As you can see from the dictionary definition screenshot above, the word novel has been used since the early 16th century. However, as a literary art form, it wasn't as popular as theatre or poetry until the end of the 18th century and it really took off in the 19th century. In this part of the quest, you will learn about different terms that we use to discuss novels and gain an overview of the most notable works of the Victorian Age. This term, you will also read one 19th century novel of choice in a book club setting.
Terminology
Genres - the type of story being told. Genres can encompass not only novels but also plays and poetry. Below are a few types of modern novels that we will encounter in 19th Century English literature:
Gothic
Novel of Manners
Bildungsroman (or coming-of-age)
Pastoral
Fantasy
Proletarian
Detective
Horror / science-fiction
Perspective - from whose perspective the story is being told. This is also called narrative point of view. We mostly distinguish the following perspectives:
first person - when the main character is the one telling the story while referring to themselves as "I".
second person - a novel is very rarely made up entirely of second person narration, but sometimes an author writes a short section using it. It is when the story is addressed to you as a reader.
third person - when an unknown entity narrates the story, referring to the characters by their names or pronouns. A third person narrator can be omniscient (knowing and telling all of the actions and inner thoughts of all the characters) or limited (knowing and telling all of the actions and inner thoughts of the main characters, and narrating other characters' thoughts and actions as perceived by the main character, e.g. Harry Potter).
Plot - the story of a novel. What happens, when does it happen, who does it happen to or who does the happening?
Themes - the universal statement or message that a work of fiction is about. If you think about the plot as the body of a work of fiction, then the theme is the soul. A novel can have multiple themes.
Specific for the Victorian Age: serialised fiction - some novels were written and published in their entirety, but in the 19th century, serialised fiction was popular too. This is a novel written in short chapters which were published in magazines or newspapers in weekly or monthly installments. Once the stories were finished, they were often published as a book in their entirety.
Overview of 19th Century Classic Novels (UK edition curated by Mrs W)
1813 - Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
1818 - Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
1820 - Ivanhoe - Sir Walter Scott
1847 - Vanity Fair - William M. Thackeray
1847 - Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
1847 - Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
1859 - The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
1860 - Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
1865 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
1886 - The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
1891 - Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
1891 - The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
1892 - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
1894 - The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling
1897 - The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells
1897 - Dracula - Bram Stoker
In class, we'll do an activity in which you learn about these works. Highlighted in bold are the books that the school library has multiple copies of, so these would be the easiest for you to choose for your book club. The other works on the list are also permitted, of course, although you will have to purchase your own copies.