'Don Quixote' is often called the first 'modern novel' because of its aesthetics

Classifying the 'first novel' is tricky

The question of what counts as the "first novel" doesn't have a simple answer. This explainer looks at early contenders—from ancient Roman satire to Japan's "Tale of Genji"—and how different cultures shaped the rise of long-form fiction.

Modernist novels used unconventional narrative approaches

Modernist writers in the early 20th century sought to capture the complexities of the human mind in their fiction. Novelists like Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Jean Rhys, and William Faulkner experimented with the form by using unconventional approaches to narrative, time, and structure. This lecture from Dr. Madeleine Davies from the University of Reading explains how modernists revolutionized fiction, using Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway” as a primary example.

The history of Samuel Richardson's 'Pamela,' which some consider the first romance novel

The 1740 novel will likely strike modern readers as odd, to say the least. Its titular character, a 15-year-old maidservant, is harassed by her boss, who finally changes his ways and asks for her hand in marriage, which is presented as a happy ending. As this analysis of the text makes clear, though, "Pamela" established a template for the romance genre, even if contemporary writers have been happy to break it.

Horace Walpole’s ‘The Castle of Otranto’ was the first Gothic novel

Walpole’s 1764 novel takes place in a haunted castle, with self-closing doors, moving pictures, and a wandering ghost—many of the tropes that would come to define the Gothic and horror genres, and influence other genres like fantasy.

Writer DH Lawrence argued that the novel is the height of literature

DH Lawrence was a 20th-century writer, known for his novel “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.” In his essay “Why the Novel Matters,” written in 1925, Lawrence argues that the novel, more than any other literary form, allows readers to experience the whole of human experience, writing that “only in the novel are all things given full play.”

‘Frankenstein’ is a classic horror novel

Few novels have been as influential as Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.” The 1818 novel is considered the first science fiction novel and a cornerstone of the horror genre. The text has also been widely adapted for the screen and is responsible for at least two major archetypes: the creature and the mad scientist.

A medievalist explains how romantic love emerged as a cultural concept

Many long-form stories written in English were originally considered "romances," a term derived from the Old French word for "the speech of the people." But changes in medieval culture, triggered by a number of 12th-century church reforms, led to a new interest in what we now consider romantic love, including a new view of marriage as a pursuit of love rather than a transaction. Those new perspectives were then reflected in the period's popular stories, including stories in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales."

George Méliès' 'The Haunted Castle' is considered the first horror film

The 1896 film short uses a series of camera tricks to depict supernatural experiences, including a bird turning into a man and a woman being summoned from a smoking cauldron. Its subject matter and surprising visuals have led scholars to call it the first horror film.

‘Beowulf’ is a foundational text for modern fantasy

The story is the earliest surviving poem in the English language and enshrined many Anglo-Saxon ideals about heroism, loyalty, and adventure. JRR Tolkein was an enthusiastic fan of the poem, even lecturing about it in 1936, and mirrored many of its themes in “Lord of the Rings.” Critics have also highlighted the influence on later fantasy stories, including “Harry Potter.”

Theodore Roosevelt is considered by many to be the "first modern president"

Roosevelt transformed the presidency by expanding executive power beyond conventional norms, arguing that the president could act in the national interest unless expressly forbidden to do so. His energetic leadership, media use, and policy activism expanded the office's role and prestige.

Many consider Twain 'the father of American literature'

In "Green Hills of Africa," Ernest Hemingway declared that all modern American literature sprang from Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." That's a sentiment shared by many scholars, who assert that Twain's book changed American fiction by challenging the country's racist history and incorporating a more realistic vernacular.

A sample of quirky medieval era-book titles

The medieval book publishing industry wasn't quite so robust as our modern era's, but the mystical and satirical tomes coming out at that time still needed a name. Peruse this list of some of the quirkier of those titles, which reflects the era's literalness, theological interest, and downright silliness.

'Romeo and Juliet' was based on a preexisting narrative poem

Arthur Brooke's "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet" was first published in 1562 and shares many details with Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." Shakespeare wasn't alone in his borrowing; Brooke's poem was based on other earlier Italian stories. None of this writing was considered fan fiction—copyright law didn't exist, and stories were regularly cribbed from preexisting sources.

The first horror movie is believed to be George Méliès' 1986 short 'The Haunted Castle,' which pioneered the use of special effects

The printing press spread novels widely

Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in 1440 changed how writing was reproduced. It allowed multiple manuscripts to be copied via movable type rather than by hand, making more literature more widely available. Over time, that change caused literacy rates to rise, creating a market for even more literature.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

The first line of 'The Stranger' is one of literature's most famous openings

The novel's first sentence thrusts readers into the narrator Mersault's world, but its meaning can shift depending on the translation. A 1988 translation by Matthew Ward attempted to "Americanize" the text, removing some Britishisms and bringing it closer to what Camus intended in the original French manuscript. That included changing "Mother" to "Maman," a more familiar—and childlike—name. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

The first robot in literature may have been a 'mechanical man' in 1907's 'Ozma of Oz,' a book in L Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' series.

Osamu Dazai's 'No Longer Human' found a new generation of readers, thanks to TikTok

The novel was published in 1948, a month after the writer's suicide, and went on to become a classic of Japanese literature. Decades later, an English translation gained popularity on TikTok, where younger readers praised the book for its handling of alienation. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

A beginner's guide to the books of John Steinbeck, one of America's great novelists.

Dr. Seuss was likely the first to use the word 'nerd' in print

The word appeared in 1950's "If I Ran the Zoo," but there are theories that the word (or forms of it) were already part of popular slang before the book was published.

Candide's 'Voltaire' satirized blind optimism

The French philosopher’s most famous work, published in 1759, cataloged the journey of its titular hero, who was guided by a crackpot philosopher and the belief that optimism was the solution to life’s problems, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Read the works of Charles Dickens

Dickens' work has long been in the public domain, meaning it's freely available to readers. Project Gutenberg's collection of Dickens' novels allows you to read classic novels like "Oliver Twist" and "A Tale of Two Cities," as well as early works like "Sketches by Boz," at no cost.

The petty ancient Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus

Classics with a capital "C" probably doesn't bring to mind erotically charged diss poetry. Gaius Valerius Catullus would like to change that. Instead of mythical epics, Catullus wrote poetry about his personal life as part of the 1st century BCE's "new wave" of Roman poets embracing the lyrical and everyday. The focus of his poetic work ranges from serenades to spiteful insults.

Portugal's 1775 earthquake is considered Europe's first modern natural disaster

An 8.5-magnitude earthquake off the Portuguese coast nearly destroyed Lisbon, killing thousands, creating 16-foot-wide fissures in the city, and triggering a massive tsunami. Historians credit it with jump-starting the Enlightenment in the region, with many thinkers seeking natural explanations.

A cave painting might be the oldest illustrated story ever recorded

A nearly 44,000-year-old cave painting may be the oldest story ever recorded, offering viewers a tale of human-like creatures on a hunt. This article details the discovery of the cave and its archaeological implications.

Operas first began at the end of the Italian Renaissance

Opera is a storytelling art form that has seen various eras including the Renaissance, Baroque period, Classical period, Romantic period, 20th Century, and Modern period. Each era has its own distinct style, reflecting the tastes of its people and prominent composers.

Picasso was also a poet

In addition to his painting, Picasso wrote poetry, including several works that were published by his friend André Breton, founder of the surrealist movement, who described reading the poems as “being in the presence of an intimate journal, both of the feelings and of the senses, such as has never been kept before.”

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

The 19th-century painters of the Hudson River School were among the first American romantics, with portraits that displayed the natural beauty of the young country.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, and became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

Quincy Jones' 'Big Band Bossa Nova' helped introduce bossa nova—a jazz-influenced Brazilian genre—to the US

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

El Niño, Spanish for 'the boy,' was named after Jesus Christ because the phenomenon resembled the weather changes observed around Christmastime.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.