8 - A “New” Third-person Novel

Summary

This chapter examines a type of novel that spreads in the second half of the eighteenth century as the first-person document novel declines. This is a third-person novel that can be shown to be formally distinct from the romans and nouvelles popular before the take-over of document novels. It is characterized notably by its segmentation into chapters and by its use of opening scenes (as distinct from the biographical character sketch). The chapter further shows that while the spread of this form roughly correlates with the “fictionalization” of the novel observed in Chapter 1, truth posture and form are nonetheless independent variables. The new third-person novel was not inherently fictional; rather, it arose only after the value long accorded to literal truth had receded.