O romance is a long text narrative, therefore presents:
storyteller;
characters;
action;
space; and
time.
Emerged in the 18th century, it differs from the epic, because narrates the events in prose form, and no longer in verse (typical structure of epic poems). Furthermore, it can be classified as monophonic, polyphonic, closed, open, linear, vertical or psychological.
Read too: Narrative chronicle – a genre that tells quick stories about everyday facts
What is romance?
THE origin of the novel is in the 18th centurywhen this textual genre it gained popularity and replaced the old form of narrative known as the epic or epic poem. This type of narrative was written in verse and featured the figure of a hero. already the romance is written in prose and the heroic figure can be dispensed with.
Also, he differs from novel It's from tale with regard to its extension, as it is the longest narrative. A short story is a short narrative, and the novel has an intermediate extension between the short story and the novel. This means that the novel, being broader, also has the chance to
present more complex plots and characters.As for the theme, the novel can be classified in several ways: juvenile, police, romantic, realistic, naturalist, modernist, regionalist, homoerotic, erotic, adventure, science fiction, horror, fantasy. Anyway, the thematic possibilities of this genre of literary text are numerous..
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Main features of the novel
Action: events.
Space: place of action.
Time:
- chronological: associated with space, therefore linear;
- psychological: related to the characters' inner world, their thoughts and reflections; therefore, not linear.
Character:
- flat: simple and predictable;
- round or spherical: complex and unpredictable.
Plot: the story.
Storyteller:
- character: participates in the story and narrates in first person;
- observer: does not have knowledge of all the facts and narrates in third person;
- omniscient or omnipresent: narrates in third person and knows all the facts, in addition to the inner thoughts and desires of each character.
Read too: Anguish: novel by Graciliano Ramos
Types of romance
monophonic novel
The narrative is character-centric, like in the novel Lady, in José de Alencar (1829-1877), which tells the story of Aurelia Camargo:
“Years ago a new star dawned in the Rio de Janeiro sky.
From the moment of his ascension no one disputed his scepter; she was proclaimed queen of the halls.
She became the goddess of balls; the muse of poets and the idol of newly available brides. She was rich and beautiful.
[...]
Who does not remember Aurelia Camargo, who crossed the sky of the Court like a shining meteor, and suddenly disappeared in the midst of the dazzling that her glow had produced? She was eighteen when she first appeared in society. They didn't know her; and soon they all eagerly sought information about the big news of the day.”
polyphonic novel
THE narrative is not centered on just one character, but on several, like in the novel Sand captains, in Jorge Amado (1912-2001), which shows the drama of each of these street children: Pedro Bala, Legless, Boa-Vida, Dora, Volta Seca, Cat, Lollipop and Teacher.
![Cover of the book Captains of the Sand, by Jorge Amado, published by Companhia das Letras.[1]](/f/5460a93dc313b70405d8cadd127575ff.jpg)
closed romance
The storyteller leaves no gaps to be filled in by the reader. As an example of this type of novel, it is possible to cite some works by the English writer Agatha Christie (1890-1976), in which the narrator, at the end, always reveals the identity of the murderer:
Murder on the golf course;
Murder on the Orient Express;
Death on the Nile;
death on the beach and so many others.
open romance
The storyteller leaves gaps to be filled in by the reader. As an example of this type of novel, it is possible to cite the book Orlando, by the English writer Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), in which the character Orlando is born a man, but becomes a woman, in addition to living for centuries. In no time, the narrator explains to us why Orlando lives so long or the reason for his sudden transformation:
“We are now entirely alone in the room with the sleeping Orlando and the trumpeters. The trumpeters, arranging themselves side by side, blow a terrible blast: "The TRUTH!" — and with that Orlando woke up.
He stretched. Stood up. He stood completely naked before us, and while the trumpets sounded Truth! Truth! Truth! we have no choice but to confess—he was a woman.”|1|
Linear or Progressive Novel
This type of novel is centered on action, not reflection., as the work illustrates letters in the street, by the American writer Charles Bukowski (1920-1994):
“I walked around the side of the church and came across a ladder going down. I walked through an open door. Do you know what I saw? A row of toilets. And showers. But it was dark. All lights off. How the hell do you expect a man to find a mailbox in the dark? Then I saw the switch. I pressed the key and the church lights came on, inside and out. I went into the next room and there were priests' robes spread out on a table. There was also a bottle of wine.”|2|
Vertical or analytical novel
In this kind of romance, the action leads to a reflection, as we can see in the book The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas, in Machado de Assis (1839-1908):
“[...]. Perhaps that is why the objects to be exchanged entered; some grew, others waned, others were lost in the environment; a fog covered everything—except the hippopotamus that had brought me there, and which, moreover, began to shrink, shrink, shrink, until it was the size of a cat. It was effectively a cat. I looked at him well; it was my cat Sultan, who was playing at the door of the alcove with a paper ball...
[...]
The reader, on the other hand, understood that it was Reason that returned home, and invited Sandice out, [...].
But it is Sandice's old sester to create love for other people's houses, so that, just a lady of one, they will hardly have her evicted. It's sester; you don't get out of there; his shame has long ago touched him. Now, if we notice the immense number of houses that it occupies, some at once, others during its calm seasons, we will conclude that this lovely pilgrim is the terror of the owners. In our case, there was almost a disturbance at the door of my brain, because the adventitia didn't want to give up the house, and the owner didn't give in to her intention to take what was hers. After all, Sandice was content with a little corner in the attic.”
Also access: Graciliano Ramos – great name in Brazilian modernist prose
psychological novel
In the psychologically biased novel, the inner monologue stands out, the so-called streams of consciousness, which reveal the characters' intimate universe. The plot is in the background, because what matters is not the action but the psychological analysis. This can be verified in the work Passion according to G.H., in Clarice Lispector (1920-1977):
“I quickly lowered my eyes. By hiding my eyes, I hid the cunning that had taken me from the cockroach—my heart beat almost as if with joy. It's just that I had unexpectedly felt that I had resources, I had never used my resources before — and now a whole latent potency at last it throbbed me, and a greatness took me over: that of courage, as if fear itself was what had finally invested me with my courage. Moments before I had superficially thought that my feelings were just indignation and disgust, but now I I recognized—though I had never known it before—that what had happened was that I had finally taken on a great, much greater fear. than me."
Grades
|1|Translation by Laura Alves.
|2|Translated by Pedro Gonzaga.
Image credit
[1] Company of Letters (reproduction)
by Warley Souza
Literature teacher
