A novel sequence is a set or series of novels which share common themes, characters, or settings, but where each novel has its own title and free-standing storyline, and can thus be read independently or out of sequence. Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe; title page of 1719 newspaper edition A novel (from French nouvelle, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ...

Definitions

There is no useful, formal demarcation between novel sequences and multi-part novels. Novels that are related may or may not fall into a clear sequence. It is also debatable whether a trilogy is long enough and whether its parts are discrete enough to qualify as a novel sequence. A trilogy is a set of three works of art, usually literature or film, that develop a single theme over three works. ...

For example the Barchester novels of Anthony Trollope are only loosely related, although they contain a recurring cast of characters; his political novels about the Pallisers have a tighter connection and dynamic. A strict definition might exclude both. The Chronicles of Barsetshire is a series of six novels by the English author Anthony Trollope, set in the fictitious cathedral town of Barchester. ... Anthony Trollope (April 24, 1815 – December 6, 1882) was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. ... The Palliser novels are six novels by Anthony Trollope. ...

History

The novel sequence was a product of the nineteenth century, with Fenimore Cooper's works appearing in the 1820s, and Trollope's Barchester books in the 1850s. In French literature, Honoré de Balzac's ambitious La Comédie humaine (a set of nearly 100 novels and plays, with some recurring characters) started to come together during the 1830s. Émile Zola's Rougon-Macquart cycle is a family saga, a format that later became a popular fictional form, going beyond the conventional three-volume novel. James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 - September 14, 1851), American novelist, was born at Burlington, New Jersey, on the 15th of September 1789. ... French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak other traditional non-French languages. ... Honoré de Balzac (May 20, 1799 – August 18, 1850) was a French novelist. ... Honoré de Balzac La Comédie humaine is the title of Honoré de Balzacs multi-volume collection of interlinked novels and stories depicting French society in the period of the Restoration and the July Monarchy 1815-1848. ... Émile Zola Émile Zola (April 2, 1840 – September 29, 1902) was an influential French novelist, the most important example of the literary school of naturalism, and a major figure in the political liberalization of France. ... The family saga is a genre of literature which chronicles the lives and doings of a family or a number of related or interconnected families over a period of time. ... The three-volume novel (three-decker) was a major stage in the development of the modern Western novel as a form, being a standard form of publishing for British fiction during the nineteenth century. ...

The roman-fleuve (French, literally "river-novel") refers to an extended sequence of novels of which the whole acts as a commentary for a society or an epoch, and which continually deals with a central character, community or a saga within a family. The river metaphor implies a steady, broad dynamic lending itself to a perspective. Each volume makes up a complete novel by itself, but the entire cycle exhibits unifying characteristics.

Proust

In the twentieth century Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu came to be regarded by many as a definitive roman fleuve. Today, however, its seven volumes are generally considered to be a single novel [1]. In some serious sense, it escapes classification. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar (often from (1900 to 1999 in common usage). ... Marcel-Valentin-Louis-Eugène-Georges Proust (July 10, 1871 – November 18, 1922) was a French intellectual, novelist, essayist and critic, best known as the author of In Search of Lost Time (in French À la recherche du temps perdu, also translated previously as Remembrance of Things Past), a monumental work... This article is in need of attention. ...

Proust's work was immensely influential, particularly on British novelists of the middle of the twentieth century, who did not favour modernism. Some of those follow the example of Anthony Powell, a Proust disciple but consciously adapting the technique to depict social change, rather than change in high society. This was a step beyond the realist novels of Arnold Bennett (the Clayhanger books) or John Galsworthy. Modernism is a cultural movement that generally includes the progressive art and architecture, music, literature and design which emerged in the decades before 1914. ... Anthony Dymoke Powell (December 21, 1905 - March 28, 2000) was a writer best known for his A Dance to the Music of Time duodecalogy published between 1951 and 1975. ... Arnold Bennett, British novelist Enoch Arnold Bennett (May 27, 1867-March 27, 1931) was a British novelist. ... The Clayhanger Family is a series of novels by Arnold Bennett, published between 1910 to 1918. ... John Galsworthy (August 14, 1867 – January 31, 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. ...

Contemporary pressures and novel sequences

A novel sequence usually contains story arcs or themes that cross over several books, rather than simply sharing one or more characters. Sequences of genre fiction are not generally considered romans-fleuve; the Aubrey–Maturin series of Patrick O'Brian might qualify, and possibly the Vorkosigan Series of Lois McMaster Bujold. Genre fiction is a term for fictional works (novels, short stories) written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to the fans of that genre. ... The Aubrey–Maturin series, also known as the Aubreyad, is a sequence of 20 historical novels by Patrick OBrian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ships surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also a physician... Patrick OBrian (December 12, 1914 – January 2, 2000; original name Richard Patrick Russ) was a novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centered on the friendship of Captain Jack Aubrey and an Irish–Catalan... The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of science-fiction novels and short stories by Lois McMaster Bujold, most of which concern Miles Vorkosigan, a disabled aristocrat from the planet Barrayar who creates his own private army at the age of just seventeen. ... Lois McMaster Bujold (November 2, 1949, Columbus, Ohio) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy works. ...

Novel sequences, though, are now most common in genre fiction, particularly in science fiction and epic fantasy. The introduction of the preconstructed novel sequence is often attributed to E. E. Doc Smith, with his Lensman books. Such sequences, from contemporary authors, tend to be more clearly defined than earlier examples. Authors are now more likely to announce an overall series title, or write in round numbers such as 12 volumes. These characteristics are not those of the classical model forms, and instead become more like the 'franchises' of the film industry. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... High fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy fiction that is set in invented or parallel worlds. ... Gray Lensman in Astounding Oct. ... The Lensman series is a serial science fiction space opera by E. E. Smith. ...

The types instead begin to fill out a concentric model like

trilogy < sequence < 'saga' grouping (single author) < shared universe < genre.

A Shared universe is a literary technique in which several different authors share settings and characters which appear in their respective works of fiction, often referring to events taking place in the other writers stories. ...

Examples

• Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series was first a series of magazine stories; then a book publication as edited into a trilogy; and then, by the later addition of volumes, a longer sequence that made contact with his Robot Series books. Finally other authors have added books.
• David Brin's Uplift series is a set of two trilogies, not (initially) sharing characters.
• John Le Carré's numerous books featuring George Smiley are more novelistic in their technique than most genre fiction, but the organisation is too lax to consider them a sequence, in intent or execution.
• J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter sequence has combined elements of older school story genre convention, and formula fiction devices, with a much broader range of allusions and themes. Ursula Le Guin, author of the Earthsea wizard novels, has criticized Rowling's work, saying that it is less innovative than is sometimes claimed. The degree of organisation applied to the continuity is though something unusual.

Isaac Asimov, photographed by Jay Kay Klein Dr. Isaac Asimov (c. ... Hari Seldons holographic image, pictured on a paperback edition of Foundation, appears at various times in the First Foundations history, to guide it through the social and economic crises that befall it. ... Isaac Asimovs Robot Series is a series of books by Isaac Asimov, both collections of short stories and novels. ... A recent picture of David Brin. ... The Uplift Universe is a fictional universe created by science fiction writer David Brin. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... George Smiley is a fictional character created by John Le Carré. Smiley is an agent working for MI6, the British overseas intelligence agency. ... J. K. Rowling Joanne Jo Rowling, OBE (born 31 July 1965[1]) is an English fiction writer who writes under the pen name of J. K. Rowling[2] (see below). ... The official Harry Potter film logo This article is about the Harry Potter series. ... The school story is a genre of fiction, basic to much of the childrens literature of the twentieth century. ... In popular culture, formula fiction defines literature in which the storylines and plots have been reused to the extent that the narratives are predictable. ... Ursula K. Le Guin at an informal bookstore Q&A session, July 2004 Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (born October 21, 1929), is an American author. ... Cover to 1991 Bantam Books paperback edition of A Wizard of Earthsea, illustrated by John Jude Palencar Earthsea is a fictional realm created by Ursula K. Le Guin for her short story The Word of Unbinding, published in 1964, but that became more famous in her novel A Wizard of...

Examples

• James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales
• Benito Pérez Galdós's Episodios nacionales
• Romain Rolland's Jean Christophe,
• the novels of Jules Romains
• John Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga
• Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage
• Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time
• C. P. Snow's Strangers and Brothers
• Henry Williamson's Chronicles of Ancient Sunlight
• Simon Raven's Alms for Oblivion and The First Born of Egypt
• Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet and other sequences
• Paul Scott's Raj Quartet (i.e. The Jewel in the Crown)
• Susan Howatch's Starbridge sequence
• the novels of Amanda Craig
• A. N. Wilson's Lampitt Papers
• Ferdinand Mount's Chronicles of Modern Twilight
• John Updike's Rabbit Angstrom books.
• Roger Martin du Gard's les Thibault
• Georges Duhamel's Chronique des Pasquier
• Louis Aragon's Cycle du Monde Réel
• Jacques Chardonne's Les Destinées sentimentales
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels