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[ Text Only: Homepage ]
[ Graphical: Channel4 Homepage ]
Home
The Novelists
Timeline
Bluffer's Guide
Johnson's Dictionary
The Quiz
Glossary
Find Out More
Credits
Full Site
What is the novel and who are the writers responsible for creating it? Channel 4's landmark series charts the rise of this enduringly popular artform following the changing styles and objectives from the fledgling days with Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe in 1719 through to writers who have dominated the second half of the 20th century and the birth of the new millennium.
This website goes beyond the writers highlighted in the series with a snapshot of some of the other literary giants helping to create the novel that we know and love today. There's a timeline to show the historical and social influences at work while they wrote.
Not only will you be able to impress your dinner guests with your knowledge, but a glossary of the terms and techniques, a look at Samuel Johnson's seminal dictionary and a bluffer's guide will provide a starting point to writing your own novel.
Alternatively, use what you have learned to take part in our quiz.