Early novels in English

See the article First novel in English. These works of literature have each been claimed as the first novel in English. ...

Romantic novel

The Romantic period saw the first flowering of the English novel. The Romantic and the Gothic novel are closely related; both imagined almost-supernatural forces operating in nature or directing human fate. Just as William Wordsworth and other poets were integral to the growth of English Romanticism, so Mary Shelley, and Ann Radcliffe were key to the sudden popularity of the Gothic novel. Romanticism was a secular and intellectual movement in the history of ideas that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. ... Strawberry Hill, an English villa in the Gothic revival style, built by seminal Gothic writer Horace Walpole The gothic novel was a literary genre that belonged to Romanticism and began in the United Kingdom with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. ... William Wordsworth, English poet William Wordsworth (April 7, 1770 – April 23, 1850) was a major English romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their 1798 joint publication, Lyrical Ballads. ... Mary Shelley Mary Shelley (30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist, the author of Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. ... Ann Radcliffe (July 9, 1764 - February 7, 1823) was an English author, a pioneer of the gothic novel. ...

It is equally important to recognize, however, the role that the contemporary reader played in the history of the English novel. For many years, novels were considered light reading for young, single women. Novels written with this in mind often contained sometimes heavy moral instruction, and, like earlier English literature, attempted to provide an example of the correct kind of conduct. The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian. ...

Victorian Novel

The novel first began to dominate English literature during the Victorian era. Most Victorian novels were long and closely wrought, full of intricate language, but the dominate feature of the Victorian might be their verisimilitude, that is, their close representation to the real social life of the age. This social life was largely informed by the development of the emerging middle class and the manners and expectations of this class, as opposed to the aristocrat forms dominating previous ages. The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian. ... Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Accession to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian era of Great Britain is considered the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ...

For the first time in English history, female authors assumed a central role. The English novel was defined, to a large extent, by the works of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Elizabeth Gaskell, and George Eliot. Jane Austen, in a portrait based on one drawn by her sister Cassandra Jane Austen (December 16, 1775 – July 18, 1817) was an English novelist whose work is considered part of the Western canon. ... Charlotte Brontë by George Richmond, 1850 Charlotte Brontë (April 21, 1816 – March 31, 1855) was an English novelist, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters whose novels have become enduring classics of English literature. ... Elizabeth Gaskell Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (September 29, 1810, London – November 12, 1865, Holybourne, Hampshire, England, UK), often referred to simply as Mrs Gaskell, was a British novelist. ... George Eliot Mary Ann Evans, better known by the pen name George Eliot (22 November 1819 - 22 December 1880), was an English novelist. ...

None of this should imply that the Victorian novel was not diverse; it was, extraordinarly so. Emily Brontë and Charles Dickens wrote in very different styles and addressed altogether different themes. Key to Victorian style is the concept of the authorial intrusion and the address to the reader. For example, the author might interrupt her narrative to pass judgment on a character, or pity or praise another, while later seeming to exclaim "Dear Reader!" and inform or remind the reader of some other relevant fact. Portrait by her brother Emily Jane Brontë (July 30, 1818 – December 19, 1848) was a British novelist and poet, best remembered for her only novel Wuthering Heights, which is now an acknowledged classic of English literature. ... Dickens redirects here. ...

Serial Novel

Most novels of the Victorian period were published in serial form; that is, individual chapters or sections appearing in subsequent journal issues. As such, demand was high for each new appearance of the novel to introduce some new element, whether it be a plot twist or a new character, so as to maintain the reader's interest. During this time, authors were paid by the word, which tended to create wordy prose. In part for these reasons, Victorian novels are made up of a variety of plots and a large number of characters, appearing and reappearing as events dictate.

Famous Authors (Alphabetical order)

• Austen, Jane
• Breem, Wallace
• Brontë, Anne
• Brontë, Charlotte
• Brontë, Emily
• Burney, Fanny, later Madame D'Arblay
• Carroll, Lewis
• Collins, Wilkie
• Conan Doyle, Arthur
• Conrad, Joseph
• Defoe, Daniel
• Dickens, Charles
• Eliot, George
• Fielding, Henry
• Fitzgerald, F. Scott
• Forster, E.M.
• Forster, Margaret
• Gaskell, Elizabeth
• Goldsmith, Oliver
• Hardy, Thomas
• Huxley, Aldous
• Jonson, Samuel
• Kipling, Rudyard
• Lawrence, D.H.
• Mansfield, Katherine
• Meredith, George
• Oliphant, Margaret, traditionally known as Mrs Oliphant
• Orwell, George
• Reade, Charles
• Richardson, Samuel
• Sackville-West, Vita
• Shelly, Mary
• Simth, Charlotte Turner
• Shan, Darren
• Smollett, Tobias
• Sterne, Laurence
• Stevenson, Robert Louis
• Swift, Jonathan
• Tolstoy, Leo
• Trollope, Anthony
• Ward, Mary, traditionally known as Mrs Humphry Ward
• Wells, H.G.
• Wilde, Oscar
• Woolf, Virginia
• Wyndham, John

Shan, Darren Jane Austen, in a portrait based on one drawn by her sister Cassandra Jane Austen (December 16, 1775 – July 18, 1817) was an English novelist whose work is considered part of the Western canon. ... Wallace Breem (1926–1990) was a British librarian and author, the Librarian and Keeper of Manuscripts of the Inner Temple Law Library at his death, but perhaps more widely known for his historical novels, including the classic Eagle in the Snow (1970). ... Anne Brontë (January 17, 1820 – May 28, 1849) was a British novelist and poet, the youngest of the Brontë literary family. ... Charlotte Brontë by George Richmond, 1850 Charlotte Brontë (April 21, 1816 – March 31, 1855) was an English novelist, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters whose novels have become enduring classics of English literature. ... Portrait by her brother Emily Jane Brontë (July 30, 1818 – December 19, 1848) was a British novelist and poet, best remembered for her only novel Wuthering Heights, which is now an acknowledged classic of English literature. ... Fanny Burney Fanny Burney, later Madame DArblay, (June 13, 1752-January 6, 1840) was an English novelist and diarist. ... Lewis Carroll. ... Wilkie Collins William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and writer of short stories. ... Image:Sir Conan doyle. ... Joseph Conrad. ... Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (1660 [?] â€“ April 1731) was an English writer, journalist and spy, who gained enduring fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. ... Dickens redirects here. ... George Eliot Mary Ann Evans, better known by the pen name George Eliot (22 November 1819 - 22 December 1880), was an English novelist. ... Henry Fielding (April 22, 1707 – October 8, 1754) was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humor and satirical prowess and as the author of the novel Tom Jones. ... F.Scott Fitzgerald, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1937 Scott Fitzgerald redirects here. ... E. M. Forster as a young man in about 1905 Edward Morgan Forster (January 1, 1879 - June 7, 1970) was an English novelist, short story writer, and essayist. ... Margaret Forster (born 1938) is a British author. ... Elizabeth Gaskell Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (September 29, 1810, London – November 12, 1865, Holybourne, Hampshire, England, UK), often referred to simply as Mrs Gaskell, was a British novelist. ... Oliver Goldsmith Oliver Goldsmith (November 10, 1730(?) – April 4, 1774) was an Irish writer and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), his pastoral poem The Deserted Village (1770) (written in memory of his brother), and his plays The Good-naturd Man (1768) and She Stoops... Thomas Hardy, OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was a novelist, short story writer, and poet of the naturalist movement, who delineated characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. ... Aldous Leonard Huxley (pronounced ) (July 26, 1894 – November 22, 1963) was a British writer who emigrated to the United States. ... Samuel Johnson circa 1772, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. ... Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936) was a British author and poet, born in India. ... D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 - 2 March 1930) was one of the most important, certainly one of the most controversial, English writers of the 20th century, who wrote novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, and letters. ... Katherine Mansfield (born Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp October 14, 1888 in New Zealand; died January 9, 1923) was a famous author. ... George Meredith (February 12, 1828 - May 18, 1909) was an English novelist and poet. ... Margaret Oliphant Oliphant (April 4, 1828 - June 25, 1897), British novelist and historical writer, daughter of Francis Wilson, was born at Wallyford, near Musselburgh, Midlothian. ... Eric Arthur Blair (June 25, 1903 – January 21, 1950), much better known by the pen name George Orwell (pronounced ), was a British author and journalist. ... Charles Reade (June 8, 1814 - April 11, 1884) was an English novelist and dramatist, best known for The Cloister and the Hearth. ... Samuel Richardson (August 19, 1689 – July 4, 1761) was a major 18th century writer best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded (1740), Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady (1748) and Sir Charles Grandison (1753). ... Vita Sackville-West Vita Sackville-West (March 9, 1892 – June 2, 1962) was an English poet, novelist and gardener. ... Mary Shelley Mary Shelley (30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist, the author of Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. ... Wikisource has original works written by or about: Charlotte Turner Smith Charlotte Turner Smith (May 4, 1749 - October 28, 1806) was an English poet and novelist whose works have been credited with influencing Jane Austen and particularly Charles Dickens. ... This article is about the author. ... Tobias Smollett Tobias George Smollett (March 19, 1721 - September 17, 1771) was a Scottish author, best known for his picaresque novels, such as Roderick Random and Peregrine Pickle. ... Laurence Sterne Laurence Sterne (November 24, 1713 – March 18, 1768) was an Anglo-Irish novelist and clergyman. ... Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis (Balfour) Stevenson (November 13, 1850 – December 3, 1894), was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer, a leading representative of Neo-romanticism in English literature. ... Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (November 30, 1667 – October 19, 1745) was an Anglo-Irish priest, satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, and poet famous for works like Gullivers Travels, A Modest Proposal, A Journal to Stella, The Drapiers Letters, The Battle of the Books, and A Tale of a Tub. ... Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й; commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy) (September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910, N.S.; August 28, 1828 – November 7, 1910, O.S.) was a Russian novelist, philosopher, Christian anarchist, pacifist, educational reformer, vegetarian, moral thinker and an influential member of the Tolstoy family. ... Anthony Trollope (April 24, 1815 – December 6, 1882) was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. ... Mary Augusta Ward Mary Augusta Ward (June 11, 1851 - March 26, 1920), was a novelist. ... H. G. Wells at the door of his house at Sandgate Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 - August 13, 1946) was an English writer best known for his science fiction novels such as The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. ... Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900) was an Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist, poet, short story writer and Freemason. ... Virginia Woolf (née Stephen) (25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941) is by reputation one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. ... John Wyndham (July 10, 1903 – March 11, 1969) was the pen name used by the often post-apocalyptic British science fiction writer John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris. ...

See also

• List of English novelists
• List of literary movements