Novel

Novel first appeared in the fall of 1967, created by Edward Bloom, Park Honan, and Mark Spilka, all members of the English Department, who recognized the need for an academic journal to encourage the study of fiction as a genre. Honan suggested that the journal be called Novel. Bloom provided its subtitle, “A Forum on Fiction,” which emphasizes the purpose of the journal to provide a forum for debate among scholars and to clear what Spilka called in his introduction to the first issue “a veritable log-jam of conflicting theories.” Honan, given a choice of available post office box numbers for the journal, chose “1984,” and the title of the opening announcement by Spilka in the first issue was “On Box 1984.” When he moved to the University of Birmingham in 1968, Park Honan started a British branch of Novel, and with David Lodge, set up a symposium on the Novel in which “nine very active British critics” participated at the Stratford Institute at Stratford-on-Avon on December 7 and 8, 1968. In celebration of the tenth anniversary of the periodical, a conference was held as part of the festivities connected with the inauguration of President Swearer in April of 1977. The conference featured readings by John Gardner and Gail Godwin and two afternoon panel discussions. Edward Bloom was succeeded as senior editor by Mark Spilka in 1987.