"The novel has lost its purpose, Joseph Bottum argues in this fascinating new look at the history of fiction. We have not transcended our need for what novels provide, but we no longer "read novels the way we used to." In a historical tour de force--the kind of sweeping analysis almost lost to contemporary literary criticism--Bottum traces the emergence of the novel from the modern religious formation of the individual soul and the atomized self. Reading everything from Jane Austen to genre fiction, Bottum finds a lack of faith in the ability of art to respond to the deep problems of existence. "The decline of the novel's prestige reflects and confirms a genuine cultural crisis," he writes. "The novel didn't fail us. We failed the novel." Told in faced-paced, engaging prose, Bottum's The Decline of the Novel is a succinct critique of classic and contemporary fiction--a must read for students of literary form, critics of contemporary art, and general readers who wish to learn, finally, what we all used to know: the deep moral purpose of reading novels." --back cover of book