"A Novel": A MetaFilter Post
February 15, 2019 9:14 AM Subscribe
Vox's Eliza Brooke asks the question "Why do so many book covers still use the phrase 'A Novel' for works of fiction?" and finds some answers, linking to a 2008 Ask MeFi thread in the process, and points out that often "A Novel" is added to the cover of book-length works of fiction when they cross over from the UK to North America.
How many books, or even things that aren't books, have "A Novel" in their title just to troll? Because I kind of want to do that with my next album.
posted by Foosnark at 10:10 AM on February 15, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Foosnark at 10:10 AM on February 15, 2019 [5 favorites]
Sometimes it is false advertising. The most recent example of this in my experience is Stephen King's Elevation: A Novel. It's good, but at only 20,000 words it is technically a novella, not a novel.
King has an issue with the term novella, writing in his introduction to Different Seasons, a collection of four of his novellas, that the novella is "an ill-defined and disreputable literary banana republic."
Be that as it may, you'll see many negative comments in the Amazon reviews of Elevation about the short length of the subtitle-advertised "novel."
posted by zakur at 10:18 AM on February 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
King has an issue with the term novella, writing in his introduction to Different Seasons, a collection of four of his novellas, that the novella is "an ill-defined and disreputable literary banana republic."
Be that as it may, you'll see many negative comments in the Amazon reviews of Elevation about the short length of the subtitle-advertised "novel."
posted by zakur at 10:18 AM on February 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
Like Foosnark with their next album, I kinda want to add "A Novel" to the cover of my current comics project now.
It is a sci-fi project that has a cute cartoon cat on the cover. It gleefully plays with a bunch of familiar genre tropes. It is everything that the "A Novel" tag implies a book isn't.
posted by egypturnash at 10:21 AM on February 15, 2019
It is a sci-fi project that has a cute cartoon cat on the cover. It gleefully plays with a bunch of familiar genre tropes. It is everything that the "A Novel" tag implies a book isn't.
posted by egypturnash at 10:21 AM on February 15, 2019
The one place I've appreciated this addition is when it was used to complete the rhyme in "Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish: A Novel By David Rakoff", a book written entirely in rhyming couplets.
posted by Flannery Culp at 10:24 AM on February 15, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Flannery Culp at 10:24 AM on February 15, 2019 [5 favorites]
I have long felt that this is dumb. I also feel a little dumber when a non-fiction book i want to read is subtitled "How the whatever did whatever", or "the true story of how whatever did whatever."
I'm fairly confident that anything on a book's cover is 100% marketing and bears little relation to the merits within. Come to think of it, there's a common idiom about this very point.
posted by condour75 at 10:28 AM on February 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
I'm fairly confident that anything on a book's cover is 100% marketing and bears little relation to the merits within. Come to think of it, there's a common idiom about this very point.
posted by condour75 at 10:28 AM on February 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
I'm going to do the reverse of Foosnark and write a novel whose title is
Intergalactic Barbarians of the Star-Lanes
A Live Hagfish
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 10:39 AM on February 15, 2019 [9 favorites]
Intergalactic Barbarians of the Star-Lanes
A Live Hagfish
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 10:39 AM on February 15, 2019 [9 favorites]
Is it contrarian to feel like this just...has obvious utility? Especially in a time when creative nonfiction is quite popular. If I'm someone who lives under a rock and see "One Hundred Years of Solitude: a novel" I know it's fiction and not, like, a social history of 20th-century loneliness.
posted by dusty potato at 10:53 AM on February 15, 2019 [27 favorites]
posted by dusty potato at 10:53 AM on February 15, 2019 [27 favorites]
I'm going to write a history of new things and call it "Novel: Not A Novel".
posted by clawsoon at 10:53 AM on February 15, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 10:53 AM on February 15, 2019 [7 favorites]
New mental hobby: taking lit-fic titles literally, as in Etrigan's second block quote. Heh.
I feel like the other end of the pendulum is the elaborate keyword-stuffing ebook subhead. You know, "The Whatever of Wherever: Book 76 of the Whereververse Saga, A Ripsnorting Adventure Tale With All Sorts of Cool Things In It Which I'll Now List, Yes, Technically in the Title, Suck It, Keyword Limits."
posted by cage and aquarium at 11:06 AM on February 15, 2019 [4 favorites]
I feel like the other end of the pendulum is the elaborate keyword-stuffing ebook subhead. You know, "The Whatever of Wherever: Book 76 of the Whereververse Saga, A Ripsnorting Adventure Tale With All Sorts of Cool Things In It Which I'll Now List, Yes, Technically in the Title, Suck It, Keyword Limits."
posted by cage and aquarium at 11:06 AM on February 15, 2019 [4 favorites]
seconding dusty potato, often novels will have titles that sound like nonfiction: " A Field Guide to X" or something like that.
posted by leotrotsky at 11:10 AM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by leotrotsky at 11:10 AM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
I remember first seeing it on a cover in the early 90s and scoffing and then it just started being everywhere. However, at that time, there were a glut of short story collections coming out which did not indicate themselves as such on the cover, and I always assumed they were trying to distinguish themselves.
Hands-down, the best piss-taking I've seen on this idea is Damon Knight's 1996 book, with a cover / title reading Humpty Dumpty: An Oval.
posted by dobbs at 11:14 AM on February 15, 2019 [11 favorites]
Hands-down, the best piss-taking I've seen on this idea is Damon Knight's 1996 book, with a cover / title reading Humpty Dumpty: An Oval.
posted by dobbs at 11:14 AM on February 15, 2019 [11 favorites]
seconding dusty potato, often novels will have titles that sound like nonfiction: " A Field Guide to X" or something like that.
A Field-guide To
A Girlfriend's Guide To
An Order To Kill:
Resurrected:
A Novel
posted by GuyZero at 11:17 AM on February 15, 2019
A Field-guide To
A Girlfriend's Guide To
An Order To Kill:
Resurrected:
A Novel
posted by GuyZero at 11:17 AM on February 15, 2019
MetaFilter: a Novel
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:25 AM on February 15, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:25 AM on February 15, 2019 [7 favorites]
And when this article is turned into a book, they'll title it: Novel: not a novel (and not novel).
posted by jamjam at 11:49 AM on February 15, 2019
posted by jamjam at 11:49 AM on February 15, 2019
Is it contrarian to feel like this just...has obvious utility?
It could only have any significant utility to someone who was ruthlessly committed to buying books about which they know absolutely nothing by the sole and entire method of reading the front cover. Someone who didn't care what the book was about in any way other than that it was fiction. Someone who steadfastly refused to flip the book over and read the blurbs on the back, or to read the inner dustjacket of a hardcover. Someone so resolutely oblivious to their surroundings that they took no notice of what section of the bookstore they were in.
Such a person would be a silly-billy whose preferences ought not be catered to.
Following Etrigan, it's entirely a signal of literary pretension. "A Novel" appears on a book cover with a dragon or exploding spaceship to reassure the customer that this isn't genre trash and that its appearance here in the "Fiction and Literature" section instead of the SF&F section is intentional.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 11:54 AM on February 15, 2019
It could only have any significant utility to someone who was ruthlessly committed to buying books about which they know absolutely nothing by the sole and entire method of reading the front cover. Someone who didn't care what the book was about in any way other than that it was fiction. Someone who steadfastly refused to flip the book over and read the blurbs on the back, or to read the inner dustjacket of a hardcover. Someone so resolutely oblivious to their surroundings that they took no notice of what section of the bookstore they were in.
Such a person would be a silly-billy whose preferences ought not be catered to.
Following Etrigan, it's entirely a signal of literary pretension. "A Novel" appears on a book cover with a dragon or exploding spaceship to reassure the customer that this isn't genre trash and that its appearance here in the "Fiction and Literature" section instead of the SF&F section is intentional.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 11:54 AM on February 15, 2019
Now I want to put this on my next novel but unfortunately, the next one is totally a piece where A Novel would go anyway, if it were adult fiction. iplayedmyself.gif
posted by headspace at 11:56 AM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by headspace at 11:56 AM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
Absent the bit about it being a novel, I think I would assume "The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls" had at least a 50% chance of being a memoir. Not just nonfiction generally, in the way that it might be an actual guide or something; there's a lot of nonfiction that is written to look and feel a lot like a novel. Especially with that cover. Actually, with that cover and that title, I probably would have given it at least a 50% chance of not just being a memoir, but being a memoir about somebody's eating disorder or body image issues.
If I knew beforehand that Anissa Gray, up until this point, has been known for being a journalist, I would have leaned even harder towards it either being a memoir or a nonfiction book about that same topic.
So yeah, I don't get how people think it's so terribly obvious just from the title or cover what a book is. Sometimes people do just pick up books because the covers look interesting. They wouldn't put any thought at all into book covers if they didn't matter.
posted by Sequence at 11:56 AM on February 15, 2019 [7 favorites]
If I knew beforehand that Anissa Gray, up until this point, has been known for being a journalist, I would have leaned even harder towards it either being a memoir or a nonfiction book about that same topic.
So yeah, I don't get how people think it's so terribly obvious just from the title or cover what a book is. Sometimes people do just pick up books because the covers look interesting. They wouldn't put any thought at all into book covers if they didn't matter.
posted by Sequence at 11:56 AM on February 15, 2019 [7 favorites]
Life in a Squalid Dwelling: A Hovel
Umbilicus: A Navel
The Digging Tool: A Shovel
The Judge's Ruling: A Gavel
My Mother's Brother: An Uncle
How I Obsequiously Attempted to Gain Your Favor: A Grovel
Growing Up in the Suburbs: A Split-Level
posted by Rock Steady at 11:59 AM on February 15, 2019 [33 favorites]
Umbilicus: A Navel
The Digging Tool: A Shovel
The Judge's Ruling: A Gavel
My Mother's Brother: An Uncle
How I Obsequiously Attempted to Gain Your Favor: A Grovel
Growing Up in the Suburbs: A Split-Level
posted by Rock Steady at 11:59 AM on February 15, 2019 [33 favorites]
Almost forgot
War At Sea: A Naval
posted by Rock Steady at 12:02 PM on February 15, 2019 [19 favorites]
War At Sea: A Naval
posted by Rock Steady at 12:02 PM on February 15, 2019 [19 favorites]
I think we'd all be a little less shirty if they just introduced a little less smug confidence:
A Field Guide to Ravenously Hungry Live Hagfish: A Novel?
posted by axiom at 12:07 PM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
A Field Guide to Ravenously Hungry Live Hagfish: A Novel?
posted by axiom at 12:07 PM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
How to Serve Humans: A Novel
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 12:23 PM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 12:23 PM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
A Slanting Edge: A Bevel
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:38 PM on February 15, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:38 PM on February 15, 2019 [6 favorites]
I'll just note that my cover says "Revision: a novel" and I still got at least one bad review from somebody who thought it might be some sort of study guide.
posted by Andrhia at 12:38 PM on February 15, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Andrhia at 12:38 PM on February 15, 2019 [5 favorites]
Having "A Novel" in the title of your novel is the same energy as having "the Movie" in the title of your movie.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 12:46 PM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 12:46 PM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
Is it contrarian to feel like this just...has obvious utility?
Perhaps it's different in the US market, but French publishers have done this for decades for their flagship editorial collections, and the obvious reason is that it's an easy way to categorize books: there are novels, non-fiction stories, short stories, poems, essays, plays etc. For instance, the covers of these books from Tahar Ben Jelloun let the reader know if it's a novel, poetry, non-fiction, or a theatre play. The reading line usually disappears when the book is published in paperback, but not always.
posted by elgilito at 12:48 PM on February 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
Perhaps it's different in the US market, but French publishers have done this for decades for their flagship editorial collections, and the obvious reason is that it's an easy way to categorize books: there are novels, non-fiction stories, short stories, poems, essays, plays etc. For instance, the covers of these books from Tahar Ben Jelloun let the reader know if it's a novel, poetry, non-fiction, or a theatre play. The reading line usually disappears when the book is published in paperback, but not always.
posted by elgilito at 12:48 PM on February 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
Have you read The Devil’s Rabble’s Revels Unravelled: A Novel by Pavel Cavill?
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:02 PM on February 15, 2019 [10 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:02 PM on February 15, 2019 [10 favorites]
Yeah, it's drivel.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:08 PM on February 15, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:08 PM on February 15, 2019 [9 favorites]
Eh, I find it helpful a lot of the time.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:12 PM on February 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:12 PM on February 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
Sorry, the order of comments makes it look like I’m responding to Greg_Ace. No, my comment is just general babble.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:13 PM on February 15, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:13 PM on February 15, 2019 [7 favorites]
I feel like the other end of the pendulum is the elaborate keyword-stuffing ebook subhead. You know, "The Whatever of Wherever: Book 76 of the Whereververse Saga, A Ripsnorting Adventure Tale With All Sorts of Cool Things In It Which I'll Now List, Yes, Technically in the Title, Suck It, Keyword Limits."
posted by cage and aquarium
You laugh - but the official title of Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe is the spoiler-iffic:
posted by cage and aquarium
You laugh - but the official title of Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe is the spoiler-iffic:
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, Etc. Who was born in Newgate, and during a life of continu'd Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her own brother), Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest and died a Penitent. Written from her own Memorandums.posted by jb at 1:13 PM on February 15, 2019 [12 favorites]
That Moll Flanders title sounds like a movie trailer. "No point reading it now, the whole story is in the title!"
posted by clawsoon at 1:27 PM on February 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 1:27 PM on February 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
Seems this is to acknowledge that a lot of books are sold online where context does not obviously categorize the book as fiction and browsing is not so easy. Regretable, but useful.
posted by sjswitzer at 1:28 PM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by sjswitzer at 1:28 PM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
The reason I find it helpful is because I mostly read nonfiction, and authors keep giving their books clever titles that sound like things I’d want to read. So I’ll see something like Domestic Life in Rural Texas and get all excited, then notice the little “A Novel” on the cover and stomp away. I wanted to read about domestic life in rural Texas!
This has honestly happened to me a bunch of times (although I can’t think of any real world examples offhand), and it drives me nuts. Authors, stop making your book titles sound like exactly the kind of hyper-specific academic writing I like.
(Like, it’s a movie, but if I didn’t know what it was, I’d think The Secret Lives of Dentists was a case study in medical professionals, then be all bummed when it was just another slice of life drama. The problem is mine, and probably mine alone.)
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:42 PM on February 15, 2019 [10 favorites]
This has honestly happened to me a bunch of times (although I can’t think of any real world examples offhand), and it drives me nuts. Authors, stop making your book titles sound like exactly the kind of hyper-specific academic writing I like.
(Like, it’s a movie, but if I didn’t know what it was, I’d think The Secret Lives of Dentists was a case study in medical professionals, then be all bummed when it was just another slice of life drama. The problem is mine, and probably mine alone.)
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:42 PM on February 15, 2019 [10 favorites]
I'm going to do the reverse of Foosnark
There in fact exists a novel whose title is The Blue Guide to Indiana.
The copy I got had a sticker placed on it, not part of the normal cover but an additional, cautionary, bit of decoration, advising the would-be purchaser that they were holding, not a guide to Indiana forming part of the Blue Guides series, but rather a work of fiction.
posted by kenko at 4:58 PM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
There in fact exists a novel whose title is The Blue Guide to Indiana.
The copy I got had a sticker placed on it, not part of the normal cover but an additional, cautionary, bit of decoration, advising the would-be purchaser that they were holding, not a guide to Indiana forming part of the Blue Guides series, but rather a work of fiction.
posted by kenko at 4:58 PM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
This is just a bunch of novel gazing, isn’t it.
posted by lazugod at 5:58 PM on February 15, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by lazugod at 5:58 PM on February 15, 2019 [9 favorites]
It could only have any significant utility to someone who was ruthlessly committed to buying books about which they know absolutely nothing by the sole and entire method of reading the front cover.
It has utility to someone browsing the features area at a library or bookstore when you know you do or don't want to read nonfiction.
The problem is mine, and probably mine alone. No, it's not! This is precisely why I appreciate the notation.
posted by Emmy Rae at 6:52 PM on February 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
It has utility to someone browsing the features area at a library or bookstore when you know you do or don't want to read nonfiction.
The problem is mine, and probably mine alone. No, it's not! This is precisely why I appreciate the notation.
posted by Emmy Rae at 6:52 PM on February 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
Your Old Mouth: a Navel
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 7:00 PM on February 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 7:00 PM on February 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
Keeping Your Literature Categories Straight: a Level
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:06 PM on February 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:06 PM on February 15, 2019 [2 favorites]
Title: So Take Me Seriously
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:11 PM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:11 PM on February 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
The Blacksmith's Heaviest Tool: An Anvil
posted by Emmy Rae at 7:15 PM on February 15, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Emmy Rae at 7:15 PM on February 15, 2019 [5 favorites]
Analysis of Cheating in Basketball: A Travel
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:19 PM on February 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:19 PM on February 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
Why Is Life So Unfair?? - A Snivel
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:21 PM on February 15, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:21 PM on February 15, 2019 [4 favorites]
What's This in My Driveway? - A Gravel
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:23 PM on February 15, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:23 PM on February 15, 2019 [4 favorites]
Polish Chocolates: A Wawel
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:25 PM on February 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:25 PM on February 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
Painkiller: An Advil
posted by yhbc at 9:04 PM on February 15, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by yhbc at 9:04 PM on February 15, 2019 [7 favorites]
Just a Single Entrail for Me, Please - an Offal
posted by yhbc at 9:06 PM on February 15, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by yhbc at 9:06 PM on February 15, 2019 [5 favorites]
OK, I had already hit semantic saturation on that word halfway through the article and it felt weird.
The King of Stunts: A Knievel.
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 11:25 PM on February 15, 2019 [6 favorites]
The King of Stunts: A Knievel.
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 11:25 PM on February 15, 2019 [6 favorites]
Is it contrarian to feel like this just...has obvious utility?
Agreed. I didn't even really understand the question being asked and thought there had to be more to it. Do people get weird and cranky if a book says "poems" on the cover?
posted by bongo_x at 2:18 AM on February 16, 2019 [2 favorites]
Do people get weird and cranky if a book says "poems" on the cover?
Depends what's inside
posted by chavenet at 6:15 AM on February 16, 2019 [5 favorites]
Depends what's inside
posted by chavenet at 6:15 AM on February 16, 2019 [5 favorites]
David Markson's This is Not a Novel seems worth mentioning.
posted by holmesian at 8:34 AM on February 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by holmesian at 8:34 AM on February 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
An Argument Over Prices:
More Than Two Geese:
The Tail of that Doggie in the Window:
A Small Child’s Walk:
A Consonantal Sound Produced by Obstructing Airflow in the Vocal Tract:
Protect My Eyes, While I am Swimming:
Hansel and I:
Joint of my Father’s Hand:
Being the Good News of Saint John the Apostle:
I Was Born and Raised Right Here:
posted by gauche at 11:29 AM on February 16, 2019 [3 favorites]
More Than Two Geese:
The Tail of that Doggie in the Window:
A Small Child’s Walk:
A Consonantal Sound Produced by Obstructing Airflow in the Vocal Tract:
Protect My Eyes, While I am Swimming:
Hansel and I:
Joint of my Father’s Hand:
Being the Good News of Saint John the Apostle:
I Was Born and Raised Right Here:
posted by gauche at 11:29 AM on February 16, 2019 [3 favorites]
My Favorite Pulse:
Above the Fireplace:
Even The Platypus:
Much Smaller Than a Real Plane:
The Painting on the Wall:
The Merest Scrap of Food:
Holding on to the Saddle:
Tiny Disagreement:
Fabric Noise:
posted by gauche at 11:51 AM on February 16, 2019 [2 favorites]
Above the Fireplace:
Even The Platypus:
Much Smaller Than a Real Plane:
The Painting on the Wall:
The Merest Scrap of Food:
Holding on to the Saddle:
Tiny Disagreement:
Fabric Noise:
posted by gauche at 11:51 AM on February 16, 2019 [2 favorites]
MetaFilter: people get weird and cranky
posted by reductiondesign at 12:14 PM on February 17, 2019
posted by reductiondesign at 12:14 PM on February 17, 2019
Just a Single Entrail for Me, Please - an Offal
Tripity-tripe: Awful Offal I Fell Afoul of
posted by jamjam at 7:13 PM on February 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
Tripity-tripe: Awful Offal I Fell Afoul of
posted by jamjam at 7:13 PM on February 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
I also feel a little dumber when a non-fiction book i want to read is subtitled "How the whatever did whatever", or "the true story of how whatever did whatever."
The conventions of American publishing are weird; that publishing retains national idiosyncrasies in a time of homogenisation is not a bad thing, but the differences between English-speaking markets are jarring. (Seriously, first-run hardbacks for everything? Do you not understand why e-readers bit you on the arse compared to those markets that are fine with first-run trade paperbacks?)
That Moll Flanders title sounds like a movie trailer.
Early English novels tend to present fiction under the guise of memoir or history, which is why Defoe and Swift adopted the conventions of those genres. What looks like plot spoilers to modern readers serves as grounding for contemporary ones. (Aphra Behn's Oroonoko is subtitled 'A True History', though it... isn't.)
So yes, "A Novel" serves a similar purpose -- a "reading line" as it's called in the older thread by someone in publishing -- to ground a certain set of readers.
posted by holgate at 10:14 PM on February 18, 2019
The conventions of American publishing are weird; that publishing retains national idiosyncrasies in a time of homogenisation is not a bad thing, but the differences between English-speaking markets are jarring. (Seriously, first-run hardbacks for everything? Do you not understand why e-readers bit you on the arse compared to those markets that are fine with first-run trade paperbacks?)
That Moll Flanders title sounds like a movie trailer.
Early English novels tend to present fiction under the guise of memoir or history, which is why Defoe and Swift adopted the conventions of those genres. What looks like plot spoilers to modern readers serves as grounding for contemporary ones. (Aphra Behn's Oroonoko is subtitled 'A True History', though it... isn't.)
So yes, "A Novel" serves a similar purpose -- a "reading line" as it's called in the older thread by someone in publishing -- to ground a certain set of readers.
posted by holgate at 10:14 PM on February 18, 2019
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posted by Etrigan at 10:02 AM on February 15, 2019 [18 favorites]