"novel" once again

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Thu, Oct 05, 2006 at 06:59:57AM -0700, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>   2003 Joanna Berry in Steven Jay Schneider, ed. _1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die_ (London: Quintet) 421: _The Great Escape_ (1963)...based on the novel by Paul Brickhill, is backed by a memorable score by Elmer Bernstein that beautifully punctuates every fantastic moment.
>
>   Paul Brickhill's book (1950; rpt. N.Y.: Norton, 2004) is nonfiction, based partly on his own experiences. (The well-known film is heavily fictionalized.)
>

Y'know, the problem with a lot of these examples is that the
books in question are ones that could reasonably be mistaken
for novels. Maybe some people know that _The Great Escape_ or
_Two Years before the Mast_ were actually memoirs, but I think
it's forgivable for people to assume they are fiction.

In other words I think a lot of these examples are more likely
to be errors of fact by people who think these books are fiction,
than a shift in meaning of the word _novel_ to encompass any
kind of narrative work.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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