[Ads-l] What is a NOVEL?

[David Wilton]

Based on how my students use the word, "novel" is synonymous with "book." Fiction or non-fiction doesn't matter.

I've yet to see them use the word to be synonymous with a short poem, but some do call "Beowulf" a "novel."



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2018 9:15 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] What is a NOVEL?

Hey, Mark, I warned about just this development years ago, with many gratuitous updates!

And it ain't restricted to fiction!

JL

On Mon, Jul 9, 2018 at 8:26 AM Mark Mandel <mark.a.mandel at gmail.com> wrote:

> I've read somewhere that the use of "novel" is spreading out, like 
> soup spilled on a tablecloth, to include any kind of fiction. Bleah!
>
> Mark Mandel
>
> On Jul 9, 2018 3:28 AM, "Charles C Doyle" <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
>
> A website called "shortlist.com" lists among "the 30 greatest war 
> novels of all time" Shakespeare's _Henry VI_ (the trilogy, 
> apparently).
>
>
> --Charlie
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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