What Is a Novel?

A novel is a long work of fiction that tells a story of human experiences through connected events, usually involving a plot, characters and themes. A novel typically ranges from 40,000 to over 100,000 words, and they can be written in a variety of genres such as romance, crime, science fiction, fantasy, and historical fiction. Novels are a popular form of literature and have been enjoyed by readers for centuries. They are usually published in book form, but also can be found in serialized form in magazines or newspapers, and now in electronic format as e-books.

Key Elements

• Plot, character and setting: what happens, to whom, and where and when.
• Point of view: first-person (I), third-person limited, or an all-knowing narrator.
• Theme: the central idea the story explores, such as ambition, love or injustice.
• Types: among many others: the bildungsroman or novel of growing up (Great Expectations), the epistolary novel told in letters, the historical novel and the gothic novel.

A Brief History

Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740) are usually named among the first English novels. The form flourished in the nineteenth century with Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and George Eliot. In Bengali, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's Durgeshnandini (1865) is regarded as the first major novel.

Reading a Novel

A novel asks for sustained attention. Keep brief notes on who the main characters are and what each one wants; follow how the narrator's voice shapes your sympathy; and notice the turning points where a character makes a choice that cannot be undone.

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