Novel - Entertainment, Education, Reflection

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data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/novel">novel</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/art/novel">Introduction & Top Questions</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref50973"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel#ref50973">Elements</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50974"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel#ref50974">Plot</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50975"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Character">Character</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50976"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Character#ref50976">Scene, or setting</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50977"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Narrative-method-and-point-of-view">Narrative method and point of view</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50978"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Narrative-method-and-point-of-view#ref50978">Scope, or dimension</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50979"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Narrative-method-and-point-of-view#ref50979">Myth, symbolism, significance</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref50980"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Uses">Uses</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50981"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Uses#ref50981">Interpretation of life</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50982"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Uses#ref50982">Entertainment or escape</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50983"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Propaganda">Propaganda</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50984"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Propaganda#ref50984">Reportage</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50985"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Propaganda#ref50985">Agent of change in language and thought</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50986"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Expression-of-the-spirit-of-its-age">Expression of the spirit of its age</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50987"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Expression-of-the-spirit-of-its-age#ref50987">Creator of life-style and arbiter of taste</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref50988"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Style">Style</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50989"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Style#ref50989">Romanticism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50990"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Style#ref50990">Realism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50991"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Naturalism">Naturalism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50992"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Naturalism#ref50992">Impressionism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50993"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Naturalism#ref50993">Expressionism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50994"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Naturalism#ref50994">Avant-gardism</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref50995"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Types-of-novel">Types of novel</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50996"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Types-of-novel#ref50996">Historical</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50997"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Types-of-novel#ref50997">Picaresque</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50998"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Types-of-novel#ref50998">Sentimental</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref50999"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Types-of-novel#ref50999">Gothic</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51000"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Types-of-novel#ref51000">Psychological</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51001"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/The-novel-of-manners">The novel of manners</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51002"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/The-novel-of-manners#ref51002">Epistolary</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51003"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/The-novel-of-manners#ref51003">Pastoral</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51004"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/The-novel-of-manners#ref51004">Apprenticeship</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51005"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Roman-a-clef">Roman à clef</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51006"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Roman-a-clef#ref51006">Antinovel</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51007"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Roman-a-clef#ref51007">Cult, or coterie, novels</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51008"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Roman-a-clef#ref51008">Detective, mystery, thriller</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51009"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Roman-a-clef#ref51009">Western</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51010"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/The-best-seller">The best seller</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51011"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/The-best-seller#ref51011">Fantasy and prophecy</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51012"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/The-best-seller#ref51012">Proletarian</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref51013"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/The-best-seller#ref51013">Other types</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref51036"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Social-and-economic-aspects">Social and economic aspects</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref51037"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Evaluation-and-study">Evaluation and study</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref51038"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/novel/Evaluation-and-study#ref51038">The future of the novel</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/novel/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/novel">Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif font-14 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Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). </div> <div class="type-menu"> <label for="feedback-type" class="label mb-10">Feedback Type</label> <select id="feedback-type" class="form-select mb-30" name="feedbackTypeId" required> <option value="" selected="selected">Select a type (Required)</option> <option value="1">Factual Correction</option> <option value="2">Spelling/Grammar Correction</option> <option value="3">Link Correction</option> <option value="4">Additional Information</option> <option value="5">Other</option> </select> </div> <label for="feedback" class="label mb-10">Your Feedback</label> <textarea id="feedback" class="form-control mb-30" name="feedback" maxlength="3000" rows="7" required></textarea> <button class="btn btn-blue" type="submit">Submit Feedback</button> </form> <div class="success-messaging d-none mt-30"> <div class="title">Thank you for your feedback</div> <p>Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="md-websites-modal size-lg d-none"> <div class="md-modal-body"> <div class="h2 font-serif pb-15 border-bottom font-weight-bold"> External Websites </div> <div class="pb-20"> <ul class="list-unstyled mt-20 lh-lg"> <li><a class="external" href="https://literarydevices.net/novel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">Literary Devices - Novel</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.ijcrt.org/papers/IJCRT2005430.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts - Novel as an Epic</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://human.libretexts.org/Courses/Harrisburg_Area_Community_College/Introduction_to_Novel_Writing_(Girardi)/01%3A_Chapters/1.01%3A_What_is_a_novel" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">Humanities LibreTexts - What is a novel?</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.academia.edu/19235245/UNDERSTANDING_NOVEL_AS_A_MAJOR_FORM_OF_LITERATURE" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">Academia - Understanding novel as a major form of Literature</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="md-websites-ebk-title">Britannica Websites</div> <div class="md-websites-ebk-subtitle">Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.</div> <ul class="list-unstyled bps-topic-web-sites lh-lg"> <li><a class="external" href="https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/novel/390589" target="_blank" rel="noopener">novel - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/novel/276129" target="_blank" rel="noopener">novel - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="toc-header-marker"></div> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 js-header-ai-ask-button d-none btn-sm btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 mr-0 mr-lg-10 ml-5 ml-sm-10 ml-lg-0 p-10"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> <div class="md-byline module-spacing "> <div class="font-serif font-12"> <span class="written-by text-gray-700"> Written by </span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/Anthony-Burgess/421" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Anthony Burgess</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Anthony Burgess (1917-93) was an English novelist, critic, and man of letters whose fictional explorations of modern dilemmas combine wit, moral earnestness, and a note of the bizarre. His <em>A Clockwork...</em></div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Anthony Burgess</span></div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-10-28T00:00:00CDT" >Oct 28, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/novel/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Key People: </dt> <dd><a href="/biography/N-K-Jemisin" topicid="2190264">N.K. Jemisin</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Anthony-Horowitz" topicid="1895093">Anthony Horowitz</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Elena-Ferrante" topicid="2050102">Elena Ferrante</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Harold-Keith" topicid="1395882">Harold Keith</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Ben-Elton" topicid="2255621">Ben Elton</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Related Topics: </dt> <dd><a href="/art/graphic-novel" topicid="1020959">graphic novel</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/picaresque-novel" topicid="459267">picaresque novel</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/Booker-Prize" topicid="73580">Booker Prize</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/epistolary-novel" topicid="190331">epistolary novel</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/psychological-novel" topicid="481652">psychological novel</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/novel"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><div class="bg-gray-50 p-15 rounded module-spacing recent-news d-flex flex-column float-false"> <div> <h2 class="font-weight-bold font-14 m-0 d-inline"> News <span class="text-gray-600">•</span> </h2> <div class="recent-news-item first-recent-news-item d-inline"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/11/18/stranger-than-fiction-edwin-frank-book-review" rel="nofollow">Is the Twentieth-Century Novel a Genre?</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 11, 2024, 12:17 AM ET (The New Yorker) </span> </div> </div> <div class="rest-of-recent-news-items"> <button class="js-toggle-recent-news d-flex btn btn-unstyled font-14 pr-10 rounded-sm mt-10" aria-label="Toggle additional news items"> Show less <em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_less"></em> </button> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><span class="marker h3"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref50980">  <section data-level="2" id="ref50981"> <h2 class="h2">Interpretation of life</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Novels are not expected to be <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="didactic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/didactic" data-type="MW">didactic</a>, like tracts or <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="morality" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/morality" data-type="MW">morality</a> plays; nevertheless, in varying degrees of implicitness, even the “purest” works of fictional art convey a philosophy of life. The novels of <span id="ref503925"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jane-Austen" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jane Austen</a>, designed primarily as superior entertainment, imply a desirable ordered existence, in which the comfortable <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="decorum" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decorum" data-type="MW">decorum</a> of an English rural family is disturbed only by a not-too-serious shortage of money, by love affairs that go temporarily wrong, and by the intrusion of self-centered stupidity. The good, if unrewarded for their goodness, suffer from no permanent injustice. Life is seen, not only in Jane Austen’s novels but in the whole current of bourgeois Anglo-American <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/fiction-literature" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">fiction</a>, as fundamentally reasonable and decent. When wrong is committed, it is usually punished, thus fulfilling <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Miss-Prism" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Miss Prism’s</a> summation in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Oscar-Wilde" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Oscar Wilde’s</a> play <em><span id="ref503926"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Importance-of-Being-Earnest" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">The Importance of Being Earnest</a></em> (1895), to the effect that in a novel the good characters end up happily and the bad characters unhappily: “that is why it is called fiction.”</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">That kind of fiction called realistic, which has its origins in 19th-century France, chose the other side of the coin, showing that there was no <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="justice" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/justice" data-type="MW">justice</a> in life and that the evil and the stupid must prevail. In the novels of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Hardy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Thomas Hardy</a> there is a pessimism that may be taken as a corrective of bourgeois Panglossianism—the philosophy that everything happens for the best, satirized in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Voltaire" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Voltaire’s</a> <em>Candide</em> (1759)—since the universe is presented as almost impossibly malevolent. This tradition is regarded as morbid, and it has been deliberately ignored by most popular novelists. The “Catholic” novelists—such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Mauriac" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">François Mauriac</a> in France, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Graham-Greene" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Graham Greene</a> in England, and others—see life as mysterious, full of wrong and evil and injustice inexplicable by human <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="canons" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/canons" data-type="EB">canons</a> but necessarily acceptable in terms of the plans of an inscrutable God. Between the period of realistic pessimism, which had much to do with the agnosticism and determinism of 19th-century <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/science" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">science</a>, and the introduction of theological evil into the novel, writers such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/H-G-Wells" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">H.G. Wells</a> attempted to create a fiction based on optimistic liberalism. As a reaction, there was the depiction of “natural man” in the novels of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/D-H-Lawrence" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">D.H. Lawrence</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ernest-Hemingway" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Ernest Hemingway</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">For the most part, the view of life common to American and European fiction since <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">World War II</a> posits the existence of evil—whether theological or of that brand discovered by the French Existentialists, particularly Jean-Paul Sartre—and assumes that man is imperfect and life possibly absurd. The fiction of the former Communist Europe was based on a very different assumption, one that seems naïve and old-fashioned in its <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="collective" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collective" data-type="MW">collective</a> optimism to readers in the disillusioned <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="democracies" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democracies" data-type="MW">democracies</a>. It is to be noted that in the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="erstwhile" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/erstwhile" data-type="MW">erstwhile</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Soviet-Union" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Soviet Union</a> <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="aesthetic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aesthetic" data-type="MW">aesthetic</a> evaluation of fiction was replaced by ideological judgment. Accordingly, the works of the popular British writer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/A-J-Cronin" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">A.J. Cronin</a>, since they seem to depict personal <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/tragedy-literature" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">tragedy</a> as an emanation of capitalistic infamy, were rated higher than those of Conrad, James, and their peers.</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="2" id="ref50982"> <h2 class="h2">Entertainment or escape</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In a period that takes for granted that the written word should be “committed”—to the exposure of social wrong or the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="propagation" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/propagation" data-type="MW">propagation</a> of progressive ideologies—novelists who seek merely to take the reader out of his dull or oppressive daily life are not highly regarded, except by that reading public that has never expected a book to be anything more than a diversion. Nevertheless, the provision of laughter and dreams has been for many centuries a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="legitimate" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legitimate" data-type="MW">legitimate</a> literary occupation. It can be condemned by serious devotees of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/literature" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">literature</a> only if it falsifies life through oversimplification and tends to corrupt its readers into belief that reality is as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/author" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">author</a> presents it. The novelettes once beloved of mill girls and domestic servants, in which the beggar maid was elevated to queendom by a king of high finance, were a mere narcotic, a sort of enervating opium of the oppressed; the encouragement of such subliterature might well be one of the devices of social oppression. Adventure stories and spy novels may have a healthy enough astringency, and the very preposterousness of some adventures can be a safeguard against any impressionable young reader’s neglecting the claims of real life to dream of becoming a secret agent. The subject matter of some humorous novels—such as the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="effete" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/effete" data-type="MW">effete</a> British <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="aristocracy" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aristocracy" data-type="MW">aristocracy</a> created by P.G. Wodehouse, which is no longer in existence if it ever was—can never be identified with a real human society; the dream is accepted as a dream. The same may be said of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Evelyn-Waugh" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Evelyn Waugh’s</a> early novels—such as <em>Decline and Fall</em> (1928) and <em>Vile Bodies</em> (1930)—but these are raised above mere entertainment by touching, almost incidentally, on real human issues (the relation of the innocent to a circumambient malevolence is a persistent theme in all Waugh’s writing).</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Any reader of fiction has a right to an occasional escape from the dullness or misery of his existence, but he has the critical duty of finding the best modes of escape—in the most efficiently engineered detective or adventure stories, in humor that is more than <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="sentimental" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/sentimental" data-type="EB">sentimental</a> buffoonery, in dreams of love that are not mere <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/pornography" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">pornography</a>. The fiction of entertainment and escape frequently sets itself higher literary standards than novels with a profound social or philosophical purpose. Books like John Buchan’s <em>Thirty-nine Steps</em> (1915), Graham Greene’s <em>Travels with My Aunt</em> (1969), <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dashiell-Hammett" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Dashiell Hammett’s</a> <em>Maltese Falcon</em> (1930), and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Raymond-Chandler" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Raymond Chandler’s</a> <em>Big Sleep</em> (1939) are distinguished pieces of writing that, while diverting and enthralling, keep a hold on the realities of human character. Ultimately, all good fiction is entertainment, and, if it instructs or <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="enlightens" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/enlightens" data-type="MW">enlightens</a>, it does so best through enchanting the reader.</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-read-more-module" href="/art/Arabic-literature/The-short-story#ref945701" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/56/67356-050-D67FCB0B/World-distribution-Islam.jpg" alt="world distribution of Islam" class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-navy-dark">More From Britannica</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">Arabic literature: The novel</div> </div> </a><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":4,"pagesTotal":14,"pageId":421071,"pageLength":978,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"B","adLeg":"B","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":4,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Novel - Entertainment, Education, Reflection | Britannica