How do I analyze a novel?
Analyzing prose
When you analyze any literary text written in prose you need to identify some of the following
features:
Genre: genres are types or kinds of literature. The most general categories are poetry, drama,
prose. Novels are (usually) prose - but there are many genres within the category of the novel -
such as comedy of manners, science fiction, bildungsroman, epistolary novels, detective fiction
etc. Novels can also mix different genres together - so that within the same text one narrative
can include elements of several distinct genres: for example, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse
Five (1969) includes elements of autobiographical fiction, the historical novel, science fiction
and comedy of manners.
Structure: This is the overall principle of organization in a work of literature; it may be
dependent on plot, repeated images, repeated symbols or other linguistic patterns. When
analyzing any passage of a text you can describe its structure, its underlying pattern. You may
also link the passage to the larger structures of text.
Narrative Voice: most literary texts can be assumed to have a narrator of some kind.
Sometimes texts have more than one narrator; for example in an epistolary novel there may be
different fictional writers who contribute to the overall text. Even a third person narrator may be
said to have a “voice” in this sense. All narrator’s voices have a tone and a point of view on the
action - even if it is cooly objective.
Setting: This refers to the place and time in which the action takes place. Setting is an
important part of the meaning of a text: analyzing it may help us to identify the genre (eg. a
setting on the third moon of Jupiter may well identify the genre science fiction; setting in ancient
Alexandria may indicate an historical novel); it may help in creating effects of realism or fantasy
(modern day Glasgow or Middle Earth); it may help to reflect the feelings or moods of the
characters (the wild open moorlands of Wuthering Heights, for instance, echo the passionate a
primitive feelings of the characters).
Action: the events of a narrative are connected in a variety of ways. When we discuss these we
can identify a range of issues:
-Is the narrative developed in episodes or separated by large periods of time or by different
points of view? Or is it continuous in its development?
-Is the narrative linear or non-linear? In other words are flashbacks (technically called analepsis)
used or are flash forwards (prolepsis) used?
-Does the narrative start at the beginning of the action or in the middle of the action?
Analyzing prose
When you analyze any literary text written in prose you need to identify some of the following
features:
Genre: genres are types or kinds of literature. The most general categories are poetry, drama,
prose. Novels are (usually) prose - but there are many genres within the category of the novel -
such as comedy of manners, science fiction, bildungsroman, epistolary novels, detective fiction
etc. Novels can also mix different genres together - so that within the same text one narrative
can include elements of several distinct genres: for example, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse
Five (1969) includes elements of autobiographical fiction, the historical novel, science fiction
and comedy of manners.
Structure: This is the overall principle of organization in a work of literature; it may be
dependent on plot, repeated images, repeated symbols or other linguistic patterns. When
analyzing any passage of a text you can describe its structure, its underlying pattern. You may
also link the passage to the larger structures of text.
Narrative Voice: most literary texts can be assumed to have a narrator of some kind.
Sometimes texts have more than one narrator; for example in an epistolary novel there may be
different fictional writers who contribute to the overall text. Even a third person narrator may be
said to have a “voice” in this sense. All narrator’s voices have a tone and a point of view on the
action - even if it is cooly objective.
Setting: This refers to the place and time in which the action takes place. Setting is an
important part of the meaning of a text: analyzing it may help us to identify the genre (eg. a
setting on the third moon of Jupiter may well identify the genre science fiction; setting in ancient
Alexandria may indicate an historical novel); it may help in creating effects of realism or fantasy
(modern day Glasgow or Middle Earth); it may help to reflect the feelings or moods of the
characters (the wild open moorlands of Wuthering Heights, for instance, echo the passionate a
primitive feelings of the characters).
Action: the events of a narrative are connected in a variety of ways. When we discuss these we
can identify a range of issues:
-Is the narrative developed in episodes or separated by large periods of time or by different
points of view? Or is it continuous in its development?
-Is the narrative linear or non-linear? In other words are flashbacks (technically called analepsis)
used or are flash forwards (prolepsis) used?
-Does the narrative start at the beginning of the action or in the middle of the action?
