What were the reasons for the popularity of novels ?
(1) The novel is a modern form of literature that is born from print, a mechanical invention. (2) The reasons for the popularity of novels and increase in readers were as mentioned below : It was one of the first mass produced printed item to be sold. he big cities like London were girting rapidly and becoming connected to small towns and rural areas through print and improved communications. Novels produced a number of common interests among their scattered and varied readers. Technological improvements such as power-driven cylindrical press in printing brought down the prices of books. In France, publishers hired out novel by the hour. The worlds created by novels were absorbing and believable and real. While reading novels, the reader was transported to another person’s world and began looking at life as it was experienced by the characters of the novel. Novels could be read in private as well as in public. Its stories could be discussed with friends and relatives. For example, in rural areas people would collect to hear one of them reading a novel aloud. People were generally deeply involved in the lives of the characters. For example, a group at Slough in England were very pleased to hear that the heroine of Richardson’s popular novel Pamela had got married in their village. They went to the parish church and began to ring the church bells! Serialisation of novels : In 1836, Charles Dickens’s Pickwick Papers was serialised in a magazine. As the magazines were attractive and cheap, it helped in the popularity of the novels. At the same time serialisation allowed readers to relish the suspense, discuss the characters of a novel and live for weeks with their stories – like viewers of television soaps today.
