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The Future of the Novel

Simon Okotie

$32.99

Paperback

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English
Melville House Publishing
04 March 2025
Author and essayist Simon Okotie interprets the signposts - evident through the history of the novel - that point to the form's future.

Author and essayist Simon Okotie interprets the signposts - evident through the history of the novel - that point to the form's future.

We're used to the novel being declared dead, dying, or endangered. Seemingly every few years, a critic will read it the last rites - yet the form remains more popular than ever with readers. In The Future of the Novel, author Simon Okotie presents a bold future for long-form fiction, and suggests its evolution is far from over.

Okotie begins by responding to and critiquing John Carruthers' book Scheherezade, or The Future of the English Novel, published in 1927 as part of the 'To-day and To-morrow' series - the inspiration for our present-day FUTURES. He then cites others who have since meditated on the direction of the form- Henry James, D. H. Lawrence, William Burroughs, Anais Nin, Zadie Smith, and China Mieville, among others. In doing so, he also tells the story of the novel itself, from the realism of the 18th and 19th centuries, through the early stirrings of modernism with its focus on the 'inner life', right through to the abstraction and experimentation of 21st century postmodernism, and beyond.

All of which informs Okotie's own future vision for the novel - one that extends even further into the reaches of the subconscious, and speculates on the uneasy role artifical intelligence will play in the coming decades.

The Future of The Novel is a rich and immersive portrait of an artform which, despite constant claims to the contrary, is more alive and exciting than ever.
By:  
Imprint:   Melville House Publishing
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 179mm,  Width: 113mm,  Spine: 12mm
Weight:   125g
ISBN:   9781685891619
ISBN 10:   1685891616
Series:   The FUTURES Series
Pages:   128
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Simon Okotie is a fiction writer and essayist. He is the author of Whatever Happened to Harold Absalon?, In the Absence of Absalon, and After Absalon, an acclaimed trilogy of novels published by Salt. He lives in London.

Reviews for The Future of the Novel

""This book is a thoughtful and meticulous consideration of what the novel was, is, and could yet be. There is something to learn, something to contend, and something to illuminate on every page."" -- C.D. Rose, author of Walter Benjamin Stares at the Sea ""A bracing, positive read, it’s recommended even – perhaps especially – to those whose own literary tastes tend to be more conventional."" -- The Guardian ""Provocative, incisive, intimate, and deeply learned."" -- Adam Ehlich Sachs, author of The Organs of Sense ""Simon Okotie considers the future of the novel by first exploring its past, and dives deep into the theory and practice of fiction since Woolf, Joyce and their modernist contemporaries. In this thoughtful and wide-ranging survey his erudition is very impressive, though lightly-worn. If you have skin in the game as a writer or reader, you really need to read this book. It taught me a lot."" -- David Collard, author of Multiple Joyce: 100 Short Essays About James Joyce's Cultural Legacy


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