Give a brief history of how ‘novel’ was born.
Answer:
- In ancient times, manuscripts were handwritten. These circulated among very few people.
- In contrast, because of being printed, novels were widely read and became popular very quickly.
- At this time, big cities like London were growing rapidly and becoming connected to small towns and rural areas through print and improved communications.
- As readers were drawn into the story and identified with the lives of fictitious characters they could think about issues such as the relationship between love and marriage, the proper conduct for men and women and so on. So novel is a modern form of literature, born from print, a mechanical invention.