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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.
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80 Items found Print
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Active Filters: Action & Adventure Stories, Hardcover
Adventures of Robin Hood
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Paul Creswick, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
1991 Edition from Reader's Digest
for 6th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (3 in stock)
African Queen
by C. S. Forester
from International Collectors Library
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Around the World in 80 Days
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Jules Verne
from Reader's Digest
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Around the World in Eighty Days
Sterling Classics
by Jules Verne, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
Adventure for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Around the World in Eighty Days
Books of Wonder
by Jules Verne, illustrated by Barry Moser
from William Morrow & Company
Adventure for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Ben-Hur
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Lew Wallace
from Reader's Digest
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Ben-Hur
by Lew Wallace
from Heritage Press
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Black Arrow
Scribner Illustrated Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
from Atheneum
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Call of the Wild
by Jack London
from Heritage Press
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Circus
by Alistair MacLean
from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in CLEARANCE & FREE BOOKS (Location: ZCLE)
David Balfour
Scribner Illustrated Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Action/Adventure for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (abridged)
Eclectic English Classics
by Daniel Defoe, edited by Kate Stephens
from American Book Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
ECL: Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Al Davidson
from BiblioLife
for 4th-8th grade
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
ECL: Black Arrow
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Don Irwin
from Classic Press
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
ECL: Call of the Wild
Educator Classic Library #11
by Jack London, illustrated by Ron King
Complete and Unabridged Edition from Classic Press
Action/Adventure for 7th-10th grade
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
ECL: The Heroes
Educator Classic Library #10
by Charles Kingsley, illustrated by Ron King
Complete and Unabridged Edition from Classic Press
Action/Adventure for 7th-10th grade
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
ECL: Treasure Island
Educator Classic Library #1
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Don Irwin
Complete and Unabridged Edition from Classic Press
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
Endless Knot
Song of Albion #3
by Stephen R. Lawhead
Reprint from Thomas Nelson Publishers
Celtic Fantasy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Kidnapped
Scribner Illustrated Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
from Atheneum
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Kidnapped
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth and Graham Oakley
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Kidnapped (The Original Text)
by Robert Louis Stevenson, edited with an introduction and notes by Barry Menikoff
from Huntington Library
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Kim
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Rudyard Kipling
1st edition from Reader's Digest
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Kim
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Richard M. Powers
from Junior Deluxe Editions
for 5th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
King Solomon's Mines
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by H. Rider Haggard
Reader's Digest ed from Reader's Digest
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Last of the Mohicans
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by James Fenimore Cooper
from Reader's Digest
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, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
from Heritage Press
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, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
from Charles Scribner's Sons
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
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Realistic Action/Adventure Novel for 9th-Adult
in Scribner Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SCRIB)
$24.99
Last of the Mohicans
Leatherstocking Tales #2
by James Fenimore Cooper
from Charles Scribner's Sons
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, illustrated by James Daugherty
Realistic Action/Adventure Novel for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
Rainbow Classics
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Roger Duvoisin
from World Publishing Company
for 10th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Lorna Doone (abridged)
by R. D. Blackmore, illustrated by Pauline D. Baynes
from American Education Publications
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Master of Ballantrae
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Heritage Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Master of Ballantrae
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Reader's Digest
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Prince and the Pauper
Portland House Illustrated Classics
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Franklin Booth
from Portland House
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Prince and the Pauper
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Frank Merrill
from Reader's Digest
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Robinson Crusoe
Sterling Classics
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Robinson Crusoe
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Daniel Defoe
from Reader's Digest
for 10th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Frances Brundage
No publication date from Saalfield Publishing Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
from Heritage Press
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Robinson Crusoe
Windermere Series 4
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Robinson Crusoe
Classics Club
by Daniel Defoe, with illustrations and maps from early editions
from Walter J. Black, Inc.
for 8th-12th grade
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Frances Brundage
from Barnes & Noble
for 10th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Robinson Crusoe
Windermere Readers #14
by Daniel Defoe, frontispiece by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
Robinson Crusoe
Focus on the Family's Classic Collection
by Daniel Defoe, Introduction and Afterword by Joe L. Wheeler
from Focus on the Family
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Robinson Crusoe
Windermere Series 1
by Daniel Defoe, frontispiece by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Robinson Crusoe
Windermere Series 2
by Daniel Defoe, frontispiece by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Robinson Crusoe
Windermere Series 3
by Daniel Defoe, frontispiece by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Robinson Crusoe (abridged)
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth and Louis & Frederick Rhead
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 4th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Robinson Crusoe (abridged)
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 10th-Adult
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Robinson Crusoe (abridged)
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 10th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Robinson Crusoe (abridged)
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Frank Godwin
from John C. Winston
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Silver Hand
Song of Albion #2
by Stephen R. Lawhead
1st edition from Lion Publishing
Celtic Fantasy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Spy
by James Fenimore Cooper
from Junior Deluxe Editions
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Swiss Family Robinson
by Johann David Wyss, illustrated by Leon Gregori
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Talisman
International Collector's Library
by Sir Walter Scott
from International Collectors Library
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
The Pilot
Great Illustrated Classics
by James Fenimore Cooper
from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Thirty-Nine Steps
by John Buchan
from Houghton Mifflin
Action Adventure for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Three Musketeers
Everyman's Library
by Alexandre Dumas
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$32.00
Three Musketeers
Windermere Readers #20
by Alexandre Dumas, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen
1954 Edition from Rand McNally
Historical Fiction/Adventure for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
Three Musketeers
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Alexandre Dumas, illustrated by Rowland Wheelwright
1999 Edition from Reader's Digest
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Three Musketeers
Macmillan Classics
by Alexandre Dumas, illustrated by James Daugherty
2nd Printing, 1923 from Macmillan
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Three Musketeers
by Alexandre Dumas, illustrated by Valenti Angelo
from Three Sirens Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Three Musketeers
Windermere Series 3
by Alexandre Dumas, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen
1954 Edition from Rand McNally
Historical Fiction/Adventure for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Three Musketeers
Windermere Series 4
by Alexandre Dumas, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen
1933 printing from Rand McNally
Historical Fiction/Adventure for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Tom Sawyer Abroad
by Mark Twain
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 7th-Adult
in Companion Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Tom Sawyer Abroad
by Mark Twain
from SeaWolf Press
for 7th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$6.95
Tom Sawyer Abroad and Other Stories
by Mark Twain
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Milo Winter
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 5th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Treasure Island
Windermere Readers #16
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Milo Winter
1954 Edition from Rand McNally
for 5th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
Treasure Island
Windermere Series 1
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Milo Winter
from Rand McNally
for 5th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Treasure Island
Windermere Series 2
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Milo Winter
1921 printing from Rand McNally
for 5th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Treasure Island
Windermere Series 3
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Milo Winter
1924 Printing from Rand McNally
for 5th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Treasure Island
Windermere Series 4
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Milo Winter
1939 Edition from Rand McNally
for 5th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Treasure Island and Kidnapped
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from International Collectors Library
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Way to Dusty Death
by Alistair MacLean
from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in CLEARANCE & FREE BOOKS (Location: ZCLE)
White Company
Books of Wonder
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (illustrated by N.C. Wyeth)
from William Morrow & Company
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
White Company
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, illustrated by James Daugherty
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Works of Rudyard Kipling - 13 Volumes
by Rudyard Kipling
from Manhattan Press
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
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