2010-№3(28) Article 10
S.A. Aboudaif
Anthony Burgess and Vikram Seth as twentieth century verse novelists: a critical survey. p.64-78
UDC 83.3(3/8)
To come to an answer of the question, what is a verse novel? A verse novel is a fiction written in verse lines either in a simple form or a complex one. This new form of narrative has roots in history. The verse novel of the late 20th century is inspired by the legendry long poems of the past. Verse novels differ greatly from the epic poems of the ancient heroes of Homer and Virgil. The verse novels have different technique in writing away from the conventional style of the 19th century novels. This paper gives examples of Anthony Burgess’s Byrne 1995. It is a verse novel about a defeated person who has high inspirations. Burgess is taking the chance to speak about the cultural background of the twentieth century. The second example is Vikram Seth’s The Golden Gate 1986. It describes the experiences of a group of friends living in California. It is a masterpiece verse novel written in sonnets. In short, verse novelists prove that the new genre is very effective literary media at the early twentieth century. Eventually the study will try to answer some questions about the late twentieth century verse novels as a new sub-genre. What is the historical background of the verse novel? What are the main features of the verse novels? What is the role played by early verse novelists in establishing the new genre?
verse novels, Burgess’s Byrne, Seth’s the Golden Gate, Twentieth Century criticism.
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