What Was the Very First Novel?

Storytelling has been part of the human experience for millennia, but the novel emerged as a distinct form in literature. A novel is, by definition, “an invented prose narrative of considerable length and a certain complexity that deals imaginatively with human experience through a connected sequence of events involving a group of persons in a specific setting.” 

The Epic of Gilgamesh is often cited as the first book ever written, but it’s technically a highly exaggerated biographical history, not a fictional novel. It drew on the kind of communal storytelling that also inspired the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. 

Traditionally, a novel needs a location, a recognizable character, and ideally a lesson. Contemporary novels push against the form, but the standard requirements haven’t changed much over the centuries. Many scholars identify the first English-language novel as The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1719. It tells the story of a man who was shipwrecked and had to figure out how to survive on an island. 

Robinson Crusoe might be the most well known early novel, but there are many other titles in contention for the original novel. The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu is a satire that follows the exploits of Japanese high courtiers. It was written and published in Japan in the early 11th century. Beware the Cat by William Baldwin was written in 1553, so, while lesser known and sometimes overlooked, it’s an earlier English novel than Robinson Crusoe. Don Quixote (full title: The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha), published in Spanish in two parts in 1605 and 1615, is often named as the first novel of the modern era. And the first science-fiction novel is thought to be The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing-World by Margaret Cavendish, published in 1666. 

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One thing is clear: Novels changed the world. The ability for people to read and discuss the same story (outside of religious and historical stories) meant they were able to expand their minds and empathize with different characters in ways that were previously unheard of. While the first novel is hard to pin down, new and exciting examples are published every day.