Category talk:Category-Class novel pages

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Novels

This page is within the scope of WikiProject Novels, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to novels, novellas, novelettes and short stories on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and contribute to the general Project discussion to talk over new ideas and suggestions.NovelsWikipedia:WikiProject NovelsTemplate:WikiProject Novelsnovel

"Themes" may be an inappropriate way to categorize novels

Checking the date a novel was published or its author's name or the language in which it was written is so basic that no documentation would appear to be required. But once categorization of novels strays into less obvious territory, won't it be highly contentious?

Eyeballing all the current categories on the list, I see very few that relate to "themes". "Novels dealing with slavery" seems a rather easy-to-define category. Either slavery is portrayed in the novel or it is not.

But who is to say whether a particular novel has a particular "theme"?

Therefore, I nominate such categories as "Novels with a theme of wife-abuse" for speedy deletion.

Otherwise, won't we be bogged down in endless discussions of whether John's slapping Mary on p. 23 supports the assertion that the novel has a "theme wife abuse"? Maybe he just lost his temper and slapping her is quite unrelated to her relationship as his wife? SocJan 21:31, 6 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]