The Novelle is the major narrative genre, alongside the Bildungsroman, in nineteenth-century German literature. Heavily theorised and widely practised, it has stimulated reflection about narrative form and structure from writers and academics alike. Initially definitions of the novella tended to be normative, insisting on a range of essential criteria, such as medium length; a narrative frame setting up a conversational situation; a turning point or climax within a dramatic structure; a “realist” mode of narration with focus on a single extraordinary event; and a compressed, “closed” form. Recent criticism sees the genre’s historical variations as a result of an historic evolution and a straining against previous definitions rather than continuing attempt to approximate an ahistorical norm.
The term novella comes from Latin “novus” for new. This term was originally used for an addendum to Emperor...
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Citation: Rau, Petra. "German Novelle [Novella]". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 November 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1337, accessed 09 June 2026.]
