Novel Essay Examples

Literary life in England flourishes so impressively in the early years of the 18th century that contemporaries draw parallels with the heyday of Virgil, Horace and Ovid at the time of the emperor Augustus. The new Augustan Age becomes identified with the reign of Queen Anne (1702-14), though the spirit of the age extends well […]

Bernard Malamud 1914-1986 American novelist and short story writer. The following entry provides criticism on Malamud’s works from 1975 through 1999. See alsoBernard Malamud Criticism (Volume 1), and Volumes 2, 3, 5, 9, 11, 27. INTRODUCTION Malamud is considered one of the most prominent figures in Jewish-American literature. His stories and novels, in which reality and fantasy are frequently interlaced, have been […]

Flaubert’s groundbreaking prose works have established a firm level of acceptance and respect among literary critics. His novel “A Sentimental Education,” once devalued due to a perceived lack of structure, a believed absence of a strong, heroic protagonist, as well as for aspects of ambiguity in its moral themes, has rightfully attained grand stature by […]

From the start, Whitney Terrell’s The King of King’s County seems to be a book about the American Dream; more specifically, it’s a book about the progression of society in a particular city and suburb in Missouri.  And on the surface, that is in fact the theme.  But delve a bit deeper, and there are […]

Shacochis’ new novel, The Woman Who Lost Her Soul, fuses his narrative versatility and his deep understanding of multiple cultures into what Robert Olen Butler calls hismagnum opus. Its suspense revolves around the murder in Haiti of stunningly beautiful Jackie Scott, but before its far-reaching web of interactions ends, it brilliantly unveils the darker regions of […]

JM Coetzee’s ‘Disgrace’ is a novel that chronicles the fall from grace of its protagonist, David Lurie. The misfortunes he suffers are varied and sometimes disturbing. But, although David’s experiences of disgrace could be interpreted as being only that of a middle aged white South African who is refusing to grow old gracefully, the idea […]

Ang Lee’s version of Sense and Sensibility and Rodney Bennett’s TV series adaptation of Sense and Sensibility both capture the spirit of Jane Austen’s novel; however, there are discrepancies which enhance and detract from each adaptation. Differences arise due to variations in the directors’ nationalities and intended audience, events and characters.The American version is much […]

Those women who feature in Michael Frayn’s ‘Spies’ are predominately presented to us through the eyes of the adolescent protagonist; Stephen, whose conflicting feelings relating to them are representative of his evolving maturity. His confusion is intensified by the fact that the women he encounters throughout the novel do not wholly conform to the social […]

The crucible was a play written by Author Miller; he is a successful contemporary dramatist whose work often reveals his compassion for vulnerable people who are victimised by society. For me, this play exemplifies that people’s confidential desires have considerable consequences that in the near future can advance to become exceedingly huge for the person […]

The narrative techniques that Frazier has used to present the journeys of Inman, Ada and other characters can be seen through flashbacks, premonitions, dreams and the meetings of unexpected people. The key element in this novel is how the two protagonist characters; Inman and Ada, both have their own separate journeys in individual chapters which […]

“All of those murdered were bad men. ..arms dealers, child porn merchants, irresponsible business men, but did that give the killer permission to end their lives?”(Elle Haddock)On reflection I too wonder if “that gave the killer permission to end their lives?” – the ruthless and sinister character Andy from Banks compelling novel ‘Complicity’. The above […]

“Set In Darkness” by Ian Rankin is a novel with a dramatic and socking ending. Rankin creates this effect by portraying the protagonist, John Rebus as willing to do anything in order to arrest the criminals in the story. During Rebus’s investigation into a body found in a fireplace in Queensberry House and also the […]

Towards the end of the novel as Vernon faces the death penalty for a crime he didn’t commit, he has an outer body experience. The ending is indefinite as the reader is left questioning whether Vernon is alive or dead. The uncertainty of Vernon’s fate is worth exploring.From chapter twenty-six onwards, a chain of events […]

‘Sexing the Cherry’ is considered as a post-modern text because it has been broken away from the Victorian narrative and rational tradition which is usually linear (start, middle and end) while post-modernism is usually mixed up. This is to break away from normal traditional writings and making it more catching for readers. Also, it values […]

The closure of a novel is always a daunting task for any author. Whilst some endings of novels are designed such that the main conflict is resolved, tying up all loose ends, some endings are also assembled to bring the story to a more open and ambigous conclusion. The focal point of this essay will […]

“Paddy Clarke Ha ha ha” by Roddy Doyle recounts the life of a ten year old boy, living in Ireland in 1968. It describes the development and change of the young hero Paddy Clarke, over a small section of his life. The story of Paddy Clarke epitomizes a child’s life in Ireland at that time, […]

The two types of texts I am comparing are two different types of the underworld in Melbourne Australia. They explain the depth of crimes they committed and the gangs they were in. The novel I am using is Chopper Reads novel. In this he talked about his upbringing and joining the underworld as early as […]

Robert Neville (Will Smith) is a brilliant scientist, but even he could not contain the terrible virus that was unstoppable, incurable… and manmade. Somehow immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City… and maybe the world. But he is not alone. He is surrounded by “the Infected” — […]

The Rise of the English Novel English literature has a long and colorful history. From the masterfully written old English tales of Chaucer to the countless Shakespearian dramas to the poetic verses of Tennyson, England has produced some of the richest treasures of the literary world. Not until the eighteenth century, however, did a type […]

A Clockwork Orange “A Clockwork Orange” is a profound and somewhat disturbing tale of the ultraviolet future of the human race. Its setting is in the near future, most likely sometime in the early twenty-first century. With this fictional society, Burgess depicts a totalitarian state that incorporates elements of both Soviet communism and American capitalism. […]

The story “On the Danger of Reading Fiction”, Thomas Jefferson clearly shows his dislike for the world of fiction novels. Jefferson has stated that fiction novels are “time lost in that reading” and thinks it should be instructively employed. It’s apparent that anyone who is a fiction novel enthusiast could indeed become offended by the […]

PEDRO PARAMO This novel was written by Juan Rulfo a pre eminent Mexican writer who was raised in an orphanage. The central vehicle of the novel is that spirits are here with us if we care to listen, many dialogues and situations in the book have characters who are dead and speak from the beyond. […]