When Novels Were Books

Up until the latter half of the eighteenth century, readers would have seen little distinction between novels and religious books. A further, and to my mind less convincing argument is that the emergence of the novel in the eighteenth century was related to a change in reading practices: from discon...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBunyan studies no. 27; pp. 136 - 139
Main Author Owens, W R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Newcastle Upon Tyne Northumbria University, Department of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences 01.01.2023
Subjects
18th century
Novels
Publishing
Reading
Religion
Religious literature
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Summary:Up until the latter half of the eighteenth century, readers would have seen little distinction between novels and religious books. A further, and to my mind less convincing argument is that the emergence of the novel in the eighteenth century was related to a change in reading practices: from discontinuous reading (dipping in and out of books) to continuous (cover-to-cover) reading. In editions such as these, Stein concludes, The Pilgrim 's Progress provides 'a strong example of the ways in which, after the late eighteenth century bifurcation between the market conditions for novels and books of piety, the residual market for literary publishing attempts to incorporate piety back in' (163-64).
ISSN:0954-0970