Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A long novel, often in many volumes, chronicling the history of several generations of a family, community, or other group and often presenting an overall view of society during a particular epoch.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French : roman, novel + fleuve, river.]

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Examples

  • All twelve volumes of Powell's famous roman-fleuve about the shattering transformations of first interwar and then post-WWII England, told through the partly autobiographical figure of novelist Nicholas Jenkins.

    This Week's Acquisitions 2004

  • All twelve volumes of Powell's famous roman-fleuve about the shattering transformations of first interwar and then post-WWII England, told through the partly autobiographical figure of novelist Nicholas Jenkins.

    The Little Professor: 2004

  • Perhaps when my book is finished and gone from my hands, I may take steps to become somehow a character in that grand roman-fleuve begun by other vampires in San Francisco or New Orleans.

    Excerpt: Vittorio The Vampire by Anne Rice 1999

  • Perhaps when my book is finished and gone from my hands, I may take steps to become somehow a character in that grand roman-fleuve begun by other vampires in San Francisco or New Orleans.

    Vittorio, The Vampire Rice, Anne, 1941- 1999

  • There is an amusing scene in Anthony Powell's roman-fleuve, A Dance to the Music of Time, in which a brigadier demands of a very junior officer what he thinks of Trollope.

    Living with Trollope Bayley, John 1989

  • After the years of the First World War, which Martin du Gard spent almost entirely in the front lines, he devoted most of his time to the writing of the «roman-fleuve», Les

    Roger Martin du Gard - Biography 1937

Comments

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  • A long, multi-volume novel which presents the history of several generations of a family or community. In both French and English, saga tends to be used more.

    June 19, 2009