Psychological fiction
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The origins of the psychological novel can be traced as far back as Giovanni Boccaccio's 1344 La Fiammetta; that is before the term psychology was coined.
Another avant la lettre example is Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605) by Miguel Cervantes.
The first rise of the psychological novel as a genre is said to have started with the sentimental novel of which Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740) is a prime example.
In French literature, Stendhal's The Red and the Black (1830) is an early psychological novel; it was proceded however, by the lesser-known Benjamin Constant's Adolphe (1816). Madame de La Fayette's "The Princess of Cleves," dating back to the 17th century, is also considered an early precursor of the psychological novel.
Knut Hamsuns debut-novel Hunger (1890) is also a psychological novel.