My Account Wish List Shopping Cart Log In
Store Location

Novels

To be great, a novel must show an old thing in a new way. It's equally disastrous to espouse tradition for its own sake as to propose novelty for the sake of novelty—only together can these elements have meaning.

Modernist and postmodernist authors are infatuated with newness as a thing in itself. They subject language to increasingly complicated gymnastic maneuvers, play with ideas rather than defending them, and generally wreak havoc on established forms. This results in novels that may or may not be aesthetically pleasing, but are surely meaningless.

If we adhere too closely to the forms of the past, however, we run the risk of shortsightedness, bigotry, and prejudice. Humans too often must be shaken from their stupor, made to see things as others see them in order to promote equality and peace and goodwill. A good novel rooted in universal ideals freshly presented can do just that.

Novels are seldom the impetus for social movements, but they often augment cultural change. As a literary form, they came into being because writers wanted a venue for espousing or exploring ideas that wasn't rooted in history or "real life." They wanted, in short, to write fiction.

Before the novel, works modern readers would view as fictional were generally considered in a different light. Either they were actual history, or they were meta-narratives, or they were religious, or they were simply narrative philosophy. The idea was to impart truth, not simply data. As writers became more concerned with the world-as-it-is and scientific understanding, they turned toward forms more consistent with the Enlightenment emphasis on knowledge-acquisition as a means to truth.

The novel was such a form. Symbolism was never abandoned wholesale (except by certain eccentric groups at various times), but a new attention was paid to detail—not just detail integral to the story or signifying something else, but detail that set the scene, that gave the reader a sense of place, mood, circumstance and character. It was this attention to detail that helped fiction emerge as a respectable genre.

For ancient and Medieval writers, the seen world and the world beyond were indistinguishable. The famed Celtic knot was intended to show the interrelatedness of all things, how each realmbled into the other and held everything in place. Pre-Enlightenment writing reflected this view, and any detail provided in a poem or narrative was intended, not to portray physical or human "realities," but to demonstrate truths consistent between realms.

When the Enlightenment came around and proclaimed scientific observation and empiricism the new guides (replacing revelation and divine authority), a new approach was needed. No longer were things primarily representative of other things, things were essentially what they were—meaning things were eseentially physical.

Description evolved to fit the new ethos, and creative literature evolved with it. The novel, prose rather than poetry, devoted to detail and incident rather than sweeping generalization, was one of the best weapons in the Enlightenment arsenal. Writers were no longer primarily concerned with affecting readers' attitudes and hearts, they wanted to change their minds. Western culture has never recovered.

Fortunately, the novel was never stagnant, and never fully enslaved by Enlightenment practitioners. Novels have diversified: there are philosophical novels, poetic novels, experimental novels, comic novels, historical novel, all of them aimed at the reader in such a way that the encounter is either devastating or uplifting, frightening or comforting, horrible and sad or fresh and beautiful.

We don't pretend to carry every important novel ever penned. We don't apologize for that....or for the fact that we carry novels at all. It's easy to look at fiction as mere escapism, much harder to engage it seriously hoping to be transformed. Our goal is to offer books (whether "classics" or not) that offer new ways of seeing, opportunities for transformation, encounters with the sublime as harrowing as they are exhilerating.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
Did you find this review helpful?
Parent Categories
101 Items found Print
Filter
Active Filters: British Literature, 19th Century Literature, Adult, New Books & Materials
Adam Bede
Everyman's Library
by George Eliot
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$20.40
Agnes Grey
Penguin Classics
by Anne Bronte
from Penguin Classics
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.20
Agnes Grey
by Anne Bronte, Illustrated by Edmund Dulac
from SeaWolf Press
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$6.76
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
by Lewis Carroll
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.35
Annotated Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
Revised & Expanded from Anchor Books
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$17.00 $9.60 (1 in stock)
Barnaby Rudge
Everyman's Library
by Charles Dickens
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$21.25
Bleak House
by Charles Dickens
from Everyman's Library
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$22.50
Bleak House
by Charles Dickens
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.05
David Copperfield
Everyman's Library
by Charles Dickens
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$25.50
David Copperfield
Signet Classics
by Charles Dickens
from Signet Classics
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.91
David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens
Revised from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.50
Dombey & Son
Everyman's Library
by Charles Dickens
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$23.38
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.06
Flatland
by Edwin A. Abbott
from Dover Publications
for 10th grade-adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.55
Frankenstein
Everyman's Library
by Mary Shelley
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Horror for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$18.70
Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
from Penguin Putnam
Horror for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.50
Great Expectations
Everyman's Library
by Charles Dickens
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$23.80
Hard Times
by Charles Dickens
Reissue from Penguin Classics
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.65
Hound of the Baskervilles
Signet Classics
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
from Signet Classics
Mystery for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.21
Hound of the Baskervilles
by Arthur Conan Doyle
from Dover Publications
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.40
Hound of the Baskervilles
by Arthur Conan Doyle, Illustrated by Sidney Paget
100th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press
for 7th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$6.76
Invisible Man
by H. G. Wells
from Signet Classics
Science Fiction for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.06
Invisible Man
by H. G. Wells, illustrated by Louis Strimpl
from SeaWolf Press
Science Fiction for 7th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$6.76
Island of Dr. Moreau
Signet Classics
by H. G. Wells
from Signet Classics
Speculative Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.21
Island of Dr. Moreau
Signet Classics
by H. G. Wells
from Dover Publications
Speculative Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.40
Island of Dr. Moreau
by H. G. Wells
from SeaWolf Press
Speculative Fiction for 9th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$5.91
Ivanhoe
Signet Classics
by Sir Walter Scott
from Signet Classics
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.06
Ivanhoe
by Sir Walter Scott
from Dover Publications
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.06
Ivanhoe
by Sir Walter Scott, Illustrated by Frank E. Schoonover
200th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$12.71
Ivanhoe
Penguin Classics
by Sir Walter Scott, edited by Graham Tulloch
from Penguin Classics
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.20
Jane Eyre
Everyman's Library
by Charlotte Bronte
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$23.80
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë
from Penguin Classics
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.65
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte
from Dover Publications
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.80
Kidnapped
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Living Book Press
Historical Romance for 9th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$10.19
King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quatermain and She
by H. Rider Haggard
from Dover Publications
Action/Adventure for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$14.41
Lilith
by George MacDonald
from Eerdmans
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$14.44
Little Dorrit
by Charles Dickens
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.05
Lost World
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
from Modern Library
for 9th grade-adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.05
Lost World
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Illustrated by Harry Rountree
100th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press
for 9th grade-adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$7.61
Martin Chuzzlewit
Everyman's Library
by Charles Dickens
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$17.00
Master of Ballantrae
Penguin Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from SeaWolf Press
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$7.61
Mayor of Casterbridge
Signet Classics
by Thomas Hardy
from Signet Classics
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.06
Middlemarch
by George Eliot
from Signet Classics
Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.49
Mystery of Edwin Drood
by Charles Dickens
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$15.30
North and South
Oxford World's Classics
by Elizabeth Gaskell
from Oxford University
Realistic fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.31
North and South
by Elizabeth Gaskell
from Dover Publications
Realistic fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.31
Northanger Abbey
Penguin Classics
by Jane Austen
from Penguin Classics
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.80
Northanger Abbey
Everyman's Library
by Jane Austen
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$23.80
Northanger Abbey
by Jane Austen, illustrated by Hugh Thomson
200th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$7.61
Old Curiosity Shop
Penguin Classics
by Charles Dickens
from Penguin Classics
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.05
Old Curiosity Shop
Everyman's Library
by Charles Dickens
from Everyman's Library
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$21.25
Oliver Twist
Everyman's Library
by Charles Dickens
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Historical Fiction for 10th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$23.80
Oliver Twist
by Charles Dickens
from Oxford University
Realistic Fiction for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.95
Our Mutual Friend
Penguin Classics
by Charles Dickens
from Penguin Classics
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.05
Phantastes
by George MacDonald
from Eerdmans
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$14.44
Pickwick Papers
Penguin Classics
by Charles Dickens
from Everyman's Library
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$22.10
Poison Belt
by Arthur Conan Doyle
from SeaWolf Press
for 9th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$5.91
Pride and Prejudice
Everyman's Library
by Jane Austen
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$22.10
Pride and Prejudice
Dover Thrift Editions
by Jane Austen
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.10
Rob Roy
Penguin Classics
by Sir Walter Scott
from Penguin Classics
Historical Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$12.75
Sanditon
by Jane Austen & "Another Lady"
Reprint from Simon and Schuster
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$15.30
Sense and Sensibility
Penguin Classics
by Jane Austen
from Penguin Classics
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.80
Sense and Sensibility
Everyman's Library
by Jane Austen
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$20.40
Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen
from Dover Publications
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.10
Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen, illustrated by Hugh Thomson
200th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$9.73
Sign of Four
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
1892 Illustrated from SeaWolf Press
Mystery for 8th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$5.91
Silas Marner
Signet Classics
by George Eliot
from Signet Classics
Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.21
Silas Marner
by George Eliot
from Dover Publications
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.10
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Revised from Penguin Classics
Mystery/Suspense for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.55
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Signet Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Oxford University
Mystery/Suspense for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.76
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Signet Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Signet Classics
Mystery/Suspense for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.06
Study in Scarlet
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Illustrated by George Hutchinson
1891 Illustrated from SeaWolf Press
Mystery for 8th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$6.37
Study in Scarlet & The Sign of Four
Dover Thrift Editions
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
from Dover Publications
Mystery for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.25 $2.40 (1 in stock)
Tale of Two Cities
Signet Classics
by Charles Dickens
from Signet Classics
Victorian Novel for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.91
Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens
from Penguin Classics
Victorian Novel for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.80 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Tale of Two Cities
Everyman's Library
by Charles Dickens
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Victorian Novel for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$21.25
Tale of Two Cities
Dover Thrift Editions
by Charles Dickens
from Dover Publications
Victorian Novel for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.10
Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens
from Vintage Classics
Victorian Novel for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.20
Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Penguin Classics
by Anne Bronte
from Penguin Classics
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.90
Tenant of Wildfell Hall
by Anne Bronte, Illustrated by Edmund Dulac
from SeaWolf Press
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$11.01
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Signet Classics
by Thomas Hardy
from Signet Classics
Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.91 $3.20 (1 in stock)
Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on the Bummel
by Jerome K. Jerome
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.05
Through the Looking-Glass
Puffin Classics
by Lewis Carroll
from Puffin Books
for 10th-Adult
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$6.79
Through the Looking-Glass
by Lewis Carroll, Illustrated by John Tenniel
from SeaWolf Press
for 10th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$5.91
Time Machine
by H. G. Wells
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.35 $4.80 (1 in stock)
Time Machine
by H. G. Wells
100th Anniversary Edition from SeaWolf Press
for 10th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$5.35
Treasure Island
by Sir Robert Louis Stevenson
from Bantam Books
for 6th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.21
Valley of Fear
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Illustrated by Arthur Keller
1915 Illustrated from SeaWolf Press
Detective Stories for 10th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$6.76
Villette
Penguin Classics
by Charlotte Bronte
from Penguin Classics
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.05
War in the Air
by H. G. Wells, illustrated by A.C. Michael
from SeaWolf Press
for 10th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$8.32
War of the Worlds
Signet Classics
by H. G. Wells
from Signet Classics
Science Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.06 $2.80 (1 in stock)
War of the Worlds
by H. G. Wells
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.95
War of the Worlds
by H. G. Wells, Illustrated by Henrique Alvim Corrêa
Illustrated 1898 from SeaWolf Press
for 10th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$7.61
Waverley
Penguin Classics
by Sir Walter Scott
from Penguin Classics
Historical Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$13.60
White Company
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
from Dover Publications
Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$11.01
White Company
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
100th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press
Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$11.01
Wives and Daughters
Penguin Classics
by Elizabeth Gaskell
from Penguin Classics
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$13.60
Woman in White
Dover Giant Thrift Editions
by Wilkie Collins
from Dover Publications
Mystery for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.76
Woman in White
Dover Giant Thrift Editions
by Wilkie Collins
from Penguin Classics
Mystery for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.35
12
Sign Up!

Shop

Support

Hours & Directions

Learn more about our store location and hours

Connect

503.655.1951

hello@exodusbooks.com

19146 Molalla Ave,
Oregon City, OR 97045