1600–1720

Origins of the Novel

The novel invents itself: Cervantes mocks the romance into something new, and prose fiction discovers it can hold a whole life, and a whole world, between covers.

Reading path

Origins of the Novel

Cervantes mocks an old form to death, and a new one crawls out of the wreckage insisting it's all true.

5 steps

Movements of this era

Birth of the Novel

Cervantes, Defoe, and Sterne invent, and immediately subvert, the form.

Authors of this era

1547–1616Miguel de CervantesSpain 1634–1693Madame de La FayetteFrance 1660–1731Daniel DefoeEngland 1713–1768Laurence SterneEngland