"novel" = an epic poem or full-length poetic drama

[Joel S. Berson]

At 10/11/2006 09:59 PM, you wrote:
>   2001 Gene A. Plunka "The Jean-Claude van Itallie Papers in the
> Department of Special Collections and Archives at Kent State
> University," in _Resources for American Literary Study_ XXVII 122:
> The Odyssey: A Musical Theater Piece (27 Oct. 1990), adaptation of
> Homer's novel includes three drafts.
>
>   (Note: Prof. Gene A. Plunka "received his Ph.D. in comparative
> literature from The University of Maryland [in 1978], where he
> specialized in modern and contemporary drama." He is currently
> Professor of English at the University of Memphis.)

Not to excuse Plunka, but if someone is only familiar with Homer's
works in prose renditions, wouldn't it be reasonable to call them
"novels"?  (I ignore the possibility that they are historical
accounts, and therefore non-fiction; I'm just contrasting with "poems".)

Joel

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org