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Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of romance fiction.


History

In the Introduction to the ''Encyclopedia of Adventure Fiction'', Critic Don D'Ammassa defines the genre as follows: D'Ammassa argues that adventure stories make the element of danger the focus; hence he argues that
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
's novel ''
A Tale of Two Cities ''A Tale of Two Cities'' is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the ...
'' is an adventure novel because the protagonists are in constant danger of being imprisoned or killed, whereas Dickens's ''
Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...
'' is not because "Pip's encounter with the convict is an adventure, but that scene is only a device to advance the main plot, which is not truly an adventure." Adventure has been a common
theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...
since the earliest days of written fiction. Indeed, the standard plot of
Medieval romance As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric ...
s was a series of adventures. Following a plot framework as old as
Heliodorus Heliodorus is a Greek name meaning "Gift of the Sun". Several persons named Heliodorus are known to us from ancient times, the best known of which are: *Heliodorus (minister) a minister of Seleucus IV Philopator c. 175 BC *Heliodorus of Athen ...
, and so durable as to be still alive in
Hollywood movies The cinema of the United States, consisting mainly of major film studios (also known as Hollywood) along with some independent film, has had a large effect on the global film industry since the early 20th century. The dominant style of Amer ...
, a hero would undergo a first set of adventures before he met his lady. A separation would follow, with the second set of adventures leading to a final reunion. Variations kept the genre alive. From the mid-19th century onwards, when mass literacy grew, adventure became a popular subgenre of fiction. Although not exploited to its fullest, adventure has seen many changes over the years – from being constrained to stories of knights in armor to stories of high-tech espionage. Examples of that period include Sir Walter Scott,
Alexandre Dumas, père Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...
, Jules Verne, Brontë Sisters,
H. Rider Haggard Sir Henry Rider Haggard (; 22 June 1856 – 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction romances set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the lost world literary genre. He was also involved in land reform t ...
, Victor Hugo,
Emilio Salgari Emilio Salgari (, but often erroneously ; 21 August 1862 – 25 April 1911) was an Italian writer of action adventure swashbucklers and a pioneer of science fiction. In Italy, his extensive body of work was more widely read than that of Dante ...
, Karl May, Louis Henri Boussenard,
Thomas Mayne Reid Thomas Mayne Reid (4 April 1818 – 22 October 1883) was an Irish-American novelist, who fought in the Mexican-American War (1846–1848). His many works on American life describe colonial policy in the American colonies, the horrors of slave ...
,
Sax Rohmer Arthur Henry "Sarsfield" Ward (15 February 1883 – 1 June 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was an English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu."Rohmer, Sax" by Jack Adrian in Da ...
,
Talbot Mundy Talbot Mundy (born William Lancaster Gribbon, 23 April 1879 – 5 August 1940) was an English writer of adventure fiction. Based for most of his life in the United States, he also wrote under the pseudonym of Walter Galt. Best known as the ...
,
Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during th ...
, and
Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...
. Adventure novels and short stories were popular subjects for American
pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
s, which dominated American popular fiction between the Progressive Era and the 1950s. Server,Lee. ''Danger is My Business: An Illustrated History of the Fabulous Pulp Magazines.'' Chronicle Books, 1993 (pp. 49–60). Several pulp magazines such as ''
Adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme sp ...
'', '' Argosy'', '' ayanansari'', '' Top-Notch'', and '' Short Stories'' specialized in this genre. Notable pulp adventure writers included Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Talbot Mundy Talbot Mundy (born William Lancaster Gribbon, 23 April 1879 – 5 August 1940) was an English writer of adventure fiction. Based for most of his life in the United States, he also wrote under the pseudonym of Walter Galt. Best known as the ...
,
Theodore Roscoe Theodore Roscoe (February 20, 1906 – May 29, 1992) was an American biographer and writer of adventure, fantasy novels and stories. Biography Roscoe was born in Rochester, New York, the son of missionaries. He wrote for newspapers and later pu ...
,
Johnston McCulley John William Johnston McCulley (February 2, 1883 – November 23, 1958) was an American writer of hundreds of stories, fifty novels, numerous screenplays for film and television, and the creator of the character Zorro. Biography Born in O ...
,
Arthur O. Friel Arthur Olney Friel (31 May 1885 – 27 January 1959) was one of the most popular writers for the adventure pulps. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Friel, a 1909 Yale University graduate, had been South American editor for the Associated Press which l ...
,
Harold Lamb Harold Albert Lamb (September 1, 1892 – April 9, 1962) was an American writer, novelist, historian, and screenwriter. In both his fiction and nonfiction work, Lamb gravitated toward subjects related to Asia and Middle East. Lamb was an advocat ...
, Carl Jacobi,
George F. Worts George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President ...
, Georges Surdez,
H. Bedford-Jones Henry James O'Brien Bedford-Jones (April 29, 1887 – May 6, 1949) was a Canadian-American historical, adventure fantasy, science fiction, crime and Western writer who became a naturalized United States citizen in 1908. Biography Bedford-Jones ...
, and
J. Allan Dunn Joseph Allan Elphinstone Dunn (21 January 1872 – 25 March 1941), best known as J. Allan Dunn, was one of the high-producing writers of the American pulp magazines. He published well over a thousand stories, novels, and serials from 1914–4 ...
. Adventure fiction often overlaps with other genres, notably war novels,
crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...
s, sea stories,
Robinsonade Robinsonade () is a literary genre that takes its name from the 1719 novel '' Robinson Crusoe'' by Daniel Defoe. The success of this novel spawned so many imitations that its name was used to define a genre, which is sometimes described simpl ...
s, spy stories (as in the works of John Buchan,
Eric Ambler Eric Clifford Ambler OBE (28 June 1909 – 22 October 1998) was an English author of thrillers, in particular spy novels, who introduced a new realism to the genre. Also working as a screenwriter, Ambler used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for bo ...
and
Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., ...
),
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...
, fantasy, (
Robert E. Howard Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906June 11, 1936) was an American writer. He wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subge ...
and J. R. R. Tolkien both combined the secondary world story with the adventure novel) and
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
s. Not all books within these genres are adventures. Adventure fiction takes the setting and premise of these other genres, but the fast-paced plot of an adventure focuses on the actions of the hero within the setting. With a few notable exceptions (such as
Baroness Orczy Baroness Emma Orczy (full name: Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Orczy de Orci) (; 23 September 1865 – 12 November 1947), usually known as Baroness Orczy (the name under which she was published) or to her family and friends as Em ...
,
Leigh Brackett Leigh Douglass Brackett (December 7, 1915 – March 18, 1978) was an American science fiction writer known as "the Queen of Space Opera." She was also a screenwriter, known for ''The Big Sleep'' (1946), '' Rio Bravo'' (1959), and '' The Long Goo ...
and Marion Zimmer Bradley) adventure fiction as a genre has been largely dominated by male writers, though female writers are now becoming common.


For children

Adventure stories written specifically for children began in the 19th century. Early examples include Johann David Wyss's ''
The Swiss Family Robinson ''The Swiss Family Robinson'' (German: ''Der Schweizerische Robinson'') is a novel by Johann David Wyss, first published in 1812, about a Swiss family of immigrants whose ship en route to Port Jackson, Australia, goes off course and is shipwr ...
'' (1812), Frederick Marryat's ''
The Children of the New Forest ''The Children of the New Forest'' is a children's novel published in 1847 by Frederick Marryat. It is set in the time of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth. The story follows the fortunes of the four Beverley children who are orphaned ...
'' (1847), and Harriet Martineau's ''The Peasant and the Prince'' (1856). The Victorian era saw the development of the genre, with W. H. G. Kingston,
R. M. Ballantyne Robert Michael Ballantyne (24 April 1825 – 8 February 1894) was a Scottish author of juvenile fiction, who wrote more than a hundred books. He was also an accomplished artist: he exhibited some of his water-colours at the Royal Scottish Acad ...
, and
G. A. Henty George Alfred Henty (8 December 1832 – 16 November 1902) was an English novelist and war correspondent. He is most well-known for his works of adventure fiction and historical fiction, including ''The Dragon & The Raven'' (1886), ''For The T ...
specializing in the production of adventure fiction for boys.Butts, Dennis,"Adventure Books" in Zipes, Jack, ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature''. Volume One. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2006. (pp. 12–16). This inspired writers who normally catered to adult audiences to essay such works, such as
Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...
writing '' Treasure Island'' for a child readership. In the years after the First World War, writers such as
Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...
developed the adventure genre by setting the adventure in Britain rather than distant countries, while Geoffrey Trease,
Rosemary Sutcliff Rosemary Sutcliff (14 December 1920 – 23 July 1992) was an English novelist best known for children's books, especially historical fiction and retellings of myths and legends. Although she was primarily a children's author, some of her novel ...
Hunt, 1995, (pp. 208–9) and
Esther Forbes Esther Louise Forbes (; June 28, 1891 – August 12, 1967) was an American novelist, historian and children's writer who received the Pulitzer Prize and the Newbery Medal. She was the first woman elected to membership in the American Antiquar ...
brought a new sophistication to the historical adventure novel. Modern writers such as
Mildred D. Taylor Mildred DeLois Taylor (born September 13, 1943) is a Newbery Award-winning American young adult novelist. She is best known for her novel ''Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry'', part of her Logan family series. Taylor is known for exploring powerful ...
(''
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry ''Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry'' is a 1977 novel by Mildred D. Taylor. Part of her Logan family series, it is a sequel to her 1975 novella '' Song of the Trees''. It won the 1977 Newbery Medal. The novel is the first book in the Logan family sa ...
'') and Philip Pullman (the
Sally Lockhart Veronica Beatrice "Sally" Lockhart (later Goldberg) is a fictional character in a series of books by Philip Pullman. Sally Lockhart is a dazzling 16-year-old, middle-class orphan whose father taught her a variety of useful things: accounting, ma ...
novels) have continued the tradition of the historical adventure. The modern children's adventure novel sometimes deals with controversial issues like terrorism (
Robert Cormier Robert Edmund Cormier (January 17, 1925 – November 2, 2000) was an American author and journalist, known for his deeply pessimistic novels, many of which were written for young adults. Recurring themes include abuse, mental illness, violence, ...
, ''
After the First Death ''After the First Death'' (1979) is a suspense novel for young adults by American author Robert Cormier. The focus is on the complex relationships that develop between the various characters. The novel takes the name from the poem, "A Refusal t ...
'', (1979)) and warfare in the
Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the "First W ...
(
Peter Dickinson Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson OBE FRSL (16 December 1927 – 16 December 2015) was an English author and poet, best known for children's books and detective stories. Dickinson won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association ...
, ''AK'', (1000)).


See also

*
Crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...
*
Lost world (genre) The lost world is a subgenre of the fantasy or science fiction genres that involves the discovery of an unknown Earth civilization. It began as a subgenre of the late- Victorian adventure romance and remains popular into the 21st century. The g ...
*
Men's adventure Men's adventure is a literary genre, genre of magazine that was published in the United States from the 1940s until the early 1970s. Catering to a male audience, these magazines featured pin-up girls and lurid tales of adventure that typically fea ...
* Nautical fiction * Picaresque novel *
Robinsonade Robinsonade () is a literary genre that takes its name from the 1719 novel '' Robinson Crusoe'' by Daniel Defoe. The success of this novel spawned so many imitations that its name was used to define a genre, which is sometimes described simpl ...
*
Subterranean fiction Subterranean fiction is a subgenre of adventure fiction, science fiction, or fantasy which focuses on fictional underground settings, sometimes at the center of the Earth or otherwise deep below the surface. The genre is based on, and has in ...
*
Spy fiction Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligen ...
*
Swashbuckler A swashbuckler is a genre of European adventure literature that focuses on a heroic protagonist stock character who is skilled in swordsmanship, acrobatics, guile and possesses chivalrous ideals. A "swashbuckler" protagonist is heroic, daring, ...
*
Thriller (genre) Thriller is a genre of fiction, having numerous, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. Suc ...
* War novel * Western (genre) * Adventure gamebook (interactive)


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adventure fiction Literary genres