The World’s First Novel Was Written by a Japanese Woman
Tough luck, Chaucer
Reducing the history of literature to exclusively the English language is like visiting the beach only to walk around in a puddle.
Traditions of literature go back to ancient times in every continent and every country on the planet. From folk stories orated in taverns to narrative carvings on Sub-Saharan cave walls, it’s always been a base human instinct to tell stories.
But where did this instinct arise from and how has it influenced history? What was the first ‘real’ work of literature? Who wrote the first novel?
Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions around ‘firsts’ in literary history. University courses in literature often begin studying The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, which tends to cement the idea that Chaucer was the beginning of the English literary tradition, and ‘the canon’ at large. The idea, however, of Chaucer being the ‘start’ of literature as a whole is dangerously wrong.
To grasp the global significance of literature, it’s important to look beyond classic English works, and begin exploring the subject as a whole: without borders, and without exception.
To begin, let’s clear up a few misconceptions. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales was one of the first English…
