Towards a Sociology of the Novel () is a 1963 book by Lucien Goldmann. The book was a seminal work for Goldmann. In it, he lays out his theory of the novel. Explanation of the Text Goldmann's Thesis “The novel form seems to me, in effect, to be the transposition on the literary plane of everyday life in the individualistic society created by market production. There is a rigorous homology between the literary form of the novel...and the everyday relation between man and commodities in general, and by extension between men and other men, in a market society” (7). Summary Influence of Lukács and Girard Goldmann gives us his newest hypothesis on the novel, detailed above in his thesis statement, but he does not explain this idea before giving us a thorough overview of the theory of the novel, as elucidated first by Lukács and then by René Girard. According to Goldmann, the novel form as identified by both Lukács and Girard follows a certain path: put in the most general terms, it chronicles the rupture between the hero and the world. In this respect, the novel differs from its close cousins, the tragedy and the folk tale. In tragedy, the rupture is entire; in the folk tale, the rupture is either nonexistent or accidental. The novelistic rupture occupies a middle ground between these two extremes. The hero experiences a rupture with his community because his is a quest for authentic values in a degraded world. Since the hero comes from this degraded world, however, he never fully breaks with the community—and is often reconciled with it at the end of the novel. Goldmann explains that there are three types of novels, which both Lukács and Girard have identified: Abstract realism: the hero has too narrow a vision to understand his complex world. psychological novel: Concerned with the inner life of the hero. The hero is passive and far too ahead of his time to fit into the world. Bildungsroman: This type of novel usually ends with a “self-imposed limitation” as the hero gives up his search for authentic values. To clarify the differences between Girard and Lukács, Goldmann offers a short summary and analysis of each theorist's insights into the form of the novel. Girard argues that the novel is the story of a degraded search in a degraded world. Moreover, an increase of “ontological sickness” leads to an