The Formation of the Novel: Literature Vs. Theory of Literature

Abstract

The article deals with the problems of novel theory formation and the preface as a special form of genre theorizing. The purpose of the study is to problematize the discursive repertoire of novel theory in the stage of formation. The novel as a genre, that remained beyond the subject of poetics for a long time, was theorized in the rhetorical tradition, not only in scholarly treatises, but also in prefaces explaining what a novel is, how and by what laws it is arranged, what history it has and what examples it follows. It can be said that novel theory in its genesis ripened close to the literary text, without breaking the umbilical cord common with it. And even when framed in the form of a separate essay, it had appeared next to or along with the novel. “Treatise on the Origin of Novels, or Romances” / “Traité de l’origine des Romans” (1670) P.-D. Huet / Pierre-Daniel Huet (1630–1721), that regulated the theory and history of the genre and determined the algorithms of its research until the end of the 19th century, treatise was originally published as a scholarly preface in a letter form to the friend and author of the novel “Zaida. Spanish Story”: “Letter from Monsieur Huet to Monsieur de Segrais. On the Origin of Novels”/ “Lettre de Monsieur Huet, à Monsieur de Segrais. De l’origin des romans”. So Huet created not only the novel theory, but also a new locus of theory, widely used in European and Russian literature during the formation of the national novel.