Book contents
- Technologies of the Novel
- Technologies of the Novel
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I
- 1 Truth Postures in the Novel of the Long Eighteenth Century
- 2 The Rise and Fall of the Aristotelian Novel
- Part II
- Part III
- Annex Premises and Protocols
- A Glossary of Novel Types
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - The Rise and Fall of the Aristotelian Novel
from Part I
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 November 2020
- Technologies of the Novel
- Technologies of the Novel
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I
- 1 Truth Postures in the Novel of the Long Eighteenth Century
- 2 The Rise and Fall of the Aristotelian Novel
- Part II
- Part III
- Annex Premises and Protocols
- A Glossary of Novel Types
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter backtracks to 1601, revealing that the vogue for novels said to be true (pseudofactual) was in fact the outcome of previous evolutions, rather than simply a traditional practice or a reaction against an earlier fanciful novel (often called romance). Specifically, during the seventeenth century the novel mimed epic and tragedy in borrowing its protagonists from history, becoming measurably more “Aristotelian” starting around the 1630s. It was this Aristotelian novel that subsequently declined in the face of the pseudofactual novel described in Chapter 1. Taken together, these two chapters demonstrate that modern critical investment in a “single birth” narrative — i.e., that the novel rose where once there was nothing like it — is untenable.
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- Technologies of the NovelQuantitative Data and the Evolution of Literary Systems, pp. 41 - 60Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020