Introduction to Prose Fiction is a book that explores the fundamental elements and

techniques of prose fiction. The book covers topics such as character development, prose

structure, narrative point of view, and theme analysis. It also delves into the various forms of

prose fiction, including the novel, novella and the short story and examines how these forms

have evolved over time. The book also does an analysis of seven literary texts examining

their content and form. Through its comprehensive approach, Introduction to Prose Fiction

offers readers a deeper understanding of the art and craft of writing fiction. This essay seeks

to review the book to determine its functional value and to what extent does it carry out the

goal.

Introduction to Prose Fiction is a collaborative fiction as it is written by more than one

author. It is divided into two sections each consisting of seven chapters. The first section of

the book functions as the elementary segment as the reader is presented with the nature and

meaning of prose fiction, its characteristics, origin and development. It further delves into the

types, their differences and similarities and literary devices. The second section contains

detailed and insightful analyses of seven literary texts examining their themes, subject matter,

message, technique and style.

In the first chapter of the book, the authors attempt to provide some definitions of the

prose fiction and also highlight and explicate on its distinctive features. The three genres of

prose fiction are the main focus of chapter two. It states how the definitions, origin,

distinctive features of the novel, novella, and the short story all differ from one another and

yet, whilst they still make use of the same elements, this chapter highlights how they make

use of these elements to a more or less degree. Chapter three, against seeing European prose

fiction as an 18th century phenomenon traces its origin to the classical period through the

medieval era, and demonstrates how crucial Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron is to the

evolution of the prose fiction.

 Chapter four, entitled “The Structure of Prose Fiction” talks about the elements of prose

fiction or the different strands that add-up to make prose fiction what it is. The three forms of

prose fiction make use of the elements of subject-matter, themes, vision, plot, setting,

narrative technique, and character and characterization. Chapter five focuses on the

“Regional Forms of the Novel”. The African, Anglophonic, and Negritudist-all regional

forms of the novel that can be found on the African continent. The Anglophonic is written in

English while the Negritudist is written in French. Chapter six extends its focus to prose

fiction in general and its relevance to any given society-why it might be the most relevant and

how prose fiction is relevant to the society. Prose fiction works are relevant to the society

within which they are produced because they reflect and educate the society, their

accessibility, clarity, intelligible language and how they help in changing the wrong

perception and attitude of the society that produces them.

Chapter seven turns specifically to the English prose fiction tradition to show its origin

and how it is different from Jacobean and Elizabethan prose works. In chapters eight to

fourteen, seven literary texts, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719), Thomas Hardy’s Jude

the Obscure (1896), Charles Dickens’ Hard Times (1854), Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre

(1847), Peter Abrahams’ Mine Boy (1946), Idede Oseyande’s Warri Nor Dey Carry Last

(2019), and Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter (1979) consisting of four European classics and

three defining African works were analysed through the lens of their form and content.

Introduction to Prose Fiction is a book written with the