Novella

Definition

Novella is a term in literature, describing a short and well-structured narrative of prose fiction, often being satiric and realistic. Novella usually focuses on one incident, contains maximum of two main characters and takes place at a single location. These individual tales were often gathered into collections, together with anecdotes or legends. Although being important for the development of the novel in all of Europe, novella can be easily distinguished from the novel. It is much shorter, does not contain multiple plotlines and usually isn't divided into chapters.

History

The origins of novella lie in Italy during the Middle Ages (the word novella itself means "new" in Italian), the first notable author of novellas being Giovanni Boccaccio. Geoffrey Chaucer then introduced the genre to England. Since 18th century, novella started to flourish in middle Europe, most notably Germany, thanks to artists such as Franz Kafka, J. W. van Goethe or Thomas Mann. The most famous Czech novella is probably Krysař by Viktor Dyk.

Examples

As mentioned, novellas often come in collections. Two examples of such collections are Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio or The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Examples of individually written novels include Death in Venice by Thomas Mann, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad or Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Sources

"Novella"| Encyclopædia Britannica, 21st Oct 2023, https://www.britannica.com/art/novella

"Novella" | Poem analysis, 21st Oct 2023, https://poemanalysis.com/genre/novella/

"Novella" | Literary devices, 21st Oct 2023, https://literarydevices.net/novella/

Author: Roman Mudrák (512862)