20th Century Novel: Trends, Techniques, and Evolution
20th Century Novel: Trends and Evolution
Trends and Years. Throughout the century, a commercial novel for the general public persisted, continuing the assumptions of nineteenth-century Realism. Among its features are:
- Presence of a narrator: Often omniscient, guiding the reader to interpret and suggesting directions within the work.
- Linear narrative: Events are narrated in a linear order.
- Classic structure: The story follows a classic structure: problem, development, complication, and resolution.
- Character-driven: Works focus on character analysis, psychology, behavior, or a series of intriguing incidents.
- Genre conventions: Common submission to genre structures, such as historical fiction, autobiography, police procedurals, or science fiction.
In contrast to this novel, another kind of story emerged, embodying the innovative spirit characteristic of the century, intended to break with the narrative conventions of the nineteenth century. This line is responsible for the evolution of the genre, and many of its contributions have been adopted by more commercial works.
The novel of the twentieth century can be divided into two periods, separated by World War II. The years before the war were characterized by a departure from realistic narrative form and the influence of the avant-garde spirit. There was also a common concern for existential and religious issues.
After the war, the novel output slowed in technical experimentation. Social reality and reporting regained prominence as the main reference. As time progressed, novels began to appear that deviated from the social problem and relative technical simplicity. The novel output increased, extending to all corners of the world, multiplying trends and genres.
New Narrative Techniques
Alongside the more traditional novel, a narrative concerned with finding new ways of storytelling coexisted. The techniques used are:
The Argument
The novel is not limited to the account of the sequence of events, but these are an excuse to explore thematic concerns and technical aspects of the text.
It is common to find non-narrative elements, such as advertisements, police reports, and court cases.
The novel explores the possibilities of description, which is no longer used solely to place the action in space and time.
The Narrator
The omniscient narrator disappears, and first-person narratives gain weight, featuring skeptical narrators who seem to ignore the story or play with the reader to interpret and draw their own conclusions.
The shrinking role of the narrator leads to the emergence of the view expressed by the character’s interior monologue. Perspectivism is also common. In these cases, the narrator acts as a guide, giving access to different sources of information about the event in question.
Characters
The typical hero is a problematic character, struggling with their environment and themselves. Next to it, the collective character abounds, reflecting the bustle of the modern world. Characters are defined by their own actions and words.
The Structure
The works take on a fragmented structure that accumulates views, text modalities, and language portions of a different nature that the reader must organize.
The classical organization of the narrative is broken into three parts, either by the absence of outcome, or because the end of the story plays the beginning in what is called circular structure.
The technique of counterpoint, a report of parallel actions with a slight connection between them, is the structural principle chosen by some novelists.
Space and Time
Concentration of the stories in a limited space (a town) or within a short time is widely used. It breaks the chronological order of the realist novel by including temporary breaks.