibliography
- World Fantasy Award—Anthology
- World Fantasy Award—Collection
- World Fantasy Award—Novella
- World Fantasy Award—Novel
- World Fantasy Award—Short Fiction
- World Fantasy Special Award—Non-professional
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Featured pictures
- File:Alfons Mucha - 1896 - La Dame aux Camélias - Sarah Bernhardt.jpg
- File:Archibald Standish Hartrick - Rudyard Kipling - Soldier Tales 18 - The Taking of Lungtungpen 1.jpg
- File:Archibald Standish Hartrick - Rudyard Kipling - Soldier Tales 19 - The Taking of Lungtungpen 2.jpg
- File:Jules-Joseph Lefebvre, Graziella, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg
- File:N. M. Price - Sir Walter Scott - Guy Mannering - At the Kaim of Derncleugh.jpg
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