A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the Italian: novella for “new”, “news”, or “short story of something new”, itself from the Latin: novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of novellus, diminutive of novus, meaning “new”.[1]
Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne,[2] Herman Melville,[3] Ann Radcliffe,[4] John Cowper Powys,[5] preferred the term “romance” to describe their novels.
According to Margaret Doody, the novel has “a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years”, with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, in Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian renaissance novella.[6] The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, especially the historical romances of Walter Scott and the Gothic novel.[7] Some, including M. H. Abrams and Walter Scott, have argued that a novel is a fiction narrative that displays a realistic depiction of the state of a society, while the romance encompasses any fictitious narrative that emphasizes marvellous or uncommon incidents.[8][9][10]
Works of fiction that include marvellous or uncommon incidents are also novels, including The Lord of The Rings,[11] To Kill a Mockingbird,[12] and Frankenstein.[13] “Romances” are works of fiction whose main emphasis is on marvellous or unusual incidents, and should not be confused with the romance novel, a type of genre fiction that focuses on romantic love.