epic novel
Sweeping fictional tome
An epic novel is a long work of fiction with broad scope—spanning years or generations, covering vast geography, or following numerous characters through significant historical or cultural events.
The term suggests ambition and sweep: War and Peace is the quintessential epic novel.
Works may be called epic for length alone, but the label properly implies grandeur of theme, not just page count.
- historical fictionNovels set in actual pasts
- protagonistStory's central figure
- cast of thousandsEnormous group of performers
- world-buildingCreating fictional universes
- grand narrativeTotalizing explanatory framework
descriptive prose · moral complexity · fantasy · adventure · cultural critique · subplot · archetype · coming of age · magical realism · climax · romance · omniscient narrator · vivid imagery · science fiction · narrative arc · resolution · page turner · dystopian fiction
- Russian LiteratureTolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Pushkin, Nabokov
- epicsIliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Beowulf, Gilgamesh
- TolstoyWar and Peace, Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy, Tolstoy, Resurrection
epic novelshort story
Brief prose fiction
flash fiction · microfiction · vignette · novella · sketch
epic novelslice of life
Realistic everyday depiction
intimate portrait · character sketch · mood piece · bottle episode
epic novellyric poem
Short emotive verse form
haiku · epigram · aphorism · limerick · short story
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