{"product_id":"the-novel-an-alternative-history-beginnings-to-1600-9781441145475","title":"The Novel: An Alternative History: Beginnings to 1600","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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Bloomsbury Publishing PLC\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/27\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781441145475\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 704\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 2.14lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.81h x 5.68w x 1.86d","brand":"Steven Moore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53195146952885,"sku":"9781441145475","price":39.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/9781441145475.jpg?v=1788273072","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-novel-an-alternative-history-beginnings-to-1600-9781441145475","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}