Need help pls

[ashil]

Hello everyone

I need a few sources on the historical background of novel for my homework, especially in social context. Has anyone a suggestion?

Thx

[Logos]

Hello ashil :)

which book are you referring to?

[ashil]

whops! I mean the general novel as a literary type :nod:

[IrishCanadian]

Wow. I'm not usre if i can help you out much but you might want to look up the Rossetta stone. The history of language would be a good start ... hyroglyfics ... the code of Hamurabi ... and then written "stories." Do not quote me but i don't think that what we call the modern novel was written until the Roman Empire. Just an assumption to get your brain moving on the research end of things.
Good luck

[Whifflingpin]

Your post does not give nearly enough information to know what you want, but here's a theme - second rate novels get stuck in the social context of their time, but first rate ones can rise above it.

The examples that occur to me ('cos I'm an old fuddy duddy) are some C19 novels.

"John Halifax - Gentleman," "Ravenshoe," "Tristram of Blent," are all quite readable, and all deal with an issue important in the C19th of "What makes a gentleman," or thereabouts. But they are virtually forgotten.

Books by Jane Austen, or Dickens, however, even though they are set in a particular social context, manage to speak to readers of our time, as much as to their contemporaries. Why?

.

[Monica]

There's a book by Ian Watt entitled "Rise of the Novel" where he describes the origins of the novel and its development as a genre.

[topher-30]

well i may not be much help but i would agree wit irishcanadian, i would first look up the rosetta stone and who was the first to break the language barrier. i am a huge history fan myself and rish your right an actually novel was not writtin until the roman empire began tho there was not very many at the time, the novel actually started to come into full swing in the rennesiance time. so i would go there next. hope this is usefull

[Swedishbull]

Ashil, I'm not sure if this helps or not but a good way to go that I could possibly suggest is to check out the site wikipedia.com and to look up the word 'Novel" which will give you information concerning both the origin and rise of the novel