Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/777

* NOVEL. 661 NOVEL. (o Alexandria and tlic cities of iVsia Minor. The basis of llieir lomanees is an erotic tale. Ac- cording to the usual plot, boy and girl lovers are separated, and after countless perils on land and sea among pirates and thieves, they are finally united. There is no attemjjt at likeness to truth; all is governed by ehanee. Such are the loves of Theagenes and Cliarielea, in the .Elhio- pica (fifth century ?), written by a certain llelio- dorus. The .'Eihiopica is one of a group of romances to which belongs The Marcellous Things lici/oiid Thule, by Antonius Diogenes (second century), containing an account of a voyage to the North Pole, travels in the sun and moon, and of a descent into Hades; the Bahylonica, by Jam- blichus the Syrian (second century); the Ephcsiaca, containing the germ of the story of Romeo and Juliet, by Xenophon of Ephesus (third century ?) ; Aiiullonius of Tyre (existing in a Latin version of the fifth century), the original of Shakespeare's Pericles ; and Clitophon and Ijcucipite, by Achilles Tatius of Alexandria I fifth century), abounding in marvels and hor- rors dul}' explained, as in the romances of Ann Hadclid'e. Standing by itself is the pastoral Dnphnis and ChJoe of unknown authorship, sweet, decadent, and sensuous. The extravagances of Eastern Greek romance, which must have been similar to those of Antonius Diogenes, were '-atirized by Lueian (born e.r20 a.d. ) in his True llislorii. Lueian takes Iiis hero into the belly of a whale, on to the morning star, and to the Elysian Fields. A more pronounced realistic aim is found in the Golden Ass of the African Apu- leius (q.v. ), written in Latin. Imbedded in its sensuality is the beautiful fairy tale of Cupid and Psyche. Ancient realistic fiction threw off all restraint in the l^atiricon of Petronius Arbiter, which describes the debauchery of Roman society under the first emperors. To sum up. antiquity gave to the new nations of Western Europe a moralized prose tale, a romance constructed on the lines of the epic, an artificial pastoral, the burlesque, and the sketch of contemporary man- ners. Through Arabic literature, as well as through other channels still obscure. Christian Europe be- came acquainted with Oriental fiction. The first finished Araliic stories were based on Persian models. Even during Mohammed's life-time, Xadr ibn Harith rei'oiuited at Mecca tales told by Persian merchants, and under the early Ab- bassides the poet al-Lahiqi rendered into Arabic verse the Iranian tradition of Ardeshir and Anosharvan. To the same period belong the lost translation of Bidpai by Rozbih (also called Ibn ab ^MugafTa), an ancient version by al-Kisravi of the Sindbad story, which version has not been preserved, and ibn Babuya's rendering of the Buddliist legend of Barlaam and Josaphat (q.v.) , which has come dovm to us. The native Arabic short story was not, however, altogether neglect- ed, although the books of al-.Tahiz(died 869), Abu Bekr ibn abi 'd-Dunya (died 894), and Muhsin al-Tanukhi (died 097) are of little importance for the history of the novel. The novelettes in Arabic were more remarkable for quantity than for quality, and the erotic poems and stories of al-Sarraj (died llOD) summed up this class of literature during the Ommiad and early Abbas- side periods. Arabic fiction culminated in the thirteenth century in the collection of The Thou- sand Nights and One Xight, usually called the Arabian Xights (q.v.), and in the romance of Antar (q.v.). The MiuuLE Aues in Europe. Among the new peoples after the fall of Rome, just as among the Greeks, the epic flourished long before ro- mance. But by the end of the twelfth century the epic impulse which had created lieoirulf and the Chanson dt- Roland had spent its force, and the age of romance had begun. Around char- acters and events, historical in truth or believed to be historical, the trouv6res were weaving strange and marvelous incidents. Inexhaustible themes they found in Charlemagne, Artliur, Alex- ander, and the siege of Troy. Out of 'the Celtic matter' especially, they created permanent char- acter types — Arthur. Lancelot, Percival, Guin- evere, and Iseult. These verse tales began to yield in the thirteenth century to the romances of adventure, which frequently laid no claim to historical truth. The choicest extant specimen of them is the 'chantfable' Aucassin et Nicolette, iu prose and assonanced verse, meant to be sung. By the side of romance were cultivated the fa- bliaux (q.v.), which depicted the intrigues and the humorous side of life. The leading types of mediteval fiction received their highest finish from the haiid of Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales and Troylus and Cryseyde mark important steps from romance to the novel. There were already signs of the age of prose, soon to demand a printing press. The Arthurian ronuuices were turned into prose in the thirteenth century. The Gesta Romunorum, a Latin collection of stories, first got into print in 1472, but these stories are doubtless of a much earlier origin. By 1353 Boccaccio had ))ublished the Decameron. About two centuries later the Dceamercm furnished the plan of the Reptameron of Margai'et of Navarre. Through the Greeks in Southern Italy and the Crusaders. Greek fiction reached Western Europe in the twelfth century and earlier. The boy and girl separated by pirates or some chance, and brought together in a pretty recognition scene, became a common type in the romances of ad- venture. Eastern tales, coming likewise through Italy and also through the Moors in Spain, were mingled with native incident in the Gesta Ifo- nianornm. the French fabliaux, and the Italian novclle. and from these sources they spread still more widely. MoDERX Times, from C.xtox to Rich.rd.son IN Engl. d. The invention of printing (fifteenth eentuiy) meant the end of the verse tale except as a survival. Of course, the transition from verse to prose was not siulden. A prose style suit- able to orderly narrative had to be created, and the audience of the minstrel had to be taught to read. Both processes were slow. The first school- masters and the founders of English prose were Caxton and the learned printers who followed him. The first book printed in the English language was a collection of stories in which the divinities of ancient Greece are transformed into the lords and ladies of feudal society. It is known as the Pecuycll of the Bistories of Troy, and was printed by Caxton, probably in 1474. at the press of Mansion in Bruges. After Caxton had set up his own press in Westminster, he issued many romances, which were commonly prose expansions of media-val tales and legends. Most significant of all is the Morte d' Arthur (148.5). compiled from various sources by Sir Thomas Malorj' in 1409-70. The result was not