What exactly, and when, was the 'rise' of the novel? Is its dominance now over? How have material conditions, habits of reading, and authors' reactions to the changing international marketplace helped to shape the novel as a form? In a series of studies of British, American and postcolonial fiction from the 17th to the 21st century, New Directions in the History of the Novel challenges conventional accounts of the history of the novel and sets out new areas for teaching and research. It includes separate sections on 'The Material Text', 'Questions of Realism and Form', 'The Novel in National and Transnational Cultures', and 'The Novel Now'. With contributions from leading scholars of the novel, this stimulating collection is required reading for teachers and students of the novel and its history.

New Directions in the History of the Novel challenges received views of literary history and sets out new areas for research. A re-examination of the nature of prose fiction in English and its study from the Renaissance to the 21st century, it will become required reading for teachers and students of the novel and its history.