Yes, we can say that the novel (especially 長篇小說, long-form fiction) is a child of modernity, but with important caveats. The novel, as a literary form, emerged alongside modernity, shaped by its social, economic, and technological transformations, yet it also preceded and in some ways anticipated modernity.
1. The Novel as a Product of Early Modernity
• The novel flourished during periods of urbanization, increased literacy, and the expansion of print culture—all hallmarks of early modernity.
• In China, the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) saw the rise of vernacular 長篇小說 (Water Margin, Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Plum in the Golden Vase), coinciding with the growth of a merchant class and a print economy.
• In Europe, Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1605, 1615) marked the beginning of the novel as a self-aware, modern literary form, emerging alongside the decline of feudalism and the rise of individualism.
• Printing technology, whether in Ming China (woodblock printing) or Renaissance Europe (Gutenberg press, 1440), played a decisive role in the novel’s development, making long-form fiction accessible to a broader audience.
2. The Novel and the Individual
• Modernity, as understood in philosophy (Descartes, Kant), economics (capitalism), and politics (the nation-state), emphasizes the individual as an autonomous agent.
• The novel as a genre reflects this shift:
• European novels (Robinson Crusoe, 1719; Pamela, 1740; Tom Jones, 1749) explore the inner life, consciousness, and development of an individual.
• Chinese 長篇小說, while often focused on collective history (Three Kingdoms, Water Margin) or societal critique (Plum in the Golden Vase, Dream of the Red Chamber), also explore personal destiny and moral struggles.
• Japanese novels, such as The Tale of Genji (11th century), were highly psychological but existed in a pre-modern, aristocratic world, distinct from modern novels.
3. The Novel as a Medium of Social and Political Change
• Modernity brought nation-states, colonialism, capitalism, and revolutions—all of which were documented, explored, and questioned through novels.
• In Europe, 19th-century novels (Dickens, Balzac, Dostoevsky) chronicled industrialization, urban alienation, and social mobility.
• In China, Dream of the Red Chamber (18th century) was a proto-modern novel, chronicling the decline of an aristocratic family amid social change.
• Latin American and Russian literature (Bolaño, García Márquez, Tolstoy) often intertwined historical and political modernity with novelistic storytelling.
4. The Novel and the Crisis of Modernity
• While the novel arose from modernity, it also became a site for critiquing it.
• Modernist and postmodernist novels (Ulysses, 1922; The Trial, 1925; One Hundred Years of Solitude, 1967) reflect disillusionment with modernity, challenging linear narratives and stable identities.
• The 20th-century novel often depicted alienation, existential anxiety, and the fragmentation of meaning—responses to the crises of modernity (wars, capitalism, totalitarianism, technology).
5. Is the Novel a Child of Modernity or Something Older?
• If “modernity” means the Enlightenment, capitalism, and the nation-state, then yes, the realist psychological novel (e.g., Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina) is deeply modern.
• However, long-form prose fiction predates modernity:
• The Tale of Genji (11th century, Japan)
• The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (14th century, China)
• Don Quixote (17th century, Spain)
• What modernity did was transform the novel into the dominant literary form, shifting from epic and mythic storytelling to personal, realistic, and psychological narratives.
Conclusion
The novel is both a child of modernity and a precursor to it. While modernity provided the conditions for the novel’s mass production, popularity, and themes of individual consciousness, the novel as a form was already evolving in pre-modern societies. If we consider modernity as an unfinished project, then the novel remains one of its most important mirrors and critics.
