Relationship between Epic and Novel as discussed by Lukacs and Bakhtin

Epic and Novel share a very close relationship because epic is a very ancient genre and novel is a young genre which has more or less evolved through epics. Lukacs in his essay on the "Historical Novel" and Bakhtin in his "Epic and Novel" talks about the relationship between Epic and Novel. 
 Lukacs points out the larger than life nature of epic, where we come across a epic hero who is greater than life. He is great and powerful, there is some sort of hero worshipping present in the epics but in the novels the character is not hero worshipped. The character can be any ordinary human being who can be the hero. He may not possess the typical heroic qualities. In epic unlike the novels, it is the hero who is the central theme of the novel and around him the story and other characters revolves. In the novels the hero maybe just any other charater, it is the plot that is of utmost importance and not the character.
 Lukacs brings in the example of Walter Scott who is an prolific writer of the historical novel, who creates such characters who are ordinary and common unlike the heroic characters of the epics. Scott changes the idea of glorifying the heroes and instead brings in the focus on the plot.
 Bakhtin talks about the epic novel relationship by describing the differences in both the genre. Epics are forms which were meant to be read out in public, unlike the novels which were meant ot be read in private. Epics are to be sung out, the prose form of epic is a much later developed genre. In epics we are introduced to characters who have superior qualities but the characters of novels are very humanly. In epic it is sure that virtue wins over vice, but it may not be the case with novels. The basic story of epics are known and we know what's going to happen further but in novels the story is unknown to the readers.The readers are stucked till the end to know  what is going to happen next.
In this way both Lukacs and Bakhtin discusses about the relationship between Epic and Novel.

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