Annotated novel
Encyclopedia
An annotated novel is a book-length dramatic narrative for which marginal comments have been added to explain, interpret, or illuminate words, phrases, themes, or other elements of the text. The annotated novel is a secular parallel to the variety of older annotated Bible
s in which scholars provide historical, theological, cultural, or other illuminations of the Biblical text.
Some annotations are brief, requiring only one or a few sentences. Others are lengthy, continuing for one or more pages. Normally, the novel's text occupies the center of the page, and the annotations, which are keyed numerically to the words and phrases with which they are associated, run down the left side of the left page and down the right side of the right page. However, sometimes the annotations appear at the bottom of both pages, as in The New Schofield Reference Bible and The Riverside Shakespeare.
Concerning criticism, Dickens took a philosophical approach, Hearn divulges, having demonstrated to fellow writer "Hans Christian Andersen how criticism was like writing in the dirt and just as easily wiped away" http://charlesdickenspage.com/michael_patrick_hearn_interview_120903.html.
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
s in which scholars provide historical, theological, cultural, or other illuminations of the Biblical text.
Recent examples
Some of the books that have been annotated recently include:- Michael Patrick HearnMichael Patrick HearnMichael Patrick Hearn is an American literary scholar and one of America's leading men of letters specializing in children's literature and its illustration. His works include The Annotated Wizard of Oz , The Annotated Christmas Carol , and The Annotated Huckleberry Finn...
's annotations to Mark TwainMark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Michael Patrick Hearn's annotations to Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
' A Christmas CarolA Christmas CarolA Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of... - Martin GardnerMartin GardnerMartin Gardner was an American mathematics and science writer specializing in recreational mathematics, but with interests encompassing micromagic, stage magic, literature , philosophy, scientific skepticism, and religion...
's annotations to Lewis CarrollLewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-glassThrough the Looking-GlassThrough the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of literature by Lewis Carroll . It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland... - Leslie S. Klinger's annotations to Sir Arthur Conan DoyleArthur Conan DoyleSir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
's Sherlock HolmesSherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve... - Douglas A. Anderson's annotations to J. R. R. TolkienJ. R. R. TolkienJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's The HobbitThe HobbitThe Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
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Some annotations are brief, requiring only one or a few sentences. Others are lengthy, continuing for one or more pages. Normally, the novel's text occupies the center of the page, and the annotations, which are keyed numerically to the words and phrases with which they are associated, run down the left side of the left page and down the right side of the right page. However, sometimes the annotations appear at the bottom of both pages, as in The New Schofield Reference Bible and The Riverside Shakespeare.
The Hobbit
Here is a sample annotation, from The Hobbit, which references Tolkien's description of a mountain trek that his characters undertake in Chapter 6 of his novel: "This passage again recalls Tolkien's 1911 walking tour of Switzerland."Through the Looking-glass
A second sample is from Carroll's Through the Looking-glass, Chapter 6 and references the author's statement that "Humpty Dumpty was sitting with his legs crossed like a Turk": "Neither Tenniel nor Newell, Everett Bleiler points out in a letter, show Humpty sitting with his legs crossed, a position which would make his perch more precarious."A Christmas Carol
Hearn explains that he annotated Dickens' A Christmas Carol in honor of his father's memory, his father having been the one to have introduced Hearn to the author's masterpiece about Christmas. In preparation for this project, Hearn researched the text of the book as well as the life and times of its author extensively, learning that, as he said during an interview, Dickens undertook a schedule of reading tours despite his declining health not only for the money that such a tour would earn for him but also because "Dickens was a ham and craved the public's attention and affection. It was not enough for him to be the most popular novelist of his age. He needed the immediate approval of an audience's response." According to Hearn:- Dickens needed to see the bright faces of his public and hear their laughter and their applause. No other writer of his stature had tried that before, to go directly to the people. In his day, the press severely attacked him for making a public spectacle of himself. He was accused of denigrating literature. Of course, today writers cannot sell a book without putting themselves on display. Dickens, unlike some pretentious lesser novelists, would have been happy to appear on "Oprah."
Concerning criticism, Dickens took a philosophical approach, Hearn divulges, having demonstrated to fellow writer "Hans Christian Andersen how criticism was like writing in the dirt and just as easily wiped away" http://charlesdickenspage.com/michael_patrick_hearn_interview_120903.html.