{"product_id":"the-novel","title":"The Novel","description":"Encyclopedic in scope and heroically audacious, \u003ci\u003eThe Novel: An Alternative History\u003c\/i\u003e is the first attempt in over a century to tell the complete story of our most popular literary form. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the novel did not originate in 18th-century England, nor even with \u003ci\u003eDon Quixote\u003c\/i\u003e, but is coeval with civilization itself. After a pugnacious introduction, in which Moore defends innovative, demanding novelists against their conservative critics, the book relaxes into a world tour of the pre-modern novel, beginning in ancient Egypt and ending in 16th-century China, with many exotic ports-of-call: Greek romances; Roman satires; medieval Sanskrit novels narrated by parrots; Byzantine erotic thrillers; 5000-page Arabian adventure novels; Icelandic sagas; delicate Persian novels in verse; Japanese war stories; even Mayan graphic novels. Throughout, Moore celebrates the innovators in fiction, tracing a continuum between these pre-modern experimentalists and their postmodern progeny.","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48833506214093,"sku":"9781441145475","price":46.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0557\/1529\/9533\/files\/imageloader_99f145de-b010-4953-8480-52084508cf9f.jpg?v=1790887466","url":"https:\/\/booksatmidnight.com\/products\/the-novel","provider":"Books At Midnight","version":"1.0","type":"link"}