This book claims that Paradise Lost contains all the traits of the great epics, as well as the predominant characteristics of early modern novels, and that every history of the novel should acknowledge Milton's (unintentional) contribution to the development of the genre. Milton's Satan is presented as a novelistic character par excellence, preceding memorable literary characters of novelistic provenance like Dostoyevsky's Raskolnikov, Shelley's monster or Kafka's beetle. In addition, this book proves that all the elements of modernity like capitalism, science, all-pervasive doubt, the...

This book claims that Paradise Lost contains all the traits of the great epics, as well as the predominant characteristics of early modern novels, and that every history of the novel should acknowledge Milton's (unintentional) contribution to the development of the genre. Milton's Satan is presented as a novelistic character par excellence, preceding memorable literary characters of novelistic provenance like Dostoyevsky's Raskolnikov, Shelley's monster or Kafka's beetle. In addition, this book proves that all the elements of modernity like capitalism, science, all-pervasive doubt, the...