KINDS OF NOVEL

KINDS OF NOVEL

1. Novel of Manners:

In its general form, the novel of manners is concerned with subtle nuances of behavior and standards of correctness, usually in upper-class life. Novels of manners describe small encounters and use insights from these incidents to make generalizations that apply to humanity as a whole.

‘Pride and Prejudice’ (1813) by English writer Jane Austen describes bad behavior, ungentlemanly conduct, and the distinctions between the pride of self-respect and the various forms of arrogance, willfulness, and self-absorption into which this pride can be twisted. Austen’s novel focuses on the three Bennet sisters’ attempts to find husbands. The work features characters such as the reckless, man-chasing Lydia Bennet, the pompous Lady Catherine de Bourgh, the obsequious Mr. Collins, the snobbish Caroline Bingley, the cynical Mr. Bennet, the inane Mrs. Bennet, and the vulgar Mrs. Philips. Typical maneuverings are those of Caroline, a young woman who tries to impress Mr. Darcy by pretending to read a book he is reading. In the novel of manners, such moments, although seemingly trivial, expose the character of a person.

2. Psychological Novel:

The psychological novel’s intent is to reveal its characters’ inner selves at a particular time in life. In terms of style, many psychological novels feature interior monologue and stream of consciousness; these are literary techniques that give the reader direct access to the inner thoughts of characters.

One famous example of a psychological novel is The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by American writer J. D. Salinger. The novel is narrated by Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old boy who has just flunked out of his third prep school. Unwilling to remain at school until the end of the term, Holden runs away to New York City. He does not contact his parents, who live there, but instead drifts around the city for two days. Finally, drawn by the affection for his ten-year-old sister, Phoebe, Holden returns home. Although Holden tries to appear tough, his idealism is revealed when he tells Phoebe that he would like to be “the catcher in the rye”—the defender of childhood innocence—who would stand in a field of rye where thousands of children are playing and “catch anybody if they start to go over the cliff.”

3. Education Novel:

The education novel describes stages in the life of its main character as the individual develops as a person. For example, in Great Expectations (1860-1861), English author Charles Dickens describes a boy named Pip as he grows up and the challenges he faces as he comes to terms with his own actions. The Mill on the Floss (1860) by English novelist George Eliot deals with a young girl and the consequences of her passions.

4. Science Fiction Novel:

A novel in which futuristic technology or otherwise altered scientific principles contribute in a significant way to the adventures. Some common subjects for science fiction include space travel, time travel, the discovery of other intelligent beings in space, and the creation of self-aware robots. Frankenstein (1818) by English novelist Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley is often cited as one of the precursors to science-fiction novels. It is the tale of a doctor who uses body parts to construct an artificial man.

In the late 1800s English author H. G. Wells was a great influence on science fiction, with novels such as ‘The Time Machine’ (1895), about a man who travels forward in time; ‘The Invisible Man’ (1897), about a man who turns himself invisible; and ‘The War of the Worlds’ (1898), about a Martian invasion of Earth.

5. Romance Novel:

Romance novels are stories of love. One of the first great romances was ‘Jane Eyre’ (1847) by English novelist Charlotte Brontë, about a young orphan girl who gains a job as a governess and finds love with her employer. Rebecca (1938), by British writer Daphne du Maurier, tells of a young woman who marries a widower and becomes preoccupied with what kind of woman the man’s first wife was.

A classic romance is Love Story (1970) by Erich Segal, about a man from a wealthy family who marries a poor girl who dies young.

6. Historical Novel:

The historical novel places its characters in a past time. The novelist attempts to portray that era realistically in both fact and spirit. A novel where fictional characters take part in actual historical events and interact with real people from the past.

The first major historical novel was ‘Waverley’ (1814) by Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott. This novel and its many sequels revolve around historical events in Scotland, England, and many other regions of the world.

                        Examples

                                     I.      Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe

                                  II.      Sir Walter Scott, Waverly

                               III.      James Fenimore Cooper, Last of the Mohicans

7. Adventure novel:

A novel where exciting events are more important than character development and sometimes theme.

                                    Examples:

                                     I.      H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines

                                  II.      Baroness Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel

                               III.      Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers

                                IV.      Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

8. Autobiographical novel:

A novel based on the author's life experience. Many novelists include in their books people and events from their own lives because remembrance is easier than creation from scratch. Examples:

James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel

9. Epistolary novel:

A novel consisting of letters written by a character or several characters. The form allows for the use of multiple points of view toward the story and the ability to dispense with an omniscient narrator.

                        Examples:

                                     I.      Samuel Richardson, Pamela

                                  II.      Samuel Richardson, Clarissa

                               III.      Fanny Burney, Evelina

                                IV.      C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

                                   V.      Hannah W. Foster, The Coquette

10. Gothic novel:

A novel in which supernatural horrors and an atmosphere of unknown terror pervades the action. The setting is often a dark, mysterious castle, where ghosts and sinister humans roam menacingly. Horace Walpole invented the genre with his ‘Castle of Otranto’. Gothic elements include these:

• Ancient prophecy, especially mysterious, obscure, or hard to understand.
• Mystery and suspense
• High emotion, sentimentalism, but also pronounced anger, surprise, and especially terror
• Supernatural events (e.g. a giant, a sighing portrait, ghosts or their apparent presence, a skeleton)
• Omens, portents, dream visions
• Fainting, frightened, screaming women
• Women threatened by powerful, impetuous male
• Setting in a castle, especially with secret passages
• The metonymy of gloom and horror (wind, rain, doors grating on rusty hinges, howls in the distance, distant sighs, footsteps approaching, lights in abandoned rooms, gusts of wind blowing out lights or blowing suddenly, characters trapped in rooms or imprisoned)
• The vocabulary of the gothic (use of words indicating fear, mystery, etc.: apparition, devil, ghost, haunted, terror, fright)

                        Examples

                               I.      Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto

                            II.      William Beckford, Vathek

                         III.      Anne Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho

                          IV.      Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

                             V.      Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca

11. Picaresque novel:

An episodic, often autobiographical novel about a rogue or picaro (a person of low social status) wandering around and living off his wits. The wandering hero provides the author with the opportunity to connect widely different pieces of plot, since the hero can wander into any situation. Picaresque novels tend to be satiric and filled with petty detail.

                        Examples:

                                     I.      Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders

                                  II.      Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote

                               III.      Henry Fielding, Jonathan Wild

12. Regional novel:

A novel faithful to a particular geographic region and its people, including behavior, customs, speech, and history.

                        Examples

                                     I.      Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

                                  II.      Thomas Hardy, Return of the Native

13. Sentimental novel:

A type of novel, popular in the eighteenth century, that overemphasizes emotion and seeks to create emotional responses in the reader. The type also usually features an overly optimistic view of the goodness of human nature.

                                    Examples

                                     I.      Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield

                                  II.      Henry Mackenzie, The Man of Feeling

                               III.      Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey

                                IV.      Thomas Day, The History of Sandford and Merton

14. Stream of consciousness Novel:

This is a method of writing that tries to locate predicaments in the mind of the person. Our thoughts jump around and exhibit hopes and fears and the need for instant decisions on all kinds of matters, with intrusions from all over the place. This works very badly with a neutral third person God-like narrator. The sentences of characters' thoughts disobey ordinary grammatical rules and may leave their meaning ambivalent.

                        Examples

                                      I.      Ulysses (1922) by James Joyce

                                   II.      To the Lighthouse (1927) by Virginia Woolf