Novels - Exodus Books

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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.

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19th Century Literature,

10th grade (Ages 15-16),

Mass market paperback

	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Signet Classics by Jules Verne, translated by Mendor Brunetti, with an introduction by Stephen Baxter and an afterword by Walter James Miller from Signet Classics Science Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95
	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Bantam Classics by Jules Verne, translated by Anthony Bonner with an introduction by Ray Bradbury from Bantam Books Science Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.99
	Adventures of Tom Sawyer Dover Thrift Editions by Mark Twain from Dover Publications for 6th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.00
	Adventures of Tom Sawyer Puffin Classics by Mark Twain from Penguin Classics Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $10.00
	Agnes Grey Penguin Classics by Anne Bronte from Penguin Classics Realistic Romantic Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $16.00
	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll from Bantam Books for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $3.00 (1 in stock)
	Ben-Hur Dover Thrift Editions by Lew Wallace from Dover Publications for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Ben-Hur A Tale of the Christ Signet Classics by Lew Wallace from Signet Classics Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $9.95
	Ben-Hur Dover Thrift Editions by Lew Wallace from HarperCollins for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $16.99
	Billy Budd and Other Tales Signet Classics by Herman Melville from Signet Classics Realistic Nautical Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $4.95 $3.00 (1 in stock)
	Black Arrow Dover Evergreen Classics by Robert Louis Stevenson from Dover Publications Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV) $8.99
	Brothers Karamazov Signet Classics by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, edited with an introduction by Manual Komroff from Signet Classics Russian Epic Novel for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $7.95
	Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, introduced by Konstantin Mochulsky and translated by Andrew R. MacAndrew Reprint from Bantam Books for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, introduced and translated by David McDuff Reprint from Penguin Classics for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $17.00
	Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (translation by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky) Reprint from Vintage Classics for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $19.00
	David Copperfield Signet Classics by Charles Dickens from Signet Classics Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $7.95
	David Copperfield Signet Classics by Charles Dickens from Dover Publications Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy, Translated by Lynn Solotaroff from Bantam Books for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories 9780307951335 by Leo Tolstoy from Vintage Classics for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Aylmer Maude and J.D. Duff from Signet Classics for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $6.95
	Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy from Vintage Classics for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $10.00
	Deerslayer Leatherstocking Tales #1 by James Fenimore Cooper from Bantam Books for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95
	Dracula by Bram Stoker from Signet Classics for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95
	Emma Penguin Classics by Jane Austen from Penguin Classics Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $9.00
	Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy from Signet Classics for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $6.95
	Flatland A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott from Dover Publications for 10th grade-adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $4.00
	Flatland A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott from Penguin Books for 10th grade-adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $3.00 (1 in stock)
	Frankenstein Dover Thrift Editions by Mary Shelley from Dover Publications for 7th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $6.00
	Great Expectations Signet Classics by Charles Dickens from Signet Classics Realistic Fiction for 10th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $7.95
	Great Expectations (abridged) Puffin Classics by Charles Dickens from Puffin Books Realistic Fiction for 7th-10th grade in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $7.99
	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) $4.95
	Hound of the Baskervilles Signet Classics by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from Penguin Classics Mystery for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $11.00
	Hunchback of Notre Dame Signet Classics by Victor Hugo from Signet Classics Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95
	Hunchback of Notre Dame Dover Classics by Victor Hugo, translated by A. Langdon Alger from Dover Publications Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Inheritance Penguin Classics by Louisa May Alcott from Penguin Classics Realistic Romantic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $15.00
	Innocents Abroad Signet Classics by Mark Twain from Signet Classics Travel books/Social Commentary for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $7.95
	Invisible Man by H. G. Wells, with an introduction by W. Warren Wagar and an afterword by Scott Westerfeld from Signet Classics Science Fiction for 7th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	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)
	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) $5.00
	Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells from SeaWolf Press Speculative Fiction for 9th-Adult in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW) $8.95
	Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott from Bantam Books Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95
	Ivanhoe Signet Classics by Sir Walter Scott from Signet Classics Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95
	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) $13.00
	Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte from Dover Publications Realistic Romantic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $6.40
	Kreutzer Sonata and Other Short Stories Dover Thrift Editions by Leo Tolstoy from Dover Publications Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $7.00 $4.00 (1 in stock)
	Last of the Mohicans Leatherstocking Tales #2 by James Fenimore Cooper Reprint from Signet Classics Realistic Action/Adventure Novel for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Last of the Mohicans Leatherstocking Tales #2 by James Fenimore Cooper, introduction by A.B. Guthrie, Jr. Reprint from Bantam Books Realistic Action/Adventure Novel for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Les Miserables Signet Classics by Victor Hugo, translated by Lee Fahnestock & Norman MacAfee from Signet Classics Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $11.99
	Les Miserables (abridged) by Victor Hugo, supplementary materials written by Margaret Brantley from Simon and Schuster Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $9.99
	Life on the Mississippi Signet Classics by Mark Twain from Signet Classics Autobiography for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $4.95
	Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert from Dover Publications for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $9.00
	Mansfield Park Penguin Classics by Jane Austen from Penguin Classics Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $9.00
	Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne from Dover Publications for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Mayor of Casterbridge Signet Classics by Thomas Hardy from Signet Classics Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95
	Middlemarch by George Eliot from Signet Classics Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Moby-Dick Signet Classics by Herman Melville from Signet Classics Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95
	Mysterious Island Signet Classics by Jules Verne from Signet Classics Science Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $8.95
	Northanger Abbey Penguin Classics by Jane Austen from Penguin Classics Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $8.00
	Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky from Vintage Books for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $14.00
	Notes from Underground and The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky from Penguin Putnam for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $14.00
	Notre-Dame de Paris Penguin Classics by Victor Hugo, translated by John Sturrock from Penguin Classics Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $15.00
	Pathfinder The Inland Sea Leatherstocking Tales #3 by James Fenimore Cooper from Penguin Classics Realistic Fiction for 9th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $15.00
	Persuasion Penguin Classics by Jane Austen from Penguin Classics Realistic Romantic Fiction for 8th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $7.00
	Pioneers Leatherstocking Tales #4 by James Fenimore Cooper from Signet Classics Realistic Fiction for 9th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Pride and Prejudice Penguin Classics by Jane Austen from Penguin Classics Realistic Romantic Fiction for 8th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $9.00
	Pride and Prejudice Dover Thrift Editions by Jane Austen from Dover Publications for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $7.00
	Prince and the Pauper Signet Classics by Mark Twain from Signet Classics Historical Fiction for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.95
	Pudd'nhead Wilson Signet Classics by Mark Twain from Signet Classics Mystery for 8th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $4.95
	Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane from Bantam Books Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $4.95
	Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane from Dover Publications for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.00 $2.50 (1 in stock)
	Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy from Bantam Books Realistic Fiction for 10th-12th grade in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $4.95
	Rob Roy Penguin Classics by Sir Walter Scott from Penguin Classics Historical Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $15.00
	Roughing It by Mark Twain from Penguin Classics for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne from Pocket Books Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $7.99
	Scarlet Letter Dover Thrift Editions by Nathaniel Hawthorne from Dover Publications Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $6.00
	Sense and Sensibility Penguin Classics by Jane Austen from Penguin Classics Romantic Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $8.00
	Silas Marner Signet Classics by George Eliot from Signet Classics Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $4.95
	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) $5.95
	Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales of Terror by Robert Louis Stevenson, introduction by Robert Mighall Revised from Penguin Classics Mystery/Suspense for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $9.00
	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) $7.00 $4.00 (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) $6.95
	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) $7.00
	Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens from Ignatius Press for 8th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Tenant of Wildfell Hall Penguin Classics by Anne Bronte from Penguin Classics Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $14.00
	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) $6.95 $4.00 (1 in stock)
	The Idiot Signet Classics by Fyodor Dostoyevsky from Signet Classics Realistic Russian Novel for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $7.95
	Three Musketeers Signet Classics by Alexandre Dumas from Signet Classics Historical Fiction/Adventure for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $8.95
	Through the Looking-Glass Puffin Classics by Lewis Carroll from Puffin Books for 10th-Adult in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $7.99
	Time Machine by H. G. Wells from Dover Publications for 7th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $2.00 (1 in stock)
	Treasure Island by Sir Robert Louis Stevenson from Bantam Books for 6th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $5.99
	Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Vintage Classics by Jules Verne, translated by Henry Frith from Vintage Classics Science Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $10.00
	Typee A Peep at Polynesian Life by Herman Melville from Penguin Putnam for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $17.00
	Uncle Tom's Cabin Signet Classics by Harriet Beecher Stowe from Signet Classics Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $6.95 $4.00 (1 in stock)
	Uncle Tom's Cabin Dover Thrift Editions by Harriet Beecher Stowe from Dover Publications Realistic Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19) $9.00
	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) $5.95
	War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells from Scholastic Inc. Science Fiction for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Woman in White Dover Giant Thrift Editions by Wilkie Collins from Dover Publications Mystery for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
	Woman in White Dover Giant Thrift Editions by Wilkie Collins from Penguin Classics Mystery for 10th-Adult in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)

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