Novel = Book

[Jonathan Lighter]

It was in the spring of 1983 or '84 that I first heard an undergraduate casually refer to a book of nonfiction as a "novel."  She and a friend were discussing the requirements for an introductory psychology course, and she observed that "We have to read the novels too."  One was the Signet intro to Jung's psychology, another was the companion volume to Freud, and the third was, as I recall, a collection of essays.

My blood ran cold.

Since that day, I have heard MANY students use "novel" in this way.  If it ain't poetry and it fills a book, it's a "novel," though it seems to help if the "novel" is a continuous narrative rather than a mere book of essays or short stories.

Fact? Fiction? Doesn't seem to matter.

I know there are skeptics, still used to the tired English of the past.  No, no, you cry. There's some mistake. A "novel" is fiction.  Or else you're thinking of the "nonfiction novels" of Truman Capote and Norman Mailer,  an oxymoron perhaps, but meaningful for just that reason.

Let me assure you there is no mistake.

At least ten years ago I saw the category "fiction novels" posted in a used bookstore.  In fact, when I worked briefly for a literary agent in 1969, we once received a manuscript described as "A Fiction Novel" by so and so, but we laughed. How benighted!

Times have changed.  Here are some Internet quotes.  Sure, some of them may be explicable otherwise.  But don't kid yourselves. The phenomenon is real. I have seen it.


"Enjoy reading fiction novels and magazines." (1994)

"I am interested in any fiction novels that may deal with the pheonix as well but I am more interested in learning its history." (1995)

"Even as a fictional device in fiction novels." (1995)

[The following are from the past couple of years.]


"i've had really hard time thinking about a name for my,
well, novel. i don't know what's the difference between a book and a
novel, but by it's length, i guess i could be a book, too. but a book is
something that has covers."

"What is the difference between a book and a novel? Pure length?"

"And a novel is just a list of what happened when, no matter how cleverly written?"

"Why don't you take up writing fiction novels? You have a real talent for that."

Holy crap, you ought to write fiction novels!

"in trying to emotionally/intellectually deal with harsh
realities, i have lonly ately been listening to "fiction novels,""
"Technically, a novel is just a long, complex prose narrative, something in sequence that reflects the human experience."

"Wolfe is an incomparable talent whether he's writing fictional novels like this
one and The Bonfire of the Vanities or a "nonfiction novel" like The Right Stuff."

And for lagniappe:

"The Daily Beacon" (Univ. of Tenn., Knoxville) (Sept. 23, 2004), p. 6:  "The fiction novel...says Jesus secretly married Mary Magdalene and has descendants living in France."

I can't show any print examples that actually name recognized works of nonfiction as  "novels." Yet.  There may be an example in Leonard Maltin's movie review book, but I was too stultified to write it down.

Google at your own risk.

JL



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