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The Chapter: A Segmented History from Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century
A history of the chapter from its origins in antiquity to today
Why do books have chapters? With this seemingly simple question, Nicholas Dames embarks on a literary journey spanning two millennia, revealing how an ancient editorial technique became a universally recognized component of narrative art and a means to register the sensation of time.
Dames begins with the textual compilations of the Roman world, where chapters evolved as a tool to organize information. He goes on to discuss the earliest divisional systems of the Gospels and the segmentation of medieval romances, describing how the chapter took on new purpose when applied to narrative texts and how narrative segmentation gave rise to a host of aesthetic techniques. Dames shares engaging and in-depth readings of influential figures, from Sterne, Goethe, Tolstoy, and Dickens to George Eliot, Machado de Assis, B. S. Johnson, Agnès Varda, Uwe Johnson, Jennifer Egan, and László Krasznahorkai. He illuminates the sometimes tacit, sometimes dramatic ways in which the chapter became a kind of reckoning with time and a quiet but persistent feature of modernity.
Ranging from ancient tablets and scrolls to contemporary fiction and film, The Chapter provides a compelling, elegantly written history of a familiar compositional mode that readers often take for granted and offers a new theory of how this versatile means of dividing narrative sculpts our experience of time.
Why do books have chapters? With this seemingly simple question, Nicholas Dames embarks on a literary journey spanning two millennia, revealing how an ancient editorial technique became a universally recognized component of narrative art and a means to register the sensation of time.
Dames begins with the textual compilations of the Roman world, where chapters evolved as a tool to organize information. He goes on to discuss the earliest divisional systems of the Gospels and the segmentation of medieval romances, describing how the chapter took on new purpose when applied to narrative texts and how narrative segmentation gave rise to a host of aesthetic techniques. Dames shares engaging and in-depth readings of influential figures, from Sterne, Goethe, Tolstoy, and Dickens to George Eliot, Machado de Assis, B. S. Johnson, Agnès Varda, Uwe Johnson, Jennifer Egan, and László Krasznahorkai. He illuminates the sometimes tacit, sometimes dramatic ways in which the chapter became a kind of reckoning with time and a quiet but persistent feature of modernity.
Ranging from ancient tablets and scrolls to contemporary fiction and film, The Chapter provides a compelling, elegantly written history of a familiar compositional mode that readers often take for granted and offers a new theory of how this versatile means of dividing narrative sculpts our experience of time.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published November 7, 2023
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371 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 8, 2024
A very academic book. I was drawn in by the content, as an avid reader I'd love to understand how chapters evolved, however I wish it had been easier to absorb.
The writing is incredibly verbose and dense - e.g. "I want then to propose a highly abstract object of analysis, and as a result a fairly new one, and so I began with a comparison meant to suggest a level of abstraction sufficient to gather together two such disparate instances. Where that abstraction will take us is primarily toward the question of time."
I liked picking up on how the chapter evolved over time, but I'd prefer to see an adaptation of this idea for a more general audience.
The writing is incredibly verbose and dense - e.g. "I want then to propose a highly abstract object of analysis, and as a result a fairly new one, and so I began with a comparison meant to suggest a level of abstraction sufficient to gather together two such disparate instances. Where that abstraction will take us is primarily toward the question of time."
I liked picking up on how the chapter evolved over time, but I'd prefer to see an adaptation of this idea for a more general audience.
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November 19, 2025I took interest in this book because I have minimal knowledge about the history of literature, and this book confirmed that I have a lot to learn. I appreciated the depth and seriousness of this book - I think Dames does a great job clearly tracing the history of the chapter (and its broader implications about human history and storytelling).
I think it was honestly way more dense and academically-oriented than it needed to be. There were many times where I knew Dames could have chosen a simpler turn of phrase without losing precision but he simply did not do that. Giving this three stars because it was well-researched and I learned a lot but I probably will not be recommending this one.
I think it was honestly way more dense and academically-oriented than it needed to be. There were many times where I knew Dames could have chosen a simpler turn of phrase without losing precision but he simply did not do that. Giving this three stars because it was well-researched and I learned a lot but I probably will not be recommending this one.
July 18, 2025
Much more dense than I thought it would be; definitely not a casual read, but for those who are deeply interested in the history of books and have a grasp of academic jargon (or don't mind looking up a lot of words). It waned for me towards the end, but I found the history of the chapter -- something that we take for granted (and often don't even notice) -- fascinating.
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November 27, 2023February 4, 2024
Banger.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews