FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154  
155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   >>   >|  
pply the term _nouvelle_ to works of briefer compass but similar method, like the "Colomba" and the "Carmen" of Prosper Merimee. In English we may class as novels works like "Kenilworth," "The Newcomes," "The Last of the Mohicans," "The Rise of Silas Lapham"; and we may class as novelettes works like "Daisy Miller," "The Treasure of Franchard," "The Light that Failed." The difference is merely that the novelette (or _nouvelle_) is a work of less extent, and covers a smaller canvas, than the novel (or _roman_). The distinction is quantitative but not qualitative. The novelette deals with fewer characters and incidents than the novel; it usually limits itself to a stricter economy of time and place; it presents a less extensive view of life, with (most frequently) a more intensive art. But these differences are not definite enough to warrant its being considered a species distinct from the novel. Except for the restrictions imposed by brevity of compass, the writer of novelettes employs the same methods as the writer of novels; and, furthermore, he sets forth similar materials. More and more in recent years, the novel has tended to shorten to the novelette. A stricter sense of art has led to the exclusion of digressive and discursive passages; and the hurry and preoccupation of contemporary readers has militated against the leisurely and rambling habit of the authors of an earlier time. The lesson of excision and condensation has been taught by writers as different in tone as Merimee, Turgenieff, and Stevenson. "The three-volume novel is extinct," as Mr. Kipling stated in the motto prefixed to the poem called "The Three-Decker," in which, with a commingling of satire and sentiment, he chanted its requiem. It was nearly always, in the matter of structure, a slovenly form; and there is therefore little cause for regret that the novelette seems destined to supplant it. For the novelette accomplishes the same purpose as the novel, with necessarily a more intensive emphasis of art, and with a tax considerably less upon the time and attention of the reader. But the _conte_, or short-story, differs from the novel and the novelette not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively, not only in length, but also in kind. In such _contes_ as "The Necklace" of de Maupassant and "The Last Class" of Daudet, in such short-stories as "Ligeia," "The Ambitious Guest," "Markheim," and "Without Benefit of Clergy," the aim of the author is
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154  
155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
novelette
 

intensive

 

stricter

 
writer
 

novels

 

Merimee

 

nouvelle

 

compass

 

similar

 

novelettes


sentiment

 
satire
 

earlier

 
commingling
 
excision
 

lesson

 

chanted

 

requiem

 

authors

 

extinct


volume

 

condensation

 

taught

 

prefixed

 

writers

 
Kipling
 

stated

 

Turgenieff

 

Decker

 

Stevenson


called

 

purpose

 
Necklace
 

Maupassant

 

contes

 

differs

 

quantitatively

 

qualitatively

 

length

 

Daudet


stories
 
Benefit
 

Clergy

 

author

 

Without

 
Markheim
 

Ligeia

 
Ambitious
 
regret
 

destined