List of claimed first novels in English

A number of works of literature have each been claimed as the first novel in English

List of candidates[]

Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur (a.k.a. Le Morte Darthur), (written c. 1470, published 1485)
William Baldwin, Beware the Cat, (written 1553, published 1570, 1584)^[1]
John Lyly, Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578) and Euphues and his England (1580) ^[2]
Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia (a.k.a. Arcadia) (1581)
Margaret Cavendish, The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing-World, (a.k.a. The Blazing World) (1666)
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come (1678)^[3]
Aphra Behn, Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave (1688)^[4]
Anonymous, Vertue Rewarded (1693)^[5]
Daniel Defoe, The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates (a.k.a. Robinson Crusoe) (1719) ^[6] and The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (also 1719)
Daniel Defoe, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders Who was born in Newgate, and during a life of continu'd Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Years a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her brother) Twelve Years a Thief, Eight Years a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest and died a Penitent (a.k.a. Moll Flanders) (1722)
Samuel Richardson, Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740)^[7]

Other relevant works[]

The following are other early long works of prose fiction in English not generally considered novels:

William Caxton's 1483 translation of Geoffroy de la Tour Landry, The Book of the Knight of the Tower (originally in French)
Thomas Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller, or The Life of Jack Wilton (1594)
Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub (1704)
Daniel Defoe, The Consolidator (1705)
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, or Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships (a.k.a. Gulliver's Travels) (1726)

Differing definition of novel[]

There are multiple candidates for first novel in English partly because of ignorance of earlier works, but largely because the term novel can be defined so as to exclude earlier candidates. (The article for novel contains a detailed information of the history of the terms "novel" and "romance" and the bodies of texts they defined in a historical perspective.)

Length[]

Critics typically require a novel to have a certain length. This would exclude Oroonoko, arguably a novella.

Content and intent[]

Critics typically require a novel to be wholly original and so exclude retellings such as Le Morte d'Arthur.
Critics typically make a distinction between collections of short stories, even those sharing common themes and settings, and novels per se, which typically has a single protagonist and narrative throughout. This might also lead to the exclusion of Le Morte d'Arthur.
Critics typically distinguish between the romance, which has a heroic protagonist and fantastic elements, and the novel, which attempts to present a realistic story. This would, yet again, exclude Le Morte d'Arthur.
Critics typically distinguish between the allegory (in which characters and events have political, religious or other meanings) and the novel, in which characters and events stand only for themselves, and so exclude The Pilgrim's Progress and A Tale of a Tub'.
Critics typically distinguish between the picaresque, made up of a connected sequence of episodes, and the novel, which has unity of structure, and so exclude The Unfortunate Traveller.

Owing to the influence of Ian Watt's seminal study in literary sociology, The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding (1957), Watt's candidate, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719), gained wide acceptance.

References[]

^ Ringler, William A. and Michael Flachmann eds. "Preface." Beware the Cat. San Marino: Huntington Library, 1988.
^ Sampson, George (1941). The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature, p. 161. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
^ Chapman, J. (1892). The Westminster Review, Volume 138. p. 610.
^ Doyle, Laura (2008). Freedom's Empire: Race and the Rise of the Novel in Atlantic Modernity, 1640–1940, p. 97. Duke University Press. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
^ Burke, Ray. "Novel departure – Vertue Rewarded, the first Irish novel written in English". The Irish Times.
^ Chapman, J. (1892). The Westminster Review, Volume 138. p. 610.
^ The New York Times (2007). The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge, Second Edition: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind, p. 67. Macmillan. Retrieved 26 April 2014.

External links[]

Historical texts relating to Beware the Cat by William Baldwin

[1] Ringler, William A. and Michael Flachmann eds. "Preface." Beware the Cat. San Marino: Huntington Library, 1988.

[2] Sampson, George (1941). The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature, p. 161. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 26 April 2014.

[3] Chapman, J. (1892). The Westminster Review, Volume 138. p. 610.

[4] Doyle, Laura (2008). Freedom's Empire: Race and the Rise of the Novel in Atlantic Modernity, 1640–1940, p. 97. Duke University Press. Retrieved 26 April 2014.

[5] Burke, Ray. "Novel departure – Vertue Rewarded, the first Irish novel written in English". The Irish Times.

[6] Chapman, J. (1892). The Westminster Review, Volume 138. p. 610.

[7] The New York Times (2007). The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge, Second Edition: A Desk Reference for the Curious Mind, p. 67. Macmillan. Retrieved 26 April 2014.

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