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A novel is a long prose narrative written by a novelist that describes fictional characters and events, usually in the form of a sequential story. The genre has historical roots in antiquity and the fields of medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter, an Italian word used to describe short stories, supplied the present generic English term in the 18th century.
Further definition of the genre is historically difficult. The construction of the narrative, the plot, the relation to reality, the characterization, and the use of language are usually discussed to show a novel's artistic merits. Most of these requirements were introduced to literary prose in the 16th and 17th centuries, in order to give fiction a justification outside the field of factual history.
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The Penelopiad is a
novella by
Margaret Atwood. It was published in 2005 as part of the first set of books in the
Canongate Myth Series where contemporary authors rewrite ancient
myths. In
The Penelopiad,
Penelope reminisces on the events during the
Odyssey, life in
Hades, and her relationships with her parents,
Odysseus, and
Helen. A
chorus of the twelve maids, who Odysseus believed were disloyal and whom
Telemachus hanged, interrupt Penelope's narrative to express their view on events. The maids' interludes use a new genre each time, including a
jump-rope rhyme, a
lament, an
idyll, a
ballad, a lecture, a court trial and several types of songs. The novella's central themes include the effects of story-telling perspectives, double standards between the genders and the classes, and the fairness of justice. The book was translated into 28 languages and released simultaneously around the world by 33 publishers. In the Canadian market, it peaked on the best seller lists at number one in
MacLean's and number two in
The Globe and Mail, but did not place on the
New York Times Best Seller list in the American market. Some critics found the writing to be typical of Atwood, even amongst her finest work, while others found some aspects, like the chorus of maids, disagreeable. A theatrical version was co-produced by the Canadian
National Arts Centre and the British
Royal Shakespeare Company.
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- You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn't flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn't have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
