Define 'Novel'. Mention some of its common features.

Novel, is a word derived from the
French word for new--nouvel is one form of
this adjective, which is itself from the Latin.  The novel became a new genre in 1740
when Samuel Richardson published Pamela. 

With the Industrial Revolution there was an
expansion of the middle class in England, and since many people then could read and had
money to spend on the diversion, the novel came to satisfy their interests in narratives
that were imaginary.  Before the novel, people read biographies, autobiographies,
journals, and memoirs.  But with the fictionalized novel--a new idea--the narrative
could be made exiciting and be controlled by the writer.  Since Alexander Pope's
declaraction that "the proper study of mankind is man," authors have been working with
the various genres of novels to convey the human
experience.

Novels are constructed in a similar fashion to
short stories.  That is, they contain a plot with characters, they have settings,
theme(s), and point(s) of view. And, they are arranged into genres such as romance,
horror, mystery, satire, comedy, historical romance, science-fiction, fantasy, etc. 
While there are these many divisions among novels, all have one characteristic:  they
have a focus on an inner vision of reality.  In The Rise of the Novel
(1957)  by Ian Watts, the author indicates that the "realism of the novel
allows a more immediate imitation of individual experience."  Thus, readers find a close
correspondence between life and art.