Introduction To Prose: Types of Prose Fiction

Types of Prose Fiction

Prose fiction is distinguished from other forms of prose because of its artistic merit, fictional base, and its design to create an epic totality of life, based on history, contemporary issues and the individual. The portrayal of life in prose fiction is done at different levels by different authors using different styles giving rise to different types of fiction.

Novel, short story and novella are the main genres of prose fiction. The novel is the most popular and there are many types of novel. Basically, all these types are the same in terms of the presentation of an aspect of life but they differ in terms of style. The author’s intent, to a large extent affects the work. A writer of a historical novel would embark on a research to be able to situate the work appropriately in its historical period. On the other hand, a picaresque novelist needs only to tell an interesting adventurous story which could be from his/her imagination or based on events or experiences.

1.1.     Fable

This is usually a very brief story. Its concern is to explain a problem in very simple terms, or to point out a moral truth in an inoffensive manner. This is why it usually carries a deeper meaning, through a surface story. More often than not, the characters are mostly animals who act as surrogate human beings. This does not however totally exclude human characters in some cases. Examples are Aesop's Fables and Orwell's Animal Farm. The Animal Farm which satirizes the defunct Russian revolution is however longer than a normal fable.

1.2.     Short Story

The short story is a genre of prose fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels or books. A short story is defined based on the length but this differs somewhat even among professional writers. Since the short story format includes a wide range of genres and styles, the actual length is determined by the individual author's preference. Another major determinant of the length of a short story is the submission guidelines that are relevant to the story's actual market. Guidelines vary greatly among publishers. Many short story writers define their work through a combination of creative, personal expression and artistic integrity. Consequently, definitions of the short story based upon length splinter even more when the writing process is taken into consideration. Short stories are usually used for literary competitions so the organizers often stipulate guidelines for submission. In contemporary usage, the term short story most often refers to a work of prose fiction that is not longer than 20,000 words and not shorter than 1,000.

Short stories have their roots in oral story-telling traditions and the prose anecdote, a swiftly sketched situation that quickly comes to its point. The art of story-telling is doubtlessly older than the record of civilization. Perhaps the oldest and most direct ancestor of the short story is the anecdote and illustrative story, straight to the point. The ancient parable and fable, starkly brief narrative used to enforce some moral or spiritual truth, are reflected in many contemporary short stories.

Short story in written form dates back to oral story-telling traditions which originally produced epics such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Oral narratives were often told in the form of rhyming or rhythmic verse, often including recurring sections or, in the case of Homer, Homeric epithets. Such stylistic devices aided recall, rendition and adaptation of the story. Short sections of verse might focus on individual narratives that could be told at one sitting. Another school of thought traces the origin to fables invented in the 6th century BC by a Greek slave named Aesop. These ancient fables are today known as Aesop Fables. The other ancient form of short story was the anecdote and they functioned as a sort of parable, a brief realistic narrative that embodies a lesson.

Short stories tend to be less complex than novels. Usually a short story focuses on one incident, has a single plot, a single setting, a small number of characters, and covers a short period of time. A typical pattern in a short story could be presented with exposition, complication, climax and resolution as in longer forms of fiction. However, some short stories may not follow this pattern while some do not follow any patterns at all. For example, modern short stories only occasionally have an exposition. More typical, though, is an abrupt beginning, with the story starting in the middle of the action (in medias res). As with longer stories, plots of short stories also have a climax, crisis, or turning point. However, the endings of many short stories are abrupt and open. As with any art form, the exact characteristics of a short story vary by its creator.

There are many types of prose fiction. The genre evolved from storytelling traditions of various societies in the world, epic narratives, and romance to the present form. In modern prose fiction, the novel, the novella and the short story are the most popular genres. The novel stands out among the rest but for any prose fiction to be classified as a novel, it must present an element of verisimilitude. This explains why thriller and some other melodramatic prose fictions are not classified as novel. The short story and the novella share the same characteristics with the novel but they are shorter in length. The length also differentiates the novella from the short story as the latter is shorter than the former.

1.3.     Novella

The English word “novella” is derived from the Italian word “novella”, feminine of “novello” which means new. For the Germans it is “Novelle”; plural: “Novellen”. (Wikipedia) The novella is a common literary genre in several European languages and the idea of the novellas dates back to the 10th century prose narrative, Arabian Night but as a literary genre its origin is traced to the early renaissance literary work like Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the novella was fashioned into a literary genre structured by precepts and rules (McKeon 24).

Novella is simply a term used for a miniature or short novel. It shares all the characteristics of the novel and can fall into any of the categories of the novel. However it is not as popular as the novel and sometimes, readers cannot differentiate between a novel and a novella. It is a written fictional prose narrative longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction defines the novella as having a word count of between 17,500 and 40,000. Other definitions start as low as 10,000 words and run as high as 70,000 words (Wikipedia).

The novella is regarded as one of the richest and most rewarding of literary forms because it allows for more extended development of theme and character than does the short story, without making the elaborate structural demands of the full-length” book – the novel. It therefore provides an intense and detailed exploration of its subject by providing to some degree both the concentrated focus of the short story and the broad scope of the novel.

A novella has generally fewer conflicts than novels, yet more complicated ones than short stories. The conflicts also have more time to develop and their endings are usually located at the brink of change. Sometimes, they are not divided into chapters but in such cases, white space is often used to demarcate the sections (Barnet 312). Novellas are often intended to be read at a single sitting, just like the short story since they maintain a single effect.

In most cases, there are no subplots or multiple points of view. Most often it is concerned with personal and emotional development rather than with the larger social sphere. The novella “generally retains something of the unity of impression that is a hallmark of the short story, but it also contains more highly developed characterization and more luxuriant description” (Obstfeld 40). The Germans were the most active writers of the Novelle (in their language) and for them it is a fictional narrative of indeterminate length—a few pages to hundreds—restricted to a single, suspenseful event, situation, or conflict leading to an unexpected turning point, provoking a logical, but surprising end.

1.4.     Novel

The novel can be defined as an extended work of prose fiction. The Oxford Twentieth Century Dictionary defines the novel as a fictional prose narrative or tale presenting the picture of real life, especially the emotional crises in the life history of the men and women portrayed. In Dictionary of Literary Term, the novel is defined as “a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length, portraying characters, actions, or scenes representative of real life in a plot of more or less intricacy” (Harmsworth 78).

A novel "dramatizes" life. This means the details, the situations and the characters are like real-life people. They act, react, struggle, suffer and triumph as we do in life. A novel is great or successful when it engrosses the reader and inspires him to identify with it. The author achieves this by giving a coherent and sincere picture of life, human relationships and human strengths and weaknesses.

We may say that a novel is a "long" story but it is difficult to determine its length. The accepted length is usually more than 50,000 words. Anything shorter than that is called a "novella". Again, a novel may run into a thousand or so pages and some may be in several volumes. But, these are exceptions.

In most European literature the word "roman" is used for the novel. "Roman" means "romance." The earlier narratives were associated with the romantic adventures of the heroes and the heroines. The novel now has achieved a wider scope and is no longer a "romance", though the term "roman" stays on. The English name "novel" is derived from the Italian "novella" meaning "a little new thing". The novel has developed various sub-genres but we will illustrate with the major ones.

Before we proceed further, we must also know that the novel is an extended narrative and distinct from the short story. The short story is more concentrated and does not have much scope to develop characters and situations, but a novel has this scope because of its length. A "novelette" or a "novella" is a narrative between the short story and the novel in length.

1.4.1.      The Picaresque Novel

The picaresque novel is taken from the Spanish word "picaresca", from "pícaro", which means "rougue" or "rascal". However in the English-speaking world, the term "picaresque" refers more to a literary technique or a model than to the precise genre that the Spanish call picaresco (Mckeon 20). The English-language term refers to an episodic recounting of the adventures of the central character. A picaresque novel is an early form of the novel, some call it a precursor of the novel. It presents the adventures of a lighthearted rascal (pícaro=rogue). It is usually episodic in structure, the episodes often arranged as a journey. The narrative focuses on one character that has to deal with tyrannical masters and unlucky fates but who usually manages to escape these miserable situations by using her/his wit. The form of the picaresque narrative emerged in sixteenth-century Spain. Examples are: Cervantes, Don Quixote; and in the English tradition: Thomas Nash, The Unfortunate Traveler; Mark Twain, The Adventures of Hucklebery Finn, Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders.

It is a popular sub-genre of prose fiction which is usually satirical and depicts, in realistic and often humorous details, the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. The hero is often a rascal, often mischievous, shrewd wicked and roguish, but charming and somehow likable in a way as he or she gets involved in a long succession of adventures and escapades.

1.4.2.      Gothic Novel

The term “Gothic” originally referred to a prominent Germanic or Teutonic tribe in medieval Europe called Goths. The gothic novel became very popular from the second half of the eighteenth century onwards. With the aim to evoke chilling terror by exploiting mystery and a variety of horrors, the gothic novel is usually set in desolate landscapes, ruined abbeys, or medieval castles with dungeons, winding staircases and sliding panels. Heroes and heroines find themselves in gloomy atmospheres where they are confronted with supernatural forces, demonic powers and wicked tyrants.

English Gothic writers often associated medieval buildings with a dark and terrifying period, characterized by harsh laws enforced by torture, with mysterious, fantastic, and superstitious rituals. The Gothic novel is believed to have been invented by the English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel, The Castle of Otranto. Gothic literature emerged as a “rejection of the clarity and rationalism of the neoclassical style of the Enlightened Establishment” (Bloom 68).This novel is linked to the ruins of gothic buildings which are believed to be a representation of the inevitable decay and collapse of human creations. It is also identified with the development of sentimentality as well as with the cult of the mysterious, the abominable, and the absolute atrocities of the dark ages. If the element of verisimilitude is fundamental in the classification of a prose work as novel, then one may be tempted to exclude the gothic novel because some of the incidents and characters are not realistic.

Melodrama and parody (including self-parody) are some of the features of the gothic novel. It represents an appreciation of the joys of extreme emotion, the thrills of fearfulness and awe inherent in the sublime. It contains such atrocious crimes as horror, fantasies, kidnapping, rape, sodomy, terror, and murder. Prominent features of Gothic fiction include the portrayal of terror (both psychological and physical) and mysterious situations and incidents. The gothic novel which is sometimes referred to as gothic horror is a genre of literature that combines elements of horror and romance. It is seen as a presentation of a pleasing sort of terror, an extension of Romantic literary pleasures and was popular in the 18th century.

1.4.3.      Epistolary Novel

An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use. The word epistolary comes from the Latin word epistola, meaning a letter. The epistolary form can add greater realism to a story, because it mimics the workings of real life. It is thus able to demonstrate differing points of view without recourse to the device of an omniscient narrator.

There are three types of epistolary novel: the monologic, dialogic and polylogic.

o   Monologic: In this style, the letter is given to only one character, like in Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter.

o   Dialogic: In this case the narrative, in form of letters are presented by two characters, like in Mme Marie Jeanne Riccoboni’s Letters of FanniButlerd (1757).

o   Polylogic: This has three or more letter-writing characters as we have in novels like Clarissa, and Dangerous Liaisons. One unique feature of this type is the “dramatic device of 'discrepant awareness' which is the simultaneous but separate correspondences of the heroines and the villains creating dramatic tension” (McKeon 52).

 

There are two schools of thought on the genesis of the epistolary novel. The first claims that the genre originated from novels with inserted letters, in which the portion containing the third person narrative in between the letters was gradually reduced. (Doody 76) The other view claims that the epistolary novel arose from miscellanies of letters and poetry in which some of the letters were tied together into a (mostly amorous) plot. (McKeon 65) The first truly epistolary novel is the Spanish "Prison of Love" (Cárcel de amor) (c.1485) by Diego de San Pedro in which a large number of inserted letters dominated the narrative. The origin of the genre in English novel is traced to James Howell (1594–1666) with "Familiar Letters". He writes of prison, foreign adventure, and the love of women.

The epistolary novel as a genre became popular in the 18th century in the works of such authors as Samuel Richardson, with his immensely successful novels Pamela (1740) and Clarissa (1749). In France, there was LettresPersanes (1721) by Montesqui, followed by Julie ou la Nouvelle Heloise (1761) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. These writers used the epistolary form to great dramatic effect, because the sequence of events was not always related directly or explicitly. In Germany, there was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Die Leiden des JungenWerther (1774) (The Sorrows of young Werther) and Friedrich Holderlin’sHyperion. The first North American novel, The History of Emily Montague (1769) by Frances Brooke was written in the epistolary form.

1.4.4.      Historical Novel

Historical novel as the name implies is based on some historical events. In this type of novel, the characters and events are taken from history. It is a genre in which the plot is set amidst historical events, or more generally, in which the author uses real events but adds one or more fictional characters or events, or changes the sequence of historical events. Historical fiction may centre on historical or on fictional characters, but usually represents an honest attempt based on considerable research (or at least serious reading) to tell a story set in the historical past as understood by the author's contemporaries (e.g. Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities based on the French Revolution).

1.4.5.      Social/Sociological Novel

The social novel, also called industrial novel or Condition of England novel, became particularly popular between 1830 and 1850 and is associated with the development of nineteenth-century realism. As its name indicates, the social novel gives a portrait of society, especially of lower parts of society, dealing with and criticizing the living conditions created by industrial development or by a particular legal situation (the poor laws for instance). The social problem novels were not confined to England but were written throughout Europe and the United States.

The social novel deals mostly with the impact of economic and social conditions of a period on characters and events around him. It is also concerned with the culture of a people and their way of life. In Victorian England, for instance, the social novel became an instrument of protest and for creating awareness on abuses of government, industry and other repercussions suffered by the working class in England. The novel presented sensational accounts and stories of the working class poor with the intention of eliciting the sympathy of the middle class who may help to advocate legal and moral changes in the society.

There are two major types of the social novel: the industrial and the moral types. The industrial novel focused on the country’s working class in the rural and urban towns. It relayed deplorable conditions in factories and mines, the plight of child labour and endangered women, and the constant threat of rising criminality, epidemics due to overcrowding and poor sanitation. The moral novels presented a moral or supernatural element that linked “reform to Christianity and played on the perception that the middle class were more economically sound and also more devoted to their religion, therefore more prone to assist the lower classes before the aristocracy”(Davis 66). An example of this was Charles Dicken’s Christmas Carol where the lead character Scrooge is instructed by several ghosts to live a Christian life and help his less fortunate neighbours and employees.

1.4.6.      Psychological Novel

The psychological novel, which is also referred to as psychological realism, is a work of prose fiction which places emphasis on the motives, circumstances, and internal action which springs from the interior of the character, and manifests in the external action. The psychological novel states what happens and in addition explains the motives behind this action.

In this type of writing character and characterization are very important, and the novelists often delve deeper into the mind of a character than in other types of novels. The psychological novel can be called a novel of the "inner man," as it explores the minds of characters rather than the physical aspects or the external reality in which the characters operate. In some cases, the stream of consciousness, flashbacks and interior monologues are some of the techniques that may be employed for better illustration of the inner workings of the human mind. The stream of consciousness technique has been adopted by modern authors as they describe in details what goes on in their character’s mind. This is presented in an “unbroken flow of thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of the unconscious minds of characters in the novel” (Ezeigbo 10).

1.4.7.      Political/Novel of Ideas

As the name implies, political novel deals with politics or the science and art of government. It presents “the art of the possible, the strategies and tactics of governance, and the whole business of organizational intrigue: the maneuvering for power and advantage and the interplay of Machiavellian forces and characters” (Ezeigbo). These novels deal with issues of good and evil, justice and injustice, hate and love as the characters scheme and seek political positions. The novelists believe in Aristotle’s dictum that man is a ‘political animal’ so could not be excluded from the game of politics, with its carefully orchestrated power-play. Characters and the setting are given prominence in this type of novel.

1.4.8.      Magic/Magical Realism

This term is used to describe the prose fiction of some Latin American writers and now also used to describe the works of other Third World writers who exhibit the same artistic/ novelistic idiosyncrasies. The novels under this label contain a mixture of realism and fantasy. In other words, they are graphic representations of ordinary events and experiences presented in detailed descriptions, with elements of fantasy and surrealism. Other features of this type of fiction are dreamlike states, mythic elements and supernatural forces, as well as fairy-tales.

1.4.9.      Bildungsroman

The bildungsroman (novel of education) is a type of novel originating in Germany which presents the development of a character mostly from childhood to maturity. This process typically contains conflicts and struggles, which are ideally overcome in the end so that the protagonist can become a valid and valuable member of society. Usually in the beginning of the story there is an emotional loss which makes the protagonist decide to undertake his journey.

The genre is characterized by a number of formal, topical and thematic features. It tells a story about the growing up or coming of age of a sensitive person who is looking for answers and experience. The aim of the novel is to present maturity, so change is important. The protagonist achieves maturity gradually and with difficulty and there is usually a main conflict between him and society. Typically, the values of society are gradually accepted by the protagonist and he is ultimately accepted into society. This acceptance ends the protagonist's mistakes and disappointments. In some works, the protagonist is able to reach out and help others once the maturity is achieved. Examples are J.W. Goethe, Wilhelm Meister; Henry Fielding, Tom Jones; Charles Dickens, David Copperfield; James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Usually, the plot follows a certain pattern in which the protagonist grows from child to adult in the novel. At an early stage, a loss or some sort of discontent pushes him or her away from home or the family setting, providing an impetus to embark on a journey. This main character often develops through "self-actualization". The process of maturation is “long, strenuous and gradual, involving repeated clashes between the protagonist's needs and desires and the views and judgments enforced by an unbending social order”. (Minden) There are some novels whose plots are similar to the bildungsroman. For instance, a military story might show a new recruit undergoing a baptism by fire and becoming a battle-hardened soldier, while a fantasy quest story may show a transformation from an adolescent protagonist into an adult who becomes aware of his or her lineage or powers. However neither of these story types corresponds exactly to the bildungsroman (Jeffers 16).

1.5.     Science fiction

Science fiction is a type of prose narrative of varying length, from short-story to novel. Its topics include quests for other worlds, the influence of alien beings on Earth or alternate realities; they can be utopian, dystopian or set in the past. Common to all types of science fiction is the interest in scientific change and development and concern for social, climatic, geological or ecological change (e.g. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; H.G. Wells, The Time Machine; Aldous Huxley, Brave New World; George Orwell, 1984; Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange).