Editing Novella (section)

==History==
The novella as a literary genre began developing in the Italian literature of the early [[Renaissance]], principally by [[Giovanni Boccaccio]], author of ''[[The Decameron]]'' (1353).<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/novella | title=Novella: Definition and history | website=Merriam-Webster Dictionary online | access-date=6 February 2014 | archive-date=1 July 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701163852/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/novella | url-status=live }}</ref> ''The Decameron'' featured 100&nbsp;tales (named novellas) told by ten people (seven women and three men) fleeing the [[Black Death]], by escaping from [[Florence]] to the [[Fiesole]] hills in 1348. This structure was then imitated by subsequent authors, notably the French queen [[Marguerite de Navarre]], whose ''[[Heptaméron]]'' (1559) included 72&nbsp;original French tales and was modeled after the structure of ''The Decameron''.

The Italian genre novella grew out of a rich tradition of medieval short narrative forms. It took its first major form in the anonymous late 13th century ''Libro di novelle et di bel parlar gentile'', known as ''[[Il Novellino]]'', and reached its culmination with ''The Decameron''. Followers of Boccaccio such as [[Giovanni Fiorentino]], [[Franco Sacchetti]], [[Giovanni Sercambi]] and [[Simone de' Prodenzani]] continued the tradition into the early 15th century. The Italian novella influenced many later writers, including [[Shakespeare]].<ref>Nissen, Christopher [https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396584/obo-9780195396584-0215.xml The Italian Novella] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029055819/https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396584/obo-9780195396584-0215.xml |date=29 October 2021 }} Oxford Bibliographies</ref>

Novellas were also written in Spain. [[Miguel de Cervantes]]' book ''[[Novelas ejemplares]]'' (1613) added innovation to the genre with more attention to the depiction of human character and social background.<ref name="A">Steinhauer, Harry ''Twelve German Novellas'', Introduction, University of California Press, 1977</ref> 

Not until the late 18th and early 19th centuries did writers fashion the novella into a literary genre structured by precepts and rules, generally in a [[Realism (arts)|realistic mode]]. At that time, the Germans were the most active writers of the ''novelle'' (German: "Novelle"; plural: "Novellen").<ref name="A" /> For the German writer, a novella is a fictional narrative of indeterminate length—a few pages to hundreds—restricted to a single, suspenseful event, situation, or conflict leading to an unexpected turning point (''Wendepunkt''), provoking a logical but surprising end. ''Novellen'' tend to contain a concrete symbol, which is the narrative's focal point.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

The novella influenced the development of the [[short story]] and the [[novel]] throughout Europe.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/art/novella Novella] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402225821/https://www.britannica.com/art/novella |date=2 April 2019 }} Britannica</ref> In the late 19th century [[Henry James]] was one of the first English language critics to use the term novella for a story that was longer and more complex than a short story, but shorter than a novel.<ref name="A" />

In English speaking countries the modern ''novella'' is rarely defined as a distinct literary genre, but is often used as a term for a short novel.<ref>Leibowitz, Judith ''Narrative Purpose in the Novella'', Introduction, Walter de Gruyter, 2013</ref>