What Novels Redefined Their Genre?

Question: What Novels Redefined Their Genre!?

In other words, what (in your opinion)
is the best example of a fantasy/mystery/thriller/
action/adventure/romance/etc novel(s)!?
(ex!. some may say Harry Potter series redefined Fantasy genre)Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Tolkien not only redefined but essentially created the fantasy genre as we know it today!.

While I love Harry Potter, I don't think it redefined anything more than the number of kids who were actually reading!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Hmm!.!.!. some of these are more definitions than *redefinitions*, but anyway:

- Cervantes' "Don Quixote" as the first Western novel

- Joyce's "Ulysses" for the modern novel

- Fieldings' "Tom Jones" for Bildungsromans ("coming-of-age" stories)

- Shelley's "Frankenstein" for Romanticism

- Bronte's "Wuthering Heights" for Gothic Romanticism

- Dostoyevsky's "Notes from Underground" for Existentialism

- Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" for FantasyWww@QuestionHome@Com

I think all genres are constantly undergoing re-definition because our idea of what's "good" is constantly changing!. If everyone wrote the same thing all the time, there'd be no need for fiction to exist!. I'd say some of the most groundbreaking novels have long been written and have yet to be topped!.!.!. Finnigan's Wake, A Clockwork Orange, Mrs!. Dalloway!.!.!. The problem being that no writer is arrogant enough to think they can top them, and they're right!. On the other hand, novels in these genres have been wild successes in different ways than these penultimate novels!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Wuthering Heights redefined Romance!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

actually lord of the rings redefined the fantasy genre!.Www@QuestionHome@Com