silver fork novel

English

Alternative forms

• silver-fork novel

Etymology

Coined by English essayist and writer William Hazlitt in 1827.

Noun

silver fork novel (plural silver fork novels)

1. A 19th-century genre of English literature that depicted the lives of the upper class and the aristocracy.

   Synonym: fashionable novel

   • 2015, Cheryl A. Wilson, Fashioning the Silver Fork Novel, Routledge, →ISBN, page 22:

     In addition, the chapter also explores the influence of the London Season on the content and form of the silver fork novel. One common critique of the silver fork novel was that the genre was formulaic and, thus, easily produced by any hack writer who might put pen to paper.

See also

• silver spoon

Further reading

• fashionable novel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia