Novel Definitions captures the lively critical debate surrounding the invention of the English novel, showing how the rise of the novel was accompanied by a rise in popular literary criticism. The anthology collects over 135 primary sources that chart the long eighteenth century?s interpretation of the novel. These sources?many newly-discovered?include essays, prefaces, reviews, and sermons written by authors ranging from Aphra Behn to Walter Scott. Novel Definitions brings together authors? prefatory analyses of their work; essayists? debates concerning the novel?s formal qualities; commentators? questions concerning the novel?s cultural position, including whether or not women and children should read novels; reviewers? definitions of the qualities that make a novel successful; and literary historians? first attempts to write the history of the novel.