Daedalus: On the Novel: 150:1, Winter 2021

by Michael Wood, Lorrie Moore, Franco Moretti

We know what a novel is, but can we say the same about the novel? While any definition of the novel will fail us at some point, the interesting question is not what the novel is but what work the word novel does when we use it, or what reasons we may give for using it or not.

The Winter 2021 issue of Dædalus “On the Novel,” guest edited by Michael Wood (Academy Member; Princeton University), features fourteen essays, written by scholars with a variety of approaches and interests, that offer remarkable insights into the behavior of this versatile literary form—how old the novel actually is, shifts in dominant patterns, the art of word-play, connections between the novel and TV and videogames, and the novel in the classroom—glimpses of where and what it has been and where it may go in the future.

221 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 11, 2021

About the author

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Michael David Wood is an English historian & broadcaster. He's presented numerous tv documentary series. Library of Congress lists him as Michael Wood.

Wood was born in Moston, Manchester, & educated at Manchester Grammar School & Oriel College, Oxford. His special interest was Anglo-Saxon history. In the 70s Wood worked for the BBC in Manchester. He was 1st a reporter, then an assistant producer on current affairs programmes, before returning to his love of history with his 1981 series In Search of the Dark Ages for BBC2. This explored the lives of leaders of the period, including Boadicea, King Arthur, Offa, Alfred the Great, Athelstan, Eric Bloodaxe & William the Conquerer (& gave rise to his 1st book, based upon the series).