[Ads-l] What is a NOVEL?

[Andy Bach]

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

Just after reading this yesterday, I came across a question on Quora:
How much of the epic novel “Beowulf” is real? Did ‘Beowulf’ interact with
people who existed?

which has an interesting answer (there is some history in there) and it
ends with: "PS: *Beowulf* isn’t a novel; it’s an epic poem."

I'd send the link, but you pretty much have to join Quora to read anything
on it. It's free and worthwhile but ...

On Tue, Jul 10, 2018 at 8:46 AM, David Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:

> The Bible? Yes, that's a novel too.
>
> The OED? They don't know that there is such a thing as a dictionary. Only
> Google.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of
> Laurence Horn
> Sent: Monday, July 09, 2018 3:06 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] What is a NOVEL?
>
> How about the Bible?  Or the OED?  (Maybe the compact edition of the latter
> just to be on the safe side.)
>
> > On Jul 9, 2018, at 3:04 PM, David Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET> wrote:
> >
> > 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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> >>
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> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
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-- 

a

Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
608 658-1890 cell
608 261-5738 wk

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