Chapitre 66: Chapter 66

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Novel:

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The Old and New: Defining 'Novel'

Getting to the bottom of what makes a 'novel': a novel is like meeting an old friend all over again. In the simplest terms, a novel is a fictional prose work of considerable length. Beyond that, though, novels aren't so simple anymore.

By this meaning, Egyptian works from around 1200 BCE could be designated as some of the first novels. Extended works of prose fiction also found fans among the ancient Greeks and Romans, with such authors as Heliodoros, who wrote Ethiopian Romance, and Apuleius, who wrote The Golden Ass, producing memorable pieces still in circulation today.