Rodgers 1/9/15 THE NOVEL: A CONTEMPORARY GENRE

 The novel is typically said to have emerged in the 18 th century, and along with this emergence, surpassed poetry and drama as the most popular genre.  Due to its contemporary (and popular) nature, the novel was (and sometimes still is) seen as the “least literary” genre.  Daniel Defoe’s works Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Moll Flanders (1722) are often credited as the first novels.  Works as early as Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur (1485), or other works of long prose (like Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels [1726]), could be contenders for the same honors, but… THE EMERGENCE OF THE NOVEL

 A novel should be wholly original and avoid retellings, as well as anthology or picaresque based narratives.  Allegorical or satirical narratives should be excluded (e.g. characters or events that are metaphorical or political).  Novels should be of a particular length.  This would exclude Le Morte d’Arthur (a collection, shifting protagonists, etc).  This would exclude Gulliver’s Travels, as the characters do not simply represent themselves.  A middling genre was introduced to appease this – the novella. IDEAS USED TO DISTINGUISH A NOVEL FROM OTHER PROSE

 The novel emerged during the same time that Hegelian, and eventually, Marxist philosophies were being developed.  Many of the developments in these philosophies mirror potential explanations for the novel as an emerging genre. AS A CONTEMPORARY GENRE, THE NOVEL IS TIED TO CONTEMPORARY THEORY

 Hegelian and Marxist philosophy both subsequently emerged as a response to idealistic philosophies that came prior – more specifically, Kantian philosophy.  Kant’s ideas on identity and morality were, in a very simple reduction, idealistic. His focus was largely on human and societal morality, and constructed ideas about ideal behavior. Through this, his philosophy also urged that nothing can exist “in of itself.”  Hegel opted for a more realistic view by focusing on “totality” and what exists/lives. Also, by identifying where a society is within Marx’s “stages of ownership,” we can see how this influences the type of art a society produces. THE NOVEL AS A REALISTIC GENRE

 Marx offered up communism as a cure for capitalism, which he argued would eventually break society down back into its individual parts.  Most developed societies continued forward in Marx’s cycle, breeding a greater sense of individualism. That, blended with modern views of totality, reflected into art as the novel.  The novel became a genre in communist societies, as well, but contained fundamental differences that reflected their society. Mainly, protagonists were groups/families rather than an individual. CAPITALISM VS. COMMUNISM

 In the 20 th century, as the novel became a more popular and dominant genre, theories began to develop to explain the rise of the genre and to define specific traits.  Georg Lukacs, a Marxist philosopher, wrote The Theory of the Novel (initially published in German in 1920, not universally published until 1971) theorized that the new guiding philosophies structured the novel based on the shift toward individualism and forward thinking.  Mikhail Bakhtin, a Russian philosopher, wrote an essay called “Discourse in the Novel” in 1941 (part of his greater work titled The Dialogic Imagination). He explains the novel as a genre that asserts freedom of expression through “heteroglossia” in a way that previous popular genres could not. INITIAL THEORIES OF THE NOVEL