Of all the literary genres that one becomes familiar with as a student of Literature, it is the novel which is impactful because of its presence and dominance. One cannot diminish the importance of other modes of literary expression just because one fancies the Novel but the truth is that the novel has overwhelmed the literary sensibility of the public, and predominates our literary discussion due to the sheer volume of its production. Just when the novel started to dominate literary discourse and what are its moorings? Where did it originate? What were the earliest novels like? How did the novel displace drama as the chief source of literary entertainment? What is the present novel like? And what is the future of the novel are all questions which are very interesting to deliberate as all these developments have charted this form of expression over the years. One of the observations about the novel which I find very succinct is given by Marion Crawford who says a novel is like a Pocket theater. What does a novel not contain? Underlining its uniqueness as a genre which can easily encompass the features of various forms of literary expression like the drama, the epic and the short story the Novel has well and truly occupied the collective imagination of the public. But where did the journey start? The Ethiopian Story by Heliodorus is said to be one of the earliest Occidental novels and The Tale of Genji is said to be one of the earliest Oriental novels (The Pigeon holing is a little complicated but I have used it for the sake of convenience) But for readers of English Literature who are not familiar with other languages, the novels of Daniel Defoe: Moll Flanders, Roxanna, Robinson Crusoe are the first steps in the evolution of the novel. The novels of Cervantes had already established a firm footing for the novel in Europe by then. The peregrinating, philosophical knight in arms looking for battles to rescue maidens, damsels, the weak and the distressed in the form of Don Quixote provided a different perspective to the novel from its very early days; that of irony, satire, contrast and study of character as a canopy for the novel. From these examples, the novel became something more than a story of battle, adventure, escapade or exploits. It started to have the human element along with the other features which mark a story like plot, suspense, the presence of good and evil, the struggle of the truthful and the sincere, the triumph of the good people and the defeat of the evil. The human element is important because some of the greatest novels that one comes across later in the history of the novel like, Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure or Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina are about us. Very often this setting up or positing one against the other as the external novel versus the internal novel is something one comes across in a literary discussion. An external novel being more about plot, twists, incidents and situations like The Prisoner of Zenda and an internal novel being more about character, soul searching, deliberation, philosophical argument and so on as in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov. But again this kind of separation is nearly impossible in a novel because the external and the internal impinge upon each other continuously and the characters do react to external circumstances. However the differentiation provides a view into the mood of the novel and offers an insight into the limitless possibilities of the novel as a genre.
“People wonder why the novel is the most popular form of literature; people wonder why it is read more than books of science or books of metaphysics. The reason is very simple; it is merely that the novel is more true than they are.”
― G. K. Chesterton
Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay. I'm always irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality and it's very shocking to the system.”
― Flannery O'Connor,
“Writing fiction is the act of weaving a series of lies to arrive at a greater truth.”
― Khaled Hosseini
It is only a novel… or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humor, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language”
― Jane Austen,
The quotes given above highlight the wide spectrum of experience and emotion that the novel is supposed to cover. After the epics and the great religious books it is the novel which defines our existence as a form of art and as a document on life.
Falling short of being called a historian or a sociologist per se, novelists reflect about the society they are in, the people, the community, their habits, inclinations, predilections, moral attitudes and struggles. A novel therefore is a reflection on society and a delineation of human nature. Even in an allegorical novel like George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the characters are caricatures or representative symbols of human beings who convey emotions like greed, thirst for power, loyalty, bravery, slyness and other qualities amply in display in society. Similarly novelists like Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, WM Thackeray and Charles Dickens have been extraordinary examples of the novelist’s powers of observation, his or her ability to see the undercurrents in social behavior which could characterize a particular time and age. The behavior of Hardy’s rural characters in several of his novels like Return of the native, Jude the obscure, Mayor of Caster bridge, Tess of the D’Urbervilles for example reflect a native sensibility in clash with emerging tendencies like hypocrisy, genteelness, the power of money etc. The mood of these novels is a powerful picture on the perils of commerce and industrialization looming on a pastoral England of which the inhabitants are Hardy’s principal protagonists. And for them Hardy’s heart beats as they are left to fend for themselves in this clever, impersonal and unfeeling modern world.
On the subject matter of the novel there is nothing that cannot be said. A book like War and Peace can be placed beside a book like Catch -22 and both will be called novels. The novel covers everything like a DAY in Dublin for Leopold Bloom or an entire history of the Cossacks as in Quiet flows the Don.
A novel could be a purely professional attempt to entertain and thrill the readers or it could be a purely personal attempt emanating from an urge of the writer to tell a story. As an example we could talk about the novels of Charles Dickens or Alexandre Dumas who produced novels at a prolific pace to meet the publisher’s deadline, sometimes even under duress. Novels like “Tale of two cities” or “The Count of Monte Cristo “have carved a niche for themselves in the history of fiction for their raciness and eminent readability. They have been read by millions of readers and been made into films by many film makers. Their storyline fits into what is usually called a popular thriller. A novel like Marcel Proust’s “ Magic mountain “ or Gao Xingjian’s “ Soul Mountain” could not be more apart from a novel like “ The Man in the Iron Mask” written by Alexandre Dumas. The subject matter of a novel can be anything. One of the reasons for the popularity of the novel is the point regarding convenience. A writer is free to start writing anything that comes to mind. Strict conventions that govern works like the Drama or an epic are not applicable here. Therefore the novel is the most suitable form of representation. Even if it has an autobiographical element, it still becomes a novel as long as the novelist does not declare it to be his/her autobiography.
William Dalrymple’s works like The Last Mughal or The City of Djinns, though they are purported to be histories have the quality of a novel largely because of the dexterity with which the author is able to weave legend, myth, history and fact into an astonishing work of art. Mark Tully’s No full stops in India is a collection of essays. Yet it has the feel of a novel to it because the essays are an exploration into the character of the country and also reveal something about the author’s fascination for his subject matter.
It could be said therefore that being personal is the quality of the novel. It is a personal work in that it involves the author, his or her experience and even when the author is suppressive of his/her presence by positing the characters to speak for themselves, it is the author who is mediating the responses and the action in the novel.
The brief comparison with the drama and the epic need little more elucidation. A drama is all about action. Therefore the authorial voice is not possible for longer periods of time. Any voice over or introduction in the form of a prologue or an epilogue can only be brief. The epic, being one of the earliest forms of expression is no longer employed as a narrative, but it has certain rigid conventions like; a theme which concerns Gods and Humans, an invocation to the muse and the employment of a grand style with similes and metaphors. Burlesquing the epic form, several mock-epics also have been written in English: Mac Flecknoe by John Dryden and The Rape of the Lock are examples. Emerging from the conventions of these initial art forms, but also assimilating their features into its fold, the novel has truly dominated the form of narrative expression in the modern era.
Why don’t people read plays and poetry on such a scale as they read novels is an interesting debate. Again short stories are written voluminously and read. The same kind of readership does not seem to be available for poetry or drama. Serious readers who have a literary bent of mind may be going through poems and plays but a majority of the readers are not even aware of such forms of literary expression. The reason is not hard to find and one can place the reason in the value readers attach to a story. Engaging the interest of a reader is the quintessential quality of a story. When a novel lacks a story it has to sustain the interest of the reader by other means: (To be continued)