Types of Novels-Picaresque novel-Historical Novel-Psychological Novel

Types of Novels

1. Picaresque novel may be called the earliest experiment in the field of novel. The word ‘picaresque’ has been derived (taken) from the Spanish word ‘Picaro’ that means a ‘rogue’ /rəʊɡ/ (dangerous and harmful) or a ‘knave’ /neɪv/ (dishonest) in English. A picaresque novel has a long narrative that revolves around a person, who is a criminal for society. But, in reality, he helps the poor by duping (cheating) the rich. He is a Robinhood type of character, a highwayman, who suddenly appears and suddenly disappears after finishing his job of robbery. 

This theme of appearance versus reality was followed by many English novelists in the eighteenth century. It was really a very popular theme. We can quote (cite/give) several examples of this type of novel. Henry Fielding wrote Tom Jones and Joseph Andrews. Charles Dickens wrote ‘The Pickwick Papers (1836–37). We have Jonathan Swift’s famous ‘Gulliver’s Travels’, Mark Twain’s ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' (1884), and the recent Thomas Mann’s ‘Confessions of Felix Krull’. The anonymous ‘Lazaillo De Tormes’ was the true Spanish picaresque novel.

2.Historical Novel

Although history and historical novels have much in common, yet there is one basic difference between them. History is based on the recording of facts while in a historical novel the writer adds imagination to the facts taken from history. The first historical novel written in the English language is Sir Walter Scott’s ‘Ivanhoe’.

Broadly speaking, it may be said that one-fourth of all the novels published so far in the last thirty years have some historical elements in them. After World War II, the tendency to write historical novels has very much increased. India may be called the epicentre ( /ˈep.ɪ.sen.tər/ the focal point) of writing historical novels in English. We have examples of writers who have written historical novels in India. The list includes the names of the novelists like Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, Robinson Mistry, Mukul Keswan, etc. They have become very successful and well-acknowledged writers of this type.

3. Psychological Novel

The term ‘psychological novel’ came into vogue (trend/fashion) in the modern age of English Literature. The novelists between the period of two world wars wrote fiction that may well be called psychological novels. In this type of novel, the novelist deals with the inner-being, the inner world of his characters. The conflict at the inner stage, that is mind, is depicted by the writers of such novels. Sometimes a person is sitting silently and he or she seems inactive. But, who knows about the conflict that might be going on into the mind of that person? So the writers of such kinds of novels bring out the conflicts that usually go into the minds of human beings. With the researches in the field of psychology done by Freud and Jung, the work in the field of writing psychological novels increased. 

The use of ‘streams of consciousness’ became popular in the modern age. In the past, no one knew the term ‘the streams of consciousness and ‘psychological novel’. But still, we may quote the example of Richardson’s Pamela (1740) in which the novelist explored the inner reality. D. H. Lawrence wrote psychological novels like ‘Women in Love’, ‘Sons and Lovers’, and Rainbow. Virginia Woolf wrote Mrs. Dalloway. James Joyce and William Faulkner are also the novelists who wrote psychological novels.