What is a Novel of Manners?

Hello, dear readers! 🫰

Welcome to a new bookish ramble! 📖

I know it might be obvious or it might be something you have never heard of, so here we are chatting about a book genre from yonder* times.

*Yonder is not really the right word there, that’s for a distance like “at some distance in the direction indicated”. End of lesson. 😄

So, I already know what a novel of manners is, but when I first posted my Pride and Prejudice review, I didn’t know the term. And now, I’m here to share it with you all, in case you were wondering about it, or just want to check some old books.

Anyway, a novel of manners is a story that re-creates how a social world in a specific stratified (layers/class) society is/would be while going into details about the complexity of the customs and values of said time or society. Also, the way the characters act in that society is the plot of the story, their manners, and how the main protagonists (or everyone) is different, if they fail in the standard of that ideal social behaviour, or if they meet the standards set there.

All of these if you’re trying to dissect the books, which we (readers) tend to do sometimes. So, that is what a novel of manners is, I hope it answered your question, now here some popular ones. 📚

Popular Novels of Manner

• Pride and Prejudice
• Sense and Sensibility
• Tess of the d’Urbervilles (depending on how you look at it. It’s categorised as a Social Novel )
• The Portrait of a Lady
• Wuthering Heights (Personal opinion, this is Tragedy and gothic)

There’s also Comedy of Manners, which is essentially a genre of satirical comedy and a bit more realistic of the Restoration period (1660–1710). This genre of books questions the manners and social conventions of a greatly sophisticated, but also artificial society.

Some classics are:

• William Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing

• Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest

• Molière’s The School for Wives (1662)

What about Little Women? I was curious about it, but actually, this one is a Coming of Age novel and a Bildungsroman (following the lead character from childhood to adulthood).

So, that’s that. I thought it would be interesting to know a bit more about book genres, and if you liked this one and would like to know my POV about other genres, let me know in the comments. It was fun doing this one! Thank you for reading!

Happy Sharing! 📲