Cervantes, Gabriel García Márquez, Rudyard Kipling, Ian Fleming, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, James Mitchener. They’re all famous novelists and all male. But I bet you didn’t know the world first full novel - and one of the finest ever - was written by a woman!
Way back in the year 1007 a Japanese noble woman, Murasaki Shikibu, wrote the world's first full novel. It was called "The story of Genji," and it told the story of a prince looking for love and wisdom. Its actually been translated too – and it’s a very important text because it gives an insight to 11th century Japan and explores the ideas of love, lust, court politics, friendship, life and death through the story of Genji's many love affairs.
By the Middle Ages there were many novels about kings and heroic knights but in the late 1500s an anti-romance movement took roots and villains became the main characters. The first such novel was "Life of Lazarillo de Tormes", written in 1554 by an unknown author. It is the story of a poor boy who makes his way in the world by tricking his employers.
The author who wrote the most novels ever also is a women. Barbara Cartland wrote 723 novels, which sold more than 1 billion copies in 36 languages, making her the best-selling novelist of all time.
Cervantes, Gabriel García Márquez, Rudyard Kipling, Ian Fleming, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, James Mitchener. They’re all famous novelists and all male. But I bet you didn’t know the world first full novel - and one of the finest ever - was written by a woman!