Novel of Circulation

The novel of circulation, also known as the it-narrative or object narrative, is a genre of novel once common in British literature that follows the fortunes of an object, such as a coin, as it passes between different owners, or sometimes a pet or other domestic animal. These works blended satire with the reader's interest in a roman a clef, and used circulating objects such as hackney carriages and bank notes to interrogate what it meant to live in an increasingly mobile society and to consider the effect of circulation on human relations.