List of claimed first novels in English

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A number of works of literature have been claimed to be the first novel in English.

Contents

List of candidates

Other relevant works

The following are other early long works of prose fiction in English not generally considered novels:

Differing definitions of novel

There are multiple candidates for first novel in English partly because of ignorance of earlier works, but largely because the term novel can be defined so as to exclude earlier candidates. (The article for novel contains detailed information on the history of the terms "novel" and "romance" and the bodies of texts they defined in a historical perspective.)

Length

Content and intent

Owing to the influence of Ian Watt's seminal study in literary sociology, The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding (1957), Watt's candidate, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719), gained wide acceptance.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Defoe</span> 17/18th-century English trader, writer and journalist

Daniel Defoe was an English novelist, journalist, merchant, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translations. He has been seen as one of the earliest proponents of the English novel, and helped to popularise the form in Britain with others such as Aphra Behn and Samuel Richardson. Defoe wrote many political tracts, was often in trouble with the authorities, and spent a period in prison. Intellectuals and political leaders paid attention to his fresh ideas and sometimes consulted him.

<i>Robinson Crusoe</i> 1719 novel by Daniel Defoe

Robinson Crusoe is an English adventure novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. Written with a combination of Epistolary, confessional, and didactic forms, the book follows the title character after he is cast away and spends 28 years on a remote tropical desert island near the coasts of Venezuela and Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers before being rescued. The story has been thought to be based on the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived for four years on a Pacific island called "Más a Tierra" which was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966. Pedro Serrano is another real-life castaway whose story might have inspired the novel.

<i>The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe</i> 1719 novel by Daniel Defoe

The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1719. Just as in its significantly more popular predecessor, Robinson Crusoe (1719), the first edition credits the work's fictional protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author. It was published under the considerably longer original title: The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; Being the Second and Last Part of His Life, And of the Strange Surprising Accounts of his Travels Round three Parts of the Globe. Although intended to be the last Crusoe tale, the novel is followed by a non-fiction book involving Crusoe by Defoe entitled Serious Reflections During the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe: With his Vision of the Angelick World (1720).

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Joshua Barnes FRS, was an English scholar. His work Gerania; a New Discovery of a Little Sort of People, anciently discoursed of, called Pygmies (1675) was an Utopian romance.

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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1719.

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<i>The Swiss Family Robinson</i> Book by Johann David Wyss

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A crowbar, also called a wrecking bar, pry bar or prybar, pinch-bar, or occasionally a prise bar or prisebar, colloquially gooseneck, or pig bar, or in Britain and Australia a jemmy or jimmy, is a lever consisting of a metal bar with a single curved end and flattened points, used to force two objects apart or gain mechanical advantage in lifting; often the curved end has a notch for removing nails.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustan prose</span>

Augustan prose is somewhat ill-defined, as the definition of "Augustan" relies primarily upon changes in taste in poetry. However, the general time represented by Augustan literature saw a rise in prose writing as high literature. The essay, satire, and dialogue thrived in the age, and the English novel was truly begun as a serious art form. At the outset of the Augustan age, essays were still primarily imitative, novels were few and still dominated by the Romance, and prose was a rarely used format for satire, but, by the end of the period, the English essay was a fully formed periodical feature, novels surpassed drama as entertainment and as an outlet for serious authors, and prose was serving every conceivable function in public discourse. It is the age that most provides the transition from a court-centered and poetic literature to a more democratic, decentralized literary world of prose.

<i>Robinson Crusoe</i> (1997 film) 1997 film by Rod Hardy and George T. Miller

Robinson Crusoe is a 1997 American adventure survival drama film directed by Rod Hardy and George T. Miller, and starring Pierce Brosnan in the title role, based on Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moidore</span> Historic Portuguese gold coin

A moidore or moydore was historically a gold coin of Portuguese origin. While the coin shows a face value of 4,000 réis, its real value was 20% higher or 4,800 réis from 1688 to 1800. On its obverse is the face value and the Portuguese coat of arms, and on its reverse is the Order of Christ Cross. Moidores were minted from 1677 to as late as 1910, mainly in the Kingdom of Portugal and in Portuguese colonies like Brazil and Mozambique. Gold coins were also issued in fractions or multiples of moidores, ranging from one-tenth of a moidore to five moidores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robinson Crusoé</span> 1867 opéra comique by Jacques Offenbach, Eugène Cormon, and Hector-Jonathan Crémieux

Robinson Crusoé is an opéra comique with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Eugène Cormon and Hector-Jonathan Crémieux. It premiered in Paris on 23 November 1867.

Literature of the 18th century refers to world literature produced during the years 1700–1799.

<i>Miss Robin Crusoe</i> 1953 film by Eugene Frenke

Miss Robin Crusoe is a 1953 American low-budget adventure film produced and directed by Eugene Frenke and starring Amanda Blake, George Nader and Rosalind Hayes. One of many film variations of Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe, it features a female castaway.

<i>English Music</i> (novel) 1992 book by Peter Ackroyd

English Music is the sixth novel by Peter Ackroyd. Published in 1992, it is both a bildungsroman and, in the words of critic John Barrell, "partly a series of rhapsodies and meditations on the nature of English culture, written in the styles of various great authors." As with all Ackroyd's previous novels, it focuses on London, although on this occasion partly as a backdrop for English culture in general.

<i>Robinson Crusoe</i> (1902 film) 1902 French film

Robinson Crusoe is a 1902 French silent film directed by Georges Méliès, based on Daniel Defoe's 1719 book of the same name.

<i>Robinson Crusoe</i> (2016 film) 2016 Belgian-French animated film by Vincent Kesseloot and Ben Stassen

Robinson Crusoe is a 2016 Belgian-French 3D animated adventure comedy film directed by Vincent Kesteloot and Ben Stassen and written by Lee Christopher, Domonic Paris and Graham Weldon. The film is loosely based on the 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, but from the point of view of the island's animals. The film was released in the United States on September 9, 2016. Despite receiving negative reviews from the critics and earning a 17% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Robinson Crusoe was a moderate box office success, grossing $39.5 million worldwide against a budget of $13 million.

References

  1. Ringler, William A. and Michael Flachmann eds. "Preface." Beware the Cat. San Marino: Huntington Library, 1988.
  2. Ringler, William A. (1979). ""Beware the Cat" and the Beginnings of English Fiction". NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction. 12 (2): 113–126. doi:10.2307/1345439. ISSN   0029-5132.
  3. Sampson, George (1941). The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature, p. 161. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  4. Chapman, J. (1892). The Westminster Review, Volume 138. p. 610.
  5. Doyle, Laura (2008). Freedom's Empire: Race and the Rise of the Novel in Atlantic Modernity, 1640–1940, p. 97. Duke University Press. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  6. Burke, Ray. "Novel departure – Vertue Rewarded, the first Irish novel written in English". The Irish Times.
  7. Chapman, J. (1892). The Westminster Review, Volume 138. p. 610.
  8. The New York Times (2007). The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge, Second Edition: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind, p. 67. Macmillan. Retrieved 26 April 2014.