''The Novel'' (

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

) is a novel written by American author James A. Michener. A departure from Michener's better known historical fiction, ''The Novel'' is told from the viewpoints of four different characters involved in the life and work of a writer of

Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churc ...

historical novels based in a fictional Pennsylvania Dutch town named Grenzler, in rural Pennsylvania. There is much discussion of writing, not all of it in support of Michener's own style. Many story devices discussed by the characters are later used by Michener in this same story.

Chapter summary

# The Writer: Lukas Yoder: Narrated by the author of a popular series of historical

novels as he works on his "final" novel. # The Editor: Yvonne Marmelle: the personal and professional life of Lukas Yoder's editor. # The Critic: Karl Streibert: a new literary star appears in Grenzler, and tries to rise from Lukas Yoder's shadow. # The Reader: Jane Garland: told in the voice of an avid reader and prominent citizen of the Grenzler area.

References

* Michener, James.
The Novel
'. New York: Random House, 1991, Print. 1991 American novels Novels by James A. Michener Novels set in Pennsylvania Random House books {{1990s-hist-novel-stub