Fiction

imaginary prose in narrative form. A story, or novel. Fiction makes no pretense of being true. It is thus distinguished from legend. The line of demarcation cannot be drawn exactly, however, since many legends, properly so called, because believed to be true at the time of composition, are later looked upon as pure fiction. This is especially noticeable in Section III of the outline which is to follow. It is probable that the stories of Arthur and Charlemagne were, for the most part, believed as originally told. We have come to regard them and to classify them as fiction. The outline is designed to give some faint idea of the history of fiction.

I. Oriental Fiction. The earliest fiction of which we have any knowledge is that of the oriental nations, notably of the Chinese and Hindus. The few specimens extant are of little interest, except to scholars. The Arabian Nights' is the best known example of later oriental fiction. It dates from the eleventh century.

II. Ancient Classical Fiction. The earliest fiction known to have existed in Greece are the Milesian Tales. They date from the second century B. C. They are no longer extant. A few examples of ancient Greek fiction and still fewer of Roman are in existence. They have little value from a literary point of view.

III. Medieval Fiction. The stories and tales belonging to medieval fiction were written, it must be remembered, in metrical form before they became fiction proper; that is, imaginary prose fiction. There are, during this period, three series of stories relating to three different personages:

1. Stories of King Arthur and his knights. This series is of Welsh origin.

2. Stories of Charlemagne and his paladins, of French origin.

3. Stories of Amadis of Gaul and his descendants, a series of widespread tales seeming to center in Spain.

IV. Teutonic myths and legendary romances.

V. Modern fiction, which of course, has been of gradual growth. The most important sub-divisions are:

Oriental fiction and ancient fiction stand each by itself, influencing but not giving rise to that of medieval and modern times. Medieval fiction belonged root and branch to chivalry. Its pages are crowded with valiant knights, beautiful ladies, princes and princesses,--with giants, fairies, enchanted castles and wicked witches. This childish food satisfied the hunger of childlike people. It still has charm for all, and offers opportunity for something more than the mere tale, as Tennyson's Idylls of the King and Spenser's Faerie Queen demonstrate. This class of fiction remained in vogue when the days of knight errantry had passed and, naturally enough, was carried to an absurd extreme in the effort for novelty. It was destined to be extinguished by Cervantes' mockheroic Spanish tale of Don Quixote. The hero is made to appear so ridiculous that this sort of tale was laughed out of literature. A generation of tales of rascals and rogues followed.

De Foe's Robinson Crusoe is regarded as the beginning of modern English fiction. It is made up from beginning to end. There are no mysteries or enchantments. All might have happened, and yet the reader is not led astray. Modern fiction is classified frequently as romances and novels. Romances are stories which have to do with the marvelous, mysterious, or supernatural; or which relate exciting events of some remote period. Novels deal with the incidents of ordinary life, and involve character study to a greater or less extent. The distinction between the romance and the novel is not one that can be drawn clearly. Sometimes the course of an ordinary human life is interrupted by stirring and marvelous incidents; so the novel and the romance touch and mingle. Moreover, there are stories which can hardly be classed as either. For convenience, fiction may be divided into four classes:

1. Romances. 2. Novels. 3. Juvenile fiction, including not only stories for children, but stories about children. 4. The short story.

It would be impossible to present a list of noted works of fiction on which many readers could agree. The following list may be regarded as fairly representative. These particular stories are chosen from the side of the reader rather than that of the literary critic.

ROMANCES.

NOVELS.

JUVENILE FICTION.

THE SHORT STORY.