This is something I’ve always wondered when consuming books. I’m an avid reader. I learned to read when I was 4, I’m nearly 36 (next month is my birthday, in fact), and on and off the question will pop into my head when I pick up a new read and the cover says ‘a novel’. Title, author, a novel. Why is that there? Mostly it gets ignored, I feel other readers do the same. But it’s something I do on occasion wonder about. Why is it there? What does it mean? That’s the only thing it does to me- make me wonder why it’s there and what it means. It doesn’t tell me anything about the book itself. It only makes me wonder why those words are there. So in all my years, all my decades of reading, that’s something I’ve never understood. Why state the obvious on novels?
by FiliaNox
10 Comments
A few reasons. It signifies that it’s fiction rather than non-fiction/memoir, that it’s not genre fiction, and that it’s a standalone.
it’s a convention, made to make it really clear when something is fictitious, versus when it is a nonfiction text. or a poetry collecton, or a short story collection, etc… partially because readers can be a little silly and when they read a fiction novel, still sometimes think it’s true/a memoir. you’d be surprised by how many safeguards exist in the publishing industry for the lowest common denominator reader.
I think it’s there to simply let you know the book is a novel as opposed to a memoir, a biography, a novella, or a collection of short stories. If the book is sealed or wrapped, it being a novel might not be instantly obvious.
First, it means it is fiction. And it distinguishes itself from short story collections, novellas, plays, poetry, and graphic novels, as a few examples.
How is it so obvious that it’s a novel? It could be a cookbook, an atlas, a short story collection, a novella…
It signifies to anyone who has any doubt that the book in question is a novel.
Sometimes it’s just a stylistic flourish. Sometimes it’s because the title or description or style might be mistaken for a memoir, biography or similar.
I would think it’s because there are books that are the same name or similar name, or on the same subject. It probably helps cut down on someone accidentally buying the wrong book if they were only paying attention to the title.
Also if you’re picking up a book that you have no information on, when you see novel on the front you immediately know whether it’s fiction or not.
An extended work of narrative fiction says *something* about the book; at the very least about what it’s *not*. My assumption is that it’s to distinguish it from non-fiction, including true stories and memoirs, and short stories. It carries a whiff of prestige, ostensibly separating itself from mass market fiction, thrillers, and sci-fi too, as those are rarely labeled as such. It’s also useful for an author who doesn’t usually write novels, to set expectations.
Well…it tells you that the book is a novel. I really don’t get your question.